The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year B (Epiphany 6) - February 15, 2009
I talked to you a bit in Advent about God speaking to us through what I have called “Unlikely Messengers” – Folks we may not want to pay attention to or listen to… Folks that may be “different” from ourselves, but somehow offer us the message of divine hope if we would only stop – focus – and listen.
In Advent, we encountered John the baptizer as he announced the coming of One greater than he. And now in Epiphany this morning, yet again, we encounter another couple of “unlikely messengers.”
The first is a servant girl, a young Hebrew woman who was taken captive when the Aramēans raided the land of Israel. She became a servant to the wife of Naaman, who was a mighty Aramean warrior.
We don’t even know her name… But she is our first unlikely messenger this morning… Someone who we don’t expect to be the bearer of compassion and hope for creation.
Though he was a commander of the Aramean Army, Naaman had a skin condition that was identified as leprosy. It may not have been actually been Hanson’s Disease, but may have been more like a rash or some sort of psoriasis – None the less, we know he was afflicted, and he suffered.
But we don’t know exactly how Naaman suffered… Looking closely at the story, we can assume that the Arameans didn’t have the same rules that Israel did concerning leprosy, because Naaman had a wife, he was a warrior, and he obviously had a ranking social status. Still, in some way, he was afflicted, and he suffered…
Moved with compassion for her master, the young woman (the unlikely nameless messenger) told Naaman’s wife, who she was serving, about a great prophet in Israel who could cure him of his affliction.
God used this slave girl and the situation to expand the kingdom of God. The nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, were weak during this time. They had been invaded by the Arameans and a girl was taken captive and made a servant, but God used that simple servant girl, that unlikely messenger to broaden our prospective and further the kingdom.
Naaman goes and the Prophet Elisha sends word out to him to go wash in the Jordan seven times. After he reluctantly washes in the Jordan river (seven times), his flesh is restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was made clean.
We learn about our second unlikely messenger in the Gospel story this morning. A man, afflicted with a skin disease and considered unclean, who humbles himself before Jesus, and begs him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” This unlikely messenger, who was a social outcast and forgotten by society, by-passes the boundary of 50 paces that he was supposed to maintain by Levitical laws. He crosses the distance and says to Jesus, Lord, I know you have the power to make me well! How dare he!?!
But Jesus doesn’t rebuke him, or repel from him, but is moved with compassion by the man’s boldness, and the man’s faith. So Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man, and says to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy leaves the afflicted man and he is made clean.
It is too easy for us to look at this as just a healing. But this wasn’t just another healing, this was a total restoration of human life. Jesus takes a sickly, afflicted, outcast of society and restores him, not only to wellness, but to wholeness. Therefore, restoring society, order, dignity, and respect.
He takes a man who was banished to the outskirts of the city (the fringes of society) to sit and beg for alms, and restores him to a fully functioning “well” member of society. And the man couldn’t sit still.
After being warned not to say anything to anyone, anyone except the priest who had the authority to declare that he was in fact ritually clean, (but he didn’t care about that) he just couldn’t contain himself. He couldn’t contain himself so much that he proclaimed it freely in the streets. He became that “unlikely messenger” who was touched by the hand of God and he carried his testimony to the whole town…
He raised such a ruckus that in order for Jesus to complete the work that He had to do, Jesus couldn’t go into a town openly, but remained on the fringes. Banished to the outside, so that he man might remain inside.
See, in a way, you can say that Jesus actually changes places with the man. Jesus touched him and restored him, but it is now Jesus that must stay on the edge of the community that he can no longer enter.
The heroes this morning don’t have any names, they are very simply called, “servant girl” and “leper.” But they both have exercised that divine purpose that we all should in our life, to show others the way to God. They are unlikely messengers, everyday folks kind of like us, with a simple trust in God’s ways and God’s power in their life. God’s ways that reach out, and God’s ways that heal and restore.
When you are here at Church, do you let Jesus touch you, do you let him heal you and restore you or do you put up your guard and just punch your card and go through the motions? Do you let the life giving, and life forming Christ melt the inner-coldness of your soul? Are you here to be engaged in worship and spiritual focus, or are you here to socialize and then just sit back and try to enjoy the weekly show.
If we let Jesus touch us, really touch us, magnificent things will happen, beyond all of our wildest imaginations.
The Psalmist says,
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy.
so that my soul may praise you and NOT be silent.
When you let Jesus touch you, really touch you – you are so filled with excitement that you cannot be silent! You want to scream it from the rooftops and make others realize that Jesus Christ is Lord, is Life, is Love, and is Salvation.
If you let Jesus take your place, bear your burdens, and have your worries, so that you might be healed, then you have truly been touched by the hand of God, and you have been restored to new life… new life in Jesus Christ our Lord…
for this Jesus died, so that we might HAVE life, but not JUST have life, have it more abundantly. Amen!
In Advent, we encountered John the baptizer as he announced the coming of One greater than he. And now in Epiphany this morning, yet again, we encounter another couple of “unlikely messengers.”
The first is a servant girl, a young Hebrew woman who was taken captive when the Aramēans raided the land of Israel. She became a servant to the wife of Naaman, who was a mighty Aramean warrior.
We don’t even know her name… But she is our first unlikely messenger this morning… Someone who we don’t expect to be the bearer of compassion and hope for creation.
Though he was a commander of the Aramean Army, Naaman had a skin condition that was identified as leprosy. It may not have been actually been Hanson’s Disease, but may have been more like a rash or some sort of psoriasis – None the less, we know he was afflicted, and he suffered.
But we don’t know exactly how Naaman suffered… Looking closely at the story, we can assume that the Arameans didn’t have the same rules that Israel did concerning leprosy, because Naaman had a wife, he was a warrior, and he obviously had a ranking social status. Still, in some way, he was afflicted, and he suffered…
Moved with compassion for her master, the young woman (the unlikely nameless messenger) told Naaman’s wife, who she was serving, about a great prophet in Israel who could cure him of his affliction.
God used this slave girl and the situation to expand the kingdom of God. The nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, were weak during this time. They had been invaded by the Arameans and a girl was taken captive and made a servant, but God used that simple servant girl, that unlikely messenger to broaden our prospective and further the kingdom.
Naaman goes and the Prophet Elisha sends word out to him to go wash in the Jordan seven times. After he reluctantly washes in the Jordan river (seven times), his flesh is restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was made clean.
We learn about our second unlikely messenger in the Gospel story this morning. A man, afflicted with a skin disease and considered unclean, who humbles himself before Jesus, and begs him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” This unlikely messenger, who was a social outcast and forgotten by society, by-passes the boundary of 50 paces that he was supposed to maintain by Levitical laws. He crosses the distance and says to Jesus, Lord, I know you have the power to make me well! How dare he!?!
But Jesus doesn’t rebuke him, or repel from him, but is moved with compassion by the man’s boldness, and the man’s faith. So Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the man, and says to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy leaves the afflicted man and he is made clean.
It is too easy for us to look at this as just a healing. But this wasn’t just another healing, this was a total restoration of human life. Jesus takes a sickly, afflicted, outcast of society and restores him, not only to wellness, but to wholeness. Therefore, restoring society, order, dignity, and respect.
He takes a man who was banished to the outskirts of the city (the fringes of society) to sit and beg for alms, and restores him to a fully functioning “well” member of society. And the man couldn’t sit still.
After being warned not to say anything to anyone, anyone except the priest who had the authority to declare that he was in fact ritually clean, (but he didn’t care about that) he just couldn’t contain himself. He couldn’t contain himself so much that he proclaimed it freely in the streets. He became that “unlikely messenger” who was touched by the hand of God and he carried his testimony to the whole town…
He raised such a ruckus that in order for Jesus to complete the work that He had to do, Jesus couldn’t go into a town openly, but remained on the fringes. Banished to the outside, so that he man might remain inside.
See, in a way, you can say that Jesus actually changes places with the man. Jesus touched him and restored him, but it is now Jesus that must stay on the edge of the community that he can no longer enter.
The heroes this morning don’t have any names, they are very simply called, “servant girl” and “leper.” But they both have exercised that divine purpose that we all should in our life, to show others the way to God. They are unlikely messengers, everyday folks kind of like us, with a simple trust in God’s ways and God’s power in their life. God’s ways that reach out, and God’s ways that heal and restore.
When you are here at Church, do you let Jesus touch you, do you let him heal you and restore you or do you put up your guard and just punch your card and go through the motions? Do you let the life giving, and life forming Christ melt the inner-coldness of your soul? Are you here to be engaged in worship and spiritual focus, or are you here to socialize and then just sit back and try to enjoy the weekly show.
If we let Jesus touch us, really touch us, magnificent things will happen, beyond all of our wildest imaginations.
The Psalmist says,
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy.
so that my soul may praise you and NOT be silent.
When you let Jesus touch you, really touch you – you are so filled with excitement that you cannot be silent! You want to scream it from the rooftops and make others realize that Jesus Christ is Lord, is Life, is Love, and is Salvation.
If you let Jesus take your place, bear your burdens, and have your worries, so that you might be healed, then you have truly been touched by the hand of God, and you have been restored to new life… new life in Jesus Christ our Lord…
for this Jesus died, so that we might HAVE life, but not JUST have life, have it more abundantly. Amen!
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