Naaman was a powerful respected commander of the king of Aram.  He had at his fingertips all the rights and privileges he could ask for because

He was prideful and self-willed.  He sounds like a businessperson who is climbing the corporate ladder.  He knows what he wants.  He is going to use what ever it takes to rise to the top.  He also sounds like the typical American who has at his fingertips technology.

Naaman’s wife is someone we don’t know much about, but what we do know is that she is living in the lap of luxury because of her husband.  Being married to Naaman gives her all the rights and privileges.  If anyone was anxious about Naaman’s leprosy, it had to be her.  She stood to lose everything when the leprosy spread and Naaman would be exiled to the caves.

Then there is Naaman’s wife servant.  Why would she want to help Naaman?  It is because of him that she is no longer with her family. During one of his raids he kidnapped her. When was the last time you went to the aid of your enemy or someone you didn’t like? Naaman’s wife’s servant girl must be admired not only for showing compassion for her master; she must be admired because she spoke up.  Back in those days a servant girl was to be seen and never heard from.

The complete contrast to the young Israelite girl is the king.  He absolutely freaked out when he read the letter.  Why did he act like he did?  As I raise that question the answer comes to me.  Really how different is he from you and me when we are confronted with a crisis or tragedy?  We panic, we allow the tragedy to blind us, we forget the promises of God and we respond as the king did.

Elisha, the prophet of God.  He had to be disgusted when he heard that the king tore his garments.  I wonder if he contemplated about letting the king suffer a little longer.  I am sure it had to be tempting.  What we do know is Elisha sent word to the king saying, send Naaman to me.  When Naaman arrived he simply said,

Naaman was irate.  He felt disrespected by Elisha.  After all Naaman was a great commander and Elisha had the audacity not to come out and bow himself before him.  To make matters worse he was told to go and simply wash in the Jordan River.

Naaman’s servant came to the rescue. If it wasn’t for him, Naaman might have died a leper, but because he boldly spoke up and spoke the voice of reason, Naaman did as Elisha had told him to.

So which one of these people are you most like?

The self made Naaman, his wife who is anxious about her future, the king who panics in the face of adversity, Elisha the voice of God, Naaman’s servant the voice of reason, or the servant girl the voice of faith?

God desires that we would be the voice of faith. I say this because of our gospel reading from Luke. Jesus sent out seventy-two people, who they are we don’t know, just like we don’t know who the servant girl was.  Jesus sends them out to be the voice of faith to Capernaum.

What kind of training did they have?  How many years of schooling?  The answer is none. What are their qualifications?  They have faith in God.  With only their faith they went out sharing the good news of God.  As a result they returned to Jesus rejoicing and telling him that even demons submitted to them because of the name of Jesus.

Jesus said,

Is your name written in heaven? Is it written in heaven because you share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Is it written because you boldly proclaimed your faith as the servant girl did, as the seventy did?

No Christian should ever think that he or she is totally independent and doesn’t need help from others. We have the opportunity to encourage people. The church functions ONLY when the members work together for the common good.

The last two weeks I had an opportunity to share conversation with Christians from all over the world. The topic of many of those conversations was what is God doing in your life? Over and over again I listened to people who said, “I feel God is doing this in my life. I feel God is using me to: reach lives on college campuses; run a small group in my church; teach abused children about God’s love through art; help people praise God. The stories went on and on.

How is God using you?
Do you pray to God
to be used by him?

If you and I want our names written in heaven, we have to allow God to use us.

Amen