Loving God, you continue to remind us of your power to heal – especially through your Son, Jesus.  By the power of your Spirit, help us to experience your healing, forgiveness and freedom, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

           In our ongoing journey through the Old Testament, we have now entered the time of the kings, and it has already been over 100 years since David was king of Israel.  There is now another king, who is not named in today’s reading.  It might have been Jehoram or Jehu, but either way this was not a king who worshiped the Lord. Otherwise, he might have actually known that there was a faithful prophet in Israel named Elisha.  However, throughout today’s reading, it is not the people in power who actually know what’s going on.  Rather, it is the servants – the “lesser” people – who know how to get healing for Naaman.

         In fact, if it wasn’t for those servants, Naaman might never have been healed at all.  It is an Israeli servant girl who tells Naaman’s wife about the prophet in Samaria who could heal him.  Then, it is a messenger from Elisha who tells the king of Israel to stop being so silly and send Naaman to him.  It is a messenger who tells Naaman to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times.  Then, it is Naaman’s own servants who convince him to actually do what the messenger has said.  There are very few healing stories, it seems, where the person who is healed has so many preconceived notions to overcome.

         To begin with, he needs to believe the words of a servant girl from a foreign country.  Then he needs to get past the king of Israel, who, in spite of being the king, apparently doesn’t know about Elisha. Then he needs to get past his own ideas about how Elisha will come out and wave his hand over the spot and cure him. And his own pride almost prevents him from humbling himself and doing what the prophet has instructed him to do. At least once he gets past all this, he actually is healed and comes to believe in the God of Israel.

         Seeing as this is also All Saints’ Sunday, there are perhaps two people in today’s reading who might be referred to as saints.  Elisha seems the obvious choice, as the power of God is at work through him in order to heal. At the same time, though, perhaps the servant girl from Israel would also qualify.  After all, she remains faithful to her God even after she has been captured and taken to a foreign land.  She is also willing to help her captor find healing.  Are these not the actions of holy people?

         In Lutheran circles, at least, saints come in many different shapes and sizes.  A saint is literally a holy person, and some of them probably seem holier than others.  This is because, at least in Luther’s understanding, we are saints and sinners all at the same time (simul justus et peccator).  We actually become saints when we are baptized.  God unites us with Jesus Christ so that we share in his holy life and death and resurrection.  Our job after that is to “grow up into Christ” – to become the holy people that God has already made us.

         As we do so, some of us are fortunate enough to experience healing along the way.  Others among us pray for healing and feel as though our prayers have fallen on deaf ears.  This is a challenge to our faith, for not all of us are always able to pray “your will be done” and actually mean it!  The thing is, though, that our prayers for healing can be answered in many different ways.

         Sometimes God’s answer is, “not just yet.”  Sometimes, God does respond with miracles, and at other times the healing happens quite gradually.  Sometimes, God knows that we need a different type of healing than what we think we need.  And sometimes, healing happens through being released into the life to come.

         It is interesting today that we hear about two different people who were healed of leprosy, and one of them seems to create obstacles for himself every step of the way.  Yet, God still heals him.  However, in the other case, the leper who comes to Jesus has no doubt that Jesus can heal him if he chooses.  And Jesus says to him, “I do choose. Be made clean” (Mt. 8:3). Sometimes Jesus heals by a simple touch. Sometimes he sends people to go and wash.  And sometimes Jesus just says the word, and the person is healed.  Whichever is the case, there is no doubt that the power of God is at work through Jesus in order to bring healing.

         However, we also discover today that God works through ordinary saints.  God works through servant girls who are stuck in a foreign country yet continue to worship God.  God works through servants who convince their master that he should just do it already. God works through ordinary people who touch the lives of others at the food bank or in the hospitals or at care homes. God works through ordinary people who volunteer their time in their congregation, or working with refugees, or in their community.  God works through ordinary people who allow the power of God to be at work in them in order to bring healing to others.

         Today we give thanks for some of those ordinary saints who are no longer with us in bodily form, but continue to be with us in the communion of saints.  At the same time, we acknowledge that we continue to need God’s power to heal – whether physically or mentally or emotionally or spiritually.  And so, we continue to pray, and to worship, and to give thanks, knowing that Jesus heals, forgives and sets us free.  For he came for us and for all, showing the power of God for salvation.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

All Saints’ Sunday (NL 1)                           2 Kings 5:1-15a

November 4, 2018                                       Matthew 8:2-3

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved