INTRODUCTION:

I’m going to give you a statement right up front and I’m going to ask all of you to be thinking about how Naaman being healed of leprosy has everything to do with God and you and the people around you.  The statement is this:

There’s No Shortage Of People Who Need Jesus

We’re going to look at that statement from two different angles.

One of the days during those three years or so that Jesus went around preaching and teaching and healing, he made a stop in the town where he grew up – Nazareth, a place where people knew him.  They’d heard that the hometown boy was now a recognized teacher and Jesus knew they’d want a show.  “Do some miracles here like we hear you’ve been doing elsewhere.” 

That’s when Jesus made a reference to the part of the Bible that we call 2 Kings 5.  A foreign army general from the enemy nation up north (Syria) came to Israel, saw Elisha and was healed of his leprosy.  The cutting comment Jesus made to the people in his hometown – There were plenty of lepers in Israel.  Did you catch that?  On purpose God chose to heal a foreigner [Jesus was saying], because, for a long time now, you’ve been thinking you don’t need what he has to give.  Guess what!  Naaman was an example of God taking his grace elsewhere.  Tell God often enough that you don’t need what he’s offering, and he will oblige.

Could it be that we run that risk, the risk of sending Jesus packing?  We’re talking to Jesus with our schedules: car fixing, child raising, email forwarding, internet browsing, house cleaning, hobby pursuing, money making, TV watching, video game playing VS. bible reading, scripture studying, time spent praying.  “I don’t know, Jesus.  I’m pretty booked.”  (I have trouble fitting you in = I don’t need you.)

Coldness toward others that I don’t care about, grudges I won’t let go of, hatred I prefer to hold onto…  (Sorry, Jesus, I can’t help how I feel = I don’t need Jesus or his forgiveness).   With my opinion of myself I’m talking to Jesus.  I attend… I contribute… I volunteer… I have never… But I’ve always… Do you know how long I’ve…  (Fixation with me = Jesus, I don’t need you).

We tell him that often enough, and those haunting words of Jesus make their way into our ears.  “There were plenty of lepers in Israel.  You don’t need me? I’ll move on.”  We wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences if Jesus responded to what our actions have told him:  “You don’t need me?  Fine, have it your way.  It won’t be hard to find someone who does.”

There was once a person who was caught in the middle of all this.  God’s son came from heaven to earth and by and large his own people didn’t want him, didn’t think they needed him, ended up wanting to rid the earth of him.  The Father who sent his Son from heaven knew it all along. “They need you more than anything else.  They’re lost without you.” 

And then, there Jesus was in the garden called Gethsemane.  Suffering a scathing curse for the sins of everyone lay immediately before him and Satan was screaming, “You don’t need this.”  Jesus cries out in agony, “Father, there’s no other way?”  The silent headshake gave the answer (no).  Jesus knew.  “The people I love need this and there’s no other way.  They can’t live without this.”  So on he went to shame and death.

We need Jesus because of who we are and what we’ve done.  We need him because there is no other path to God and no other way to glory.   “Lord God, show your grace to everyone but don’t take it from me.  There’s no shortage of people who need Jesus and you could easily take him elsewhere, Lord, but don’t. I’m at the top of the list for needing him most!  I need my debt to be cleared.  (Done!)  I need to be washed clean. (I baptize you.)  I need your forgiveness.  (Take and eat.)  I need Jesus.  (You have him.)  One thing to learn for sure from the Naaman story:  Don’t blow off the blood of Christ that delivered you from hell.  It is too precious!

How Naaman came to believe in that truth just the same way we do is quite a story.  A captured Israelite slave girl tells her mistress about a prophet in a foreign land, Mrs. Naaman goes and tells her husband, he goes to the King of Syria, the King of Syria writes to the King of Israel, the King of Israel gets outraged, word of mouth brings this news to Elisha, Elisha summons Naaman, a servant of Elisha's talks to Naaman, Naaman rejects the instructions given him, storms off, gets collared by his servants, finally goes to the Jordan River, washes seven times and is healed, and then professes his faith in the true God who forgives all people through the sacrifice of his Son (same confession we make)!

So…  you know any disease-riddled, short-tempered, godless, heathen people in the military, in need of God’s grace?  Maybe, maybe not, but you do know some Naaman’s.  There were plenty of lepers in Israel, but the Israelites had no need for God, so he showed himself and his grace to a Syrian army commander.  There are plenty of Naamans in America, men and women and boys and girls who might seem to be the last people on earth who would have any interest in Jesus Christ, people who actually might seem like they would sooner burn his image than bow before him.

But how did Naaman end up in the family of God?  The Israelite slave girl didn’t speak to him directly and Elisha didn’t talk with him face to face either.  Yet, one simple little faith-filled comment from a little girl is what God used to set things in motion so that one day you will gather at Jesus’ throne with a man named Naaman, joining him and countless others in worshiping the King.

There is no shortage of people who need Jesus, people who need him just like you and I do, people who may seem outwardly upright or who certainly appear to be openly immoral.  You know, better than I do, whom you would consider to be the unlikeliest person to believe in Jesus.  With the account of Naaman God has a serious and sincere word to share with you.  Give up on no one.  Pass no one by, friend or foe, known to you or not.  Witness to everyone.  Pray for them all.  There is no telling how the Lord will use the simplest of comments about the grace and love of Jesus.  Plant a seed.  Plant a thousand.  Let God make it grow.

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