Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004 Eighth Sunday before Easter Theme: Christ, the Healer Sermon: “The River Runs Through” Readings (open all): •  OT: 2 Kings 5 (144 KB) •  Epis.: 2 Cor 12:1–10 •  Gospel: Mk 1:32–45 Hymns: •  Opening: #2, “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty” •  Acclamation: #639, “Surely Goodness and Mercy” •  Gathering: #447, “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God” •  Pulpit: #607, “Immortal Love, Forever Full” •  Closing: #635, “He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought” Instrumental Music: •  Prelude: “My Soul Rests in Thee” (Higgins) •  Offertory: “Melody of the Bells” (Nolte) •  Postlude: “A Psalm of Praise” (Nordman) Choral music: “Heal Us, Lord Jesus” (Smith) Assistants: •  Liturgist: Tami Robinson •  Children’s Time: David Hablitzel •  Ushers & Greeters: Susan Kent & family, Cindy Inscho, Roseann Rice •  Duty Elder: Susan Kent •  Trombone: Dan Brubaker •  Percussion: Bob Thompson

The lectionary picks 2 Kings 5 as an Old Testament match for the Gospel reading in which Christ heals a leper. It has a powerful message, however, in its own right, and I’m preaching on that story, the healing of Naaman, the general in command of the armies of Syria, Israel’s traditional enemy on the north. Find the entire chapter, together with notes, as part of this week’s Bible study. Naaman was afflicted with leprosy. In the Bible, the words leper and leprosy cover various conditions of the skin that are slow to heal and are marked by lesions, flaking, and ulcers. These conditions are not necessarily those of Hansen’s disease or contemporary leprosy.

As a foreigner with leprosy, Naaman was a double outsider: a gentile and one suffering from a revolting disease. His willingness to follow the prophet Elisha’s orders brought him healing from his disease and effected a kind of conversion to Israel’s God. The outsider becomes an insider.

The story 2 Kings 5 pairs him with an insider, Elisha’s servant named Gehazi. Although he is an intimate servant to the prophet, he does not share in the morality of the covenant but is greedy and duplicitous. At the end of the story, his punishment is to be afflicted with leprosy. The insider becomes an outsider.

The story makes a pointed contrast of the rivers of Syria and Israel. The Jordan River is below sea level already as it flows out of the Sea of Galilee and continues hot and muddy as it descends to the Dead Sea. Naaman knows the mountain streams that feed Damascus, the Abana, and the Pharpar. Naaman’s healing through the tepid and dirty waters of the Jordan makes of that river a symbol of the unique power of revealed religion and reminds us of Paul’s claim that the preaching of the Cross is a stumbling block to those who are lost (1 Corinthians 1:23), while the Syrian rivers are a figure for the worldly sophistication (“wisdom”) that rejects the scandal of the Cross (1 Cor 1:21).

The sermon this Sunday will note that First Presbyterian, Bucyrus has a quiet ministry of healing, both in weekly prayers and pastoral ministrations as well as in our healing and communion services on the third Sunday of the month.

In this week’s Epistle, the apostle Paul speaks frankly of a distressing physical condition from which he was never able to find freedom. He says that he prayed specifically, on three occasions, that God would remove it from him. Instead, God told him,

“My grace is sufficient for you, and my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

These are words that have often comforted Christians in their longing for healing from pain and illness.

In this week’s hymns, the pulpit hymn particularly touches the theme of the day: #607, “Immortal love, forever full.” These words are by the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. The fifth stanza is especially comforting,

The healing of his seamless dress
is by our beds of pain;
we touch him in life’s throng and press,
and we are whole again.