WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.599 God used a girl you've never even heard of to 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:08.519 make a general go take a bath. That's how this 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:18.140 works. Starts with a raid you don't see coming. 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:22.160 A village at dawn. A girl taken into a house 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:26.399 that isn't hers. No name, no say. Just a sentence 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:30.739 whispered from the back room, if only. And that 00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:33.640 quiet word travels through a wife to a general 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:37.560 past the king down to the muddy river until a 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:40.880 proud man kneels and comes back new. The miracle 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.240 everybody remembers begins with the voice, nobody 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:47.320 does. And wherever you are right now, driving 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.259 a dark stretch of highway, standing in the kitchen 00:00:50.259 --> 00:00:52.920 with a coffee going cold, sitting in a dorm room 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:55.340 with your thoughts getting loud, you just found 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:57.299 your way into our little church in Oklahoma. 00:00:58.189 --> 00:01:00.229 The doors are open, the people are real, the 00:01:00.229 --> 00:01:02.689 word is still moving. So slide into the pew, 00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:06.370 take a breath, and listen close. And friend, 00:01:06.469 --> 00:01:14.109 I'll see you on the other side. So this morning 00:01:14.109 --> 00:01:16.769 I want to tell you a story you probably haven't 00:01:16.769 --> 00:01:19.409 heard before. And I don't mean that it's one 00:01:19.409 --> 00:01:21.870 of the stories you heard in Sunday school and 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:25.890 forgot. I mean, it's one the Sunday school teacher... 00:01:26.299 --> 00:01:30.459 Never got around to. One the lectionary skips 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:34.620 over. One that has been sitting in your Bible 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:38.680 between the miracles everybody preaches. Genealogies 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:43.400 nobody reads. Waiting for someone to slow down 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:46.859 long enough to notice what's actually in it. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:51.040 So before we get there, let me set the story 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:54.620 real quick. This morning, we are in the second 00:01:54.620 --> 00:01:59.879 book of Kings. Old Testament now. And the kingdom 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:04.540 is already set. And so we have a northern kingdom 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:09.080 and Israel to the north, the southern kingdom, 00:02:09.259 --> 00:02:12.919 Judah in the south, Solomon, the guy who built 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:17.360 the temple, his glory days are long gone. And 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:23.659 kings rising and falling pretty much one worse 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:30.069 than the next. Prophets are the only thing holding 00:02:30.069 --> 00:02:35.289 the thread together at this moment. Elijah has 00:02:35.289 --> 00:02:38.930 already gone up in the chariot of fire, and his 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:43.669 student Elisha has picked up the mantle, literally, 00:02:43.710 --> 00:02:49.310 and is now the prophet of Israel. And he's doing 00:02:49.310 --> 00:02:53.789 miracles, but quietly. The axe heads floating, 00:02:54.069 --> 00:02:58.469 widows' oil multiplying. But it's the kind of 00:02:58.469 --> 00:03:03.349 work that's happening in kitchens and along riverbanks, 00:03:03.409 --> 00:03:09.430 not in the palace. And to the north of Israel 00:03:09.430 --> 00:03:16.129 sits Aram. Aram, and that's modern -day Syria. 00:03:17.090 --> 00:03:22.860 And they're not allies. Syrian raiding parties 00:03:22.860 --> 00:03:26.259 come across the border of the Northern Kingdom 00:03:26.259 --> 00:03:30.219 regularly. They burn, they take, and then they 00:03:30.219 --> 00:03:34.240 go home. And one of those raids is where our 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:37.680 story begins. Not with a general, not with a 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.900 prophet, but with a girl whose name we never 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:43.800 learn, taken from her home and carried into the 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:48.050 house of the enemy. But we'll get to her. First, 00:03:48.229 --> 00:03:52.750 I want to introduce you to the general. Because 00:03:52.750 --> 00:03:56.650 the general is how God gets you to lower your 00:03:56.650 --> 00:04:02.110 guard. His name is Naaman. He is the commander 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:08.169 of the army of Aram. That's Syria. He's decorated. 00:04:08.370 --> 00:04:14.629 He's respected. The text says that the Lord... 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:20.060 Yahweh, had given victory to Aram through him. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:26.360 So even the narrator of 2 Kings admits this man 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:30.680 has been used by God already, and he doesn't 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:36.079 even know it. He's a pagan general running errands 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:43.439 for Yahweh without a clue. And he has leprosy. 00:04:45.069 --> 00:04:50.230 Now, picture this man's life. The armor polished, 00:04:50.529 --> 00:04:54.870 the house full of servants, the king's favor 00:04:54.870 --> 00:05:00.529 draped over him like a second robe. And underneath 00:05:00.529 --> 00:05:07.930 it all, the skin is falling apart. He is covered 00:05:07.930 --> 00:05:15.660 in metals and covered in disease. And no amount 00:05:15.660 --> 00:05:23.319 of rank can make that rot stop spreading. So, 00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:26.680 when the word reaches the king of Syria that 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:30.259 there is a prophet down in Israel who can heal, 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.660 the whole official machinery kicks into gear. 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:39.360 Naaman doesn't just go to see the prophet. He 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:44.040 goes through proper channels. The king of Syria 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:48.019 writes a letter to the king of Israel, diplomatic 00:05:48.019 --> 00:05:51.540 pouch, official correspondence between heads 00:05:51.540 --> 00:05:56.259 of state. And Naaman loads up the convoy, 10 00:05:56.259 --> 00:06:00.180 talents of silver, 6 ,000 shekels of gold, 10 00:06:00.180 --> 00:06:03.600 sets of clothing, and rolls south with a motorcade 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:08.769 fit for a summit. And he shows up. at the king 00:06:08.769 --> 00:06:11.870 of Israel's palace, and the king reads the letter 00:06:11.870 --> 00:06:18.550 and tears his robes. Am I God to kill and make 00:06:18.550 --> 00:06:24.389 alive? That this man sends someone to me to carry 00:06:24.389 --> 00:06:28.990 him on his leprosy? The whole political system 00:06:28.990 --> 00:06:33.290 short -circuits because nobody in the palace 00:06:33.290 --> 00:06:37.040 knows what to do with a miracle request. That's 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.300 come through the proper channels. And Elisha 00:06:41.300 --> 00:06:47.220 hears word of this. And he sends word back. Send 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:53.939 him to me. So the convoy rolls up at Elisha's 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:59.720 house. Horses, chariots, gold. Standing at the 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:03.980 door of what is most certainly a modest house 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:08.660 in a modest neighborhood. and the general, Naaman, 00:07:08.740 --> 00:07:15.100 waiting there for the prophet to come out. But 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:19.360 Elijah doesn't come out. He sends his servant, 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:24.600 Gehazi. And Gehazi walks out. He looks up at 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:28.060 this decorated general sitting on a chariot, 00:07:28.060 --> 00:07:32.879 with the sun glinting off his armor, and says, 00:07:34.250 --> 00:07:38.189 Go wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:45.470 will be restored. Then Gehazi goes back inside. 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:54.050 That's it. No audience. No laying on of hands. 00:07:54.149 --> 00:08:00.350 No dramatic invocation. The most powerful military 00:08:00.350 --> 00:08:04.930 figure in the region. Just got the same treatment 00:08:04.930 --> 00:08:09.430 as a note taped to the door. Go wash in the river. 00:08:09.490 --> 00:08:15.490 Have a nice day. Kay thinks bye. Naaman is furious. 00:08:16.889 --> 00:08:20.209 And listen to what he says, because it tells 00:08:20.209 --> 00:08:24.709 you everything about how this general sees the 00:08:24.709 --> 00:08:28.740 world. He says, I thought he would surely come 00:08:28.740 --> 00:08:31.980 out to me and stand and call on the name of the 00:08:31.980 --> 00:08:35.779 Lord his God and wave his hand over the place 00:08:35.779 --> 00:08:41.919 and cure the leprosy. Are not the Abada and Parfar, 00:08:42.100 --> 00:08:45.500 the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:49.399 waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:55.679 them and be clean? He has a ranking system for 00:08:55.679 --> 00:09:01.980 rivers. There's a hierarchy of water. The rivers 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:05.899 back home are wider, cleaner, more prestigious. 00:09:06.419 --> 00:09:14.220 The Jordan is a ditch compared to Damascus. And 00:09:14.220 --> 00:09:21.340 if he's going to be healed, to him, That healing 00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:24.720 must come from some place that matches his dignity. 00:09:26.100 --> 00:09:32.220 Because that's his theology. The impressive thing 00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:37.399 must, should come from the impressive place. 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:43.539 That big miracle should arrive in the big package. 00:09:44.419 --> 00:09:48.340 The general should get the general's treatment. 00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:56.649 And his servants, unnamed, unranked, the ones 00:09:56.649 --> 00:10:01.490 who carry his bags, they're the ones who talk 00:10:01.490 --> 00:10:06.809 sense into him. Father, if the prophet had told 00:10:06.809 --> 00:10:10.309 you to do something great, wouldn't you have 00:10:10.309 --> 00:10:16.129 done it? How much more then, when he tells you 00:10:16.129 --> 00:10:22.149 to wash and be clean? If he'd have said climb 00:10:22.149 --> 00:10:26.090 a mountain, you'd have climbed it. If he'd have 00:10:26.090 --> 00:10:28.669 said fight a lion, you would have fought it. 00:10:30.250 --> 00:10:33.149 But now he simply says go get in the creek and 00:10:33.149 --> 00:10:38.090 that's beneath you? Your dignity is the disease, 00:10:38.389 --> 00:10:45.970 sir. The cure requires you to get low. And Naaman 00:10:45.970 --> 00:10:51.740 goes down. Seven times. Not once. He has to keep 00:10:51.740 --> 00:10:56.639 choosing with each dip. Each dip in the river 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:00.639 is another surrender. The water closing over 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:04.279 the head of a man who has never bowed to anyone 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:08.639 and has to come back up and go back down under 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:14.360 again and again and again and again until the 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:19.740 number is complete. Seven. And the text says, 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:23.320 his flesh restored like the flesh of a little 00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:29.399 child. The Hebrew here is specific. Naarkatan, 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:37.559 skin of a small boy. The general's skin becomes 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:43.720 a child's skin. The powerful man is made new 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:50.519 by becoming small. He comes back to Elisha dripping 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:56.700 wet, eyes wide open and says, now I know that 00:11:56.700 --> 00:12:00.419 there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:06.419 A Syrian general, a pagan, confessing Yahweh 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:11.440 on Israelite soil with river water still in his 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:15.320 beard. Don't take my words for this story, friends. 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:19.509 Let us. Consume this story for ourselves. Attune 00:12:19.509 --> 00:12:22.450 your hearts and your ears to the reading of Holy 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:25.570 Scripture this morning. Our passage comes to 00:12:25.570 --> 00:12:27.629 us from the second book of Kings, chapter 5, 00:12:27.730 --> 00:12:31.450 beginning at the very first verse. Now Naaman, 00:12:31.610 --> 00:12:34.450 captain of the army of the king of Syria, was 00:12:34.450 --> 00:12:37.730 a great man with his master and honorable, because 00:12:37.730 --> 00:12:40.789 by him Yahweh had been given victory to Syria. 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:45.309 He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was 00:12:45.309 --> 00:12:49.620 a leper. The Syrians had got out in bands and 00:12:49.620 --> 00:12:51.899 had brought away captive out of the land of Israel 00:12:51.899 --> 00:12:55.639 a little maiden, and she waited on Naaman's wife. 00:12:56.039 --> 00:12:59.460 And she said to her mistress, I wish that my 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:02.580 lord were with the prophet who was in Samaria. 00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:07.600 Then he would heal him of his leprosy. One went 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:10.019 in and told his lord, saying, The maiden who 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:13.899 is of the land of Israel said this. And the king 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:17.519 of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:21.039 to the king of Israel. He departed and took with 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.480 him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:26.580 of gold, and ten changes of clothing. He brought 00:13:26.580 --> 00:13:30.100 the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:33.039 when this letter has come to you, behold, I have 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:36.159 sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:39.440 him of his leprosy. When the king of Israel had 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:42.480 read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, 00:13:42.539 --> 00:13:45.360 Am I God to kill and to make alive that this 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:49.559 man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:53.580 But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:58.840 against me. It was so when Elisha, the man of 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:01.240 God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:04.679 clothes that he sent to the king saying, Why 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:08.600 have you torn your clothes? Please let him come 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:12.480 to me now. He shall know that there is a prophet 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.419 in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and 00:14:16.419 --> 00:14:19.659 with his chariot and he stood at Elisha's house. 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.779 Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, Go and 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:25.960 wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh 00:14:25.960 --> 00:14:28.500 shall come again to you and you shall be clean. 00:14:29.820 --> 00:14:33.779 Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:37.399 I thought, he will surely come out to me and 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:41.139 stand and call on Yahweh his God and wave his 00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:45.779 hand over the place and heal the leper. Aren't 00:14:45.779 --> 00:14:51.700 Abana and Parpar the rivers of Damascus better 00:14:51.700 --> 00:14:55.139 than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash 00:14:55.139 --> 00:14:57.919 in them and be clean? So he turned away and went 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:01.100 with rage. His servants came near and spoke to 00:15:01.100 --> 00:15:04.019 him and said, My father, if the prophet asked 00:15:04.019 --> 00:15:06.500 you some great thing, wouldn't you have done 00:15:06.500 --> 00:15:09.940 it? How much rather than when he says to you, 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.740 wash and be clean? Then he went down. He dipped 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:16.200 himself seven times in the Jordan, according 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:18.960 to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:21.120 came again like the flesh of a little child. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.590 And he was clean. He returned to the man of God, 00:15:24.690 --> 00:15:26.750 he and all of his company and came and stood 00:15:26.750 --> 00:15:31.669 before him. And he said, behold, now I know that 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:34.409 there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. 00:15:35.529 --> 00:15:39.929 Now, therefore, please take a present from your 00:15:39.929 --> 00:15:44.710 servant. But he said, as Yahweh lives before 00:15:44.710 --> 00:15:48.990 whom I stand, I will receive none. He urged him 00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:53.279 to take it, but he refused. Naaman said, if not, 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:56.840 then please let your servant be given two mule 00:15:56.840 --> 00:16:00.840 loads of earth. For your servant will from now 00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:04.659 on offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifices 00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:09.700 to other gods, but to Yahweh. In this thing, 00:16:09.700 --> 00:16:13.460 may Yahweh pardon your servant. When my master 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:16.649 goes into the house of Rimon, to worship there, 00:16:16.789 --> 00:16:19.970 and he leans on my hands, I bow myself in the 00:16:19.970 --> 00:16:23.370 house of Rimon. When I bow myself in the house 00:16:23.370 --> 00:16:27.409 of Rimon, may Yahweh pardon your servant in this 00:16:27.409 --> 00:16:32.649 thing. He said to him, go in peace. So he departed 00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:37.950 from him a little way. Thus ends reading Holy 00:16:37.950 --> 00:16:42.370 Scripture this morning. Now, I want to go back 00:16:42.370 --> 00:16:46.509 to verse 2. Because we just spent 10 minutes 00:16:46.509 --> 00:16:51.049 with the general, his convoy, his gold, his rivers, 00:16:51.149 --> 00:16:56.929 his pride, his dipping, his miracle. And we nearly 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:01.110 forgot the way the text nearly forgets, the way 00:17:01.110 --> 00:17:05.130 every sermon on this passage nearly forgets, 00:17:05.130 --> 00:17:14.029 that none of it happens without her. Verse 2, 00:17:14.930 --> 00:17:18.730 and the Syrians had gone out on raids and had 00:17:18.730 --> 00:17:22.210 brought back captive a young girl from the land 00:17:22.210 --> 00:17:27.289 of Israel. One verse, that's all she gets. One 00:17:27.289 --> 00:17:31.289 verse for her entire existence in the story. 00:17:33.150 --> 00:17:38.309 Captured, enslaved, serving, three verbs, she's 00:17:38.309 --> 00:17:43.130 finished. The story. The narrator moves on. Naaman 00:17:43.130 --> 00:17:47.150 moves on. The sermon moves on. But we're not 00:17:47.150 --> 00:17:53.369 moving on this morning. Because we need to feel 00:17:53.369 --> 00:17:58.410 what's underneath those three verbs. The Syrians 00:17:58.410 --> 00:18:01.890 had gone out on raids. And you know what a raid 00:18:01.890 --> 00:18:05.569 probably looks like in the ancient world. Soldiers 00:18:05.569 --> 00:18:08.349 crossing a border at dawn. A village that isn't 00:18:08.349 --> 00:18:11.950 expecting them. Doors kicked open, livestock 00:18:11.950 --> 00:18:17.250 scattered, people screaming. Men cut down, women 00:18:17.250 --> 00:18:23.029 and children sorted like grain. The useful ones 00:18:23.029 --> 00:18:28.789 loaded onto carts, the rest left behind or worse. 00:18:30.009 --> 00:18:36.990 She was a child. The text calls her Naara Katana. 00:18:37.930 --> 00:18:44.380 Naara? Katana. A young girl. A little girl. It's 00:18:44.380 --> 00:18:49.039 the same kind of word that's used for Naaman's 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:54.559 new skin after the healing. A small one. She 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:56.619 didn't choose to leave home. She didn't pack 00:18:56.619 --> 00:19:00.539 a bag. She didn't kiss her mother and say, all 00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:06.400 right. She was taken. Pulled out of her life 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:11.180 like a tooth. and carried north into the house 00:19:11.180 --> 00:19:14.059 of man whose soldiers had burned her village. 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:19.359 And she ends up in the back rooms, serving Naaman's 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:23.339 wife, drawing water, folding linen, invisible. 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:28.420 She has no name in this house. She only has a 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:35.480 function. She is the help. And from that back 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:40.559 room, from that invisible life, in a language 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:43.960 that probably still tastes foreign in her mouth, 00:19:44.140 --> 00:19:49.299 she says to her mistress, if only my master would 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:55.079 see the prophet who is in Samaria, he would heal 00:19:55.079 --> 00:20:00.740 him of his leprosy. Listen to what she is doing. 00:20:02.740 --> 00:20:07.259 She is speaking healing. over the man who has 00:20:07.259 --> 00:20:12.400 stole her. She's offering the God of Israel to 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:15.380 the general of the army that destroyed her home. 00:20:16.539 --> 00:20:21.259 She has every right to hope that leprosy eats 00:20:21.259 --> 00:20:26.960 him alive. Every right to stay silent. Every 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:30.359 right to let the disease do what diseases does 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:33.920 and watch from the back room while her captor 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:40.579 rots away. And instead, she opens her mouth and 00:20:40.579 --> 00:20:43.380 speaks the one sentence that changes everything 00:20:43.380 --> 00:20:47.839 in the story. Now, she can't say this to Naaman. 00:20:48.420 --> 00:20:52.380 She doesn't have that kind of access. She says 00:20:52.380 --> 00:20:57.059 it to his wife, sideways, the way the powerless 00:20:57.059 --> 00:21:02.119 always speak. Not as a declaration, but as suggestion. 00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:07.450 Not a sermon, but a whisper in a kitchen. If 00:21:07.450 --> 00:21:15.630 only. And that whisper travels from the wife 00:21:15.630 --> 00:21:19.210 of Naaman, from Naaman to the king of Syria, 00:21:19.450 --> 00:21:22.789 from the king of Syria to the king of Israel, 00:21:22.950 --> 00:21:27.289 from the king of Israel to Elisha, from Elisha 00:21:27.289 --> 00:21:30.970 to the Jordan, from the Jordan to a man kneeling 00:21:30.970 --> 00:21:36.230 in muddy water with new skin. And every link 00:21:36.230 --> 00:21:41.890 in that chain traces right back to a girl in 00:21:41.890 --> 00:21:45.410 a back room who decided to bless the man who 00:21:45.410 --> 00:21:51.549 had ruined her life. Now here's the part in the 00:21:51.549 --> 00:21:57.670 story I can't stop thinking about. Because after 00:21:57.670 --> 00:22:02.650 Naaman is healed, he goes back to Elisha, right? 00:22:02.750 --> 00:22:07.279 He offers gifts. Elisha refuses them. Naaman 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:12.059 asks for two mule loads of Israelite dirt. He 00:22:12.059 --> 00:22:15.819 wants to worship Yahweh on Yahweh's soil when 00:22:15.819 --> 00:22:20.799 he gets back to Damascus. He asks permission 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:25.779 to bow in the temple of Rimnon when the king 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:31.039 of Syria leans on his arm. And Elisha says, go 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:36.579 in peace. They have a whole conversation. The 00:22:36.579 --> 00:22:40.240 general gets closure. General gets theology. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:47.779 The general gets a future. Girl gets nothing. 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:56.960 Nobody says let her go home. Nobody sends a chariot 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:03.720 back to her village. Nobody asks her name. Naaman 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:07.240 rides back to Damascus with clear skin and Israelite 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:11.819 dirt and a new God. And she's still in the back 00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:16.880 room, still serving, still unnamed, still to 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:25.799 help. The text doesn't fix it. And I want it 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:34.559 to. I want verse 19 to say, And the girl was 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:39.279 returned to her family with honor. But it doesn't. 00:23:40.460 --> 00:23:43.099 The story closes around Naaman's healing and 00:23:43.099 --> 00:23:49.099 leaves her where it found her. Invisible. Essential. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.740 Forgotten. And I think this is the truest part 00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:58.059 of this whole chapter. Because some of you know 00:23:58.059 --> 00:24:02.460 what that room feels like. You've been the one. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:05.140 You said the right thing to the right person 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:07.839 at the right time, and nobody remembers you said 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:12.559 it. You carried something sacred into a house 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:16.539 you didn't choose for people who did not deserve 00:24:16.539 --> 00:24:20.660 it. And when the miracle landed, somebody else's 00:24:20.660 --> 00:24:25.019 name was wrapped all over it. You've been fateful 00:24:25.019 --> 00:24:32.400 in the back room. Nobody came for you. Road didn't 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:36.740 feel like triumph. Felt like service without 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:42.480 recognition. Obedience without applause. Carrying 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:45.180 something holy in the wrong direction of your 00:24:45.180 --> 00:24:50.579 heart. You did it anyway. Not because you were 00:24:50.579 --> 00:24:54.059 brave, but because something in you wouldn't 00:24:54.059 --> 00:24:58.740 let you stay silent. Something in you spoke the 00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:01.920 word that needed speaking, even though no one 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:04.180 asked for your testimony and no one was going 00:25:04.180 --> 00:25:07.880 to give credit to your account. But that's not 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:13.000 obedience. That's following a calling on your 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:17.420 life. And here's what I need you to hear before 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:22.559 you leave this room this morning. Her name is 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:30.059 not in the text. But her sentence is. And 2 ,800 00:25:30.059 --> 00:25:36.279 years later, we are still here reading it. The 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:41.980 system didn't record who she was. But God kept 00:25:41.980 --> 00:25:47.579 what she said. Verse 2 is still right there. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:53.039 Every time someone opens this chapter and finally 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:59.019 sees her. Not the general, not the prophet, not 00:25:59.019 --> 00:26:03.920 the river. Every time someone opens this story 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:11.579 and sees her, her testimony arrives again. Right 00:26:11.579 --> 00:26:14.599 from the back room, without credentials, without 00:26:14.599 --> 00:26:22.720 a name, and it still heals. Rivers heal. They 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:26.230 don't have rank. And neither does the voice that 00:26:26.230 --> 00:26:30.849 sends it. So please, my dear friends, go from 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:33.890 this place this morning. Go knowing that God 00:26:33.890 --> 00:26:36.210 does not need your name on the marquee to use 00:26:36.210 --> 00:26:39.849 your mouth. He does not need your title, your 00:26:39.849 --> 00:26:43.950 platform, your standing, or your access. He needs 00:26:43.950 --> 00:26:48.450 your sentence. The one true thing you know how 00:26:48.450 --> 00:26:51.490 to say from whatever room you've been planted 00:26:51.490 --> 00:26:55.720 in. And if nobody remembers you said it, if nobody 00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.720 sends a chariot back, that word, friends, it 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:04.079 still travels, still reaches the river, still 00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:08.200 makes generals kneel. And may the God who hears 00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:12.019 the unnamed, who keeps the words the world forgets, 00:27:12.019 --> 00:27:15.259 who heals through back rooms and muddy creeks 00:27:15.259 --> 00:27:19.440 and little girls the text almost misses, may 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:22.549 that God meet you where you are this morning. 00:27:23.289 --> 00:27:26.910 Remind you that your testimony was never inadmissible. 00:27:27.150 --> 00:27:31.710 It was just early. The river, the river's still 00:27:31.710 --> 00:27:42.130 running. Amen. Amen. Maybe you see yourself in 00:27:42.130 --> 00:27:44.589 the story, but maybe you don't see yourself as 00:27:44.589 --> 00:27:48.460 the hero. Maybe you've been the one in the back 00:27:48.460 --> 00:27:52.039 room, faithful, unseen, carrying a word that 00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:55.480 seemed to go somewhere else without you. And 00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:59.259 if that's you hear this, nothing you spoke in 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:03.480 obedience was wasted. The God who hears the unnamed 00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:07.259 still keeps every word. And maybe you've been 00:28:07.259 --> 00:28:10.019 the one resisting, standing at the edge of the 00:28:10.019 --> 00:28:12.920 river, unsure if it's worth stepping into. Stay 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:16.079 with it. Same grace that met Naaman in the mud 00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:18.859 is still meeting people right where pride runs 00:28:18.859 --> 00:28:22.220 out and surrender begins. So wherever you find 00:28:22.220 --> 00:28:25.599 yourself today, named, unnamed, or somewhere 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:29.420 in between, river is still running. And if something 00:28:29.420 --> 00:28:31.420 you heard today caught you a little off guard, 00:28:31.539 --> 00:28:34.180 maybe a thought you hadn't considered or something 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:36.960 familiar that landed a different way, go ahead 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:38.759 and throw your like in the offering plate, just 00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:41.319 like we do down at the church. No pressure, just 00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:43.849 a quiet way of saying I was here. And it mattered. 00:28:44.089 --> 00:28:46.769 And if you'd like to keep walking with us Wednesdays 00:28:46.769 --> 00:28:49.589 and Sundays, die that subscribe. That way you'll 00:28:49.589 --> 00:28:52.450 know when we're gathering again. Till then, friend, 00:28:52.690 --> 00:28:53.650 be blessed.