Naaman’s Communion
And many lepers were in
Jesus had just read from
Isaiah 61—that wonderful Messianic passage in the Old Testament. He had just publicly read from the scroll in
the synagogue in
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are
oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the
LORD.”
Luke 4:18-19
Those who were searching for
the truth found much consolation in this reading, for Jesus read it as One who
lived it; One who meant it. He read it
with authority.
Those who were closed-minded
and cold-hearted were angered by this reading, because they had no room for God
in their lives. When Jesus said, “Today
this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (verse 21), these people were
offended, and they accused Jesus of blasphemy.
The people just couldn’t
accept Him as a Messiah, because they remembered Jesus as a boy playing with
the other children, and working in Joseph’s carpenter shop. They were, in a sense, too familiar with
Jesus. Too familiar, too casual, too
careless to have faith in Him unto salvation.
This prompted a response from
Jesus:
He said to them, “You will
surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have
heard done in
Luke
4:23-27
Many widows in Elijah’s
day. But only one widow had faith to believe the prophet and do what he
said. Many lepers in Elisha’s day. But only one
leper had faith to believe the prophet and do what he said. Both of these persons of faith were non-Jews
who were generally considered to be outside of God’s circle of hope.
Naaman the leper. Now, there was an outstanding man of
faith. “Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of
Commander of the Syrian army;
great and honorable; a man whom God had blessed; a man of valor. But he was a leper. And this last fact seemed to counteract all
the good qualities about Naaman, in his own mind. He considered himself as being under a death
sentence.
And so after a while Naaman
didn’t enjoy the victories anymore. He
lost interest in the sunrise and the sunset.
The things that used to make him glad no longer had an effect on
him. His position, his prestige, his
favor with the king, the love of the people, it all just didn’t matter so much
anymore. He was a leper. Lepers didn’t have a future.
But God knew Naaman’s
heart. He knew that Naaman was no
ordinary leper. He knew how badly Naaman
wanted to please Him, and how much he wanted to do that which was right.
God spoke to Naaman through a
Hebrew servant girl, who spoke of a prophet in
But as the story goes, the
king of
But the prophet Elijah hears
about Naaman’s request, and the king’s dismay.
He sends for Naaman. And when
Naaman arrives at the home of Elisha in his chariot, Elisha sends out his
servant with a very simple message for Naaman.
It’s a message of cleansing, a message of rejuvenation, a message of
healing, but yet a message that angers and outrages Naaman.
Naaman is told that he must
go to the
“Go and wash in the
Naaman was not pleased at
these directions:
But Naaman became furious,
and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to
me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand
over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the
Pharpar, the rivers of
2
Kings 5:11-12
It’s just like us human
beings to want to go about our cleansing in our own way, our own manner, our
own time, our own location. We wait for
the right people to want to be cleansed along with us. We want to wait until next year or next month
or whenever, to take a stand, do what God says, and be cleansed.
We wait, we postpone, we
complain because God’s directions for cleansing seem so direct:
1. Repent
2. Confess
3. Ask
4. Forsake
5. Embrace
We come to Jesus just the way
we are. We repent of our sins and
waywardness. We confess our wrongs to
God. We ask Him to become our Savior and
to forgive our sins. We tell Jesus that
we are forsaking our sinful way of life, and we embrace Jesus Christ as the
Lord of our lives. When we go through
this simple process that the Bible lays out, God sends His Holy Spirit into our
lives, and His cleansing process takes place in us.
This is God’s way of cleansing. It’s
simple. It’s powerful. And it works.
But it’s not usually what we want, because it’s a humbling experience to
admit that we need cleansing, and to submit to God’s manner of cleansing. We have lifestyle issues and long-held habits
that have a deep hold on us. We think
that it would be too much to give up some of these things. We forget that God has something much better
for us.
We also forget that sin is
described as a leprosy in the Bible. Sin
is eating away at us at an alarming rate.
We may not see the outward signs of the disease as Naaman did, but sin
is definitely a fatal disease. There is
no true peace with sin, and there is no real future.
Naaman’s servants encourage
him to let go of his pride and to go ahead and wash in the
Naaman followed God’s
instructions for cleansing. He dipped
seven times in the
And he returned to the man of
God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed,
now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in
But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive
nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
So Naaman said, “Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads
of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or
sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD.”
2
Kings 5:15-17
What I want you notice here
is Naaman’s change of lifestyle that takes place, as a result of his
cleansing. You see it wasn’t just a
physical cleansing for Naaman. It was
spiritual as well. Naaman gave up his
idolatry. He stopped worshiping other
gods. He determined to worship only the
true God, who had saved him.
This was Naaman’s communion
experience. This was his washing, his
cleansing, his new life. Way back in the
Old Testament here is Naaman entering into a relationship with his Father in
Heaven.
Out of all the lepers in
Elisha’s day, this non-Jew was the only one cleansed. When God looked down at His people often in
those days and in the days that followed, He didn’t find the faith and the
desire to follow God that He found in Naaman.
Look at what God has to say about the sacrifices and round of ceremonies
that His people busied themselves in, in Isaiah chapter one:
“ To what purpose is
the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?”
Says the LORD.
“ I have had enough of burnt offerings of
rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
12 “ When you come
to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
13 Bring no more
futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the
calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred
meeting.
14 Your New Moons
and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread
out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
16 “ Wash
yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from
before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do
good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;[a]
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
18 “ Come now, and
let us reason together,”
Says the LORD,
“ Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
19 If you are
willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
20 But if you
refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 1:11-20
The cleansing process that
God wants to carry out in our lives is a life-changing power. He wants more than our going through the
motions. He wants our hearts. He wants to reason with us, and turn us
around. He will cleanse, if we will
follow. It’s that simple.
The Lord Jesus Christ wants
to cleanse us on this communion Sabbath.
He wants us to enter in with Him in that upper room. He wants to wash not only our feet but our
hearts—our very lives.
The days are short. The time of grace is coming to a close. Soon it will be forever too late to dip in
the river. Soon it will be too late to
be cleansed by the Lord. Don’t delay, my
friend. Follow Naaman’s example, and do
what the Lord says, while there is still time.