Seven Washings, seven Sacraments

 

Deacon Dave · Seven Washings, Seven Sacraments

Homily for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Oct. 13, 2019. 2 Kings 5:14-17 (for the full story read 5:1-19). Theme: Seven Washings, Seven Sacraments 

Today’s reading from the Old Testament about Naaman the Syrian took place around 850 years before the birth of Christ and it is one of my favorites. But unfortunately for some reason our liturgy has us dropping into the story almost at the end. If we don’t read it all then we’ll miss out on some extremely important details that enable us to better appreciate Naaman’s cure and his coming to faith in God. And by extension we miss out on how we can come to a deeper experience of God in our lives. So, allow me to quickly fill in the back-story of what is missing. 

Naaman was the prestigious commander of the great Syrian army. In one of his many raids upon Israel, he had captured a young girl as a slave for his wife. After he contracted leprosy, this slave-girl told him about Elisha, a powerful prophet of the True God back in her homeland. She assured him that through this holy man he could be healed. So, Naaman set off seeking the cure. Being a pagan who is used to a lot of fanfare and frenzy in his religious practices, Naaman expected that the God of Israel would manifest himself by means of some awesome dazzling displays of power. However, no such spiritual fireworks were connected with his cure. Elisha simply told Naaman to immerse himself seven times in the Jordan River if he wished to be healed. Naaman was insulted and grew furious! He felt like he'd been treated disrespectfully and made to look like a fool. In his wounded pride, he refused the offer, packed up and intended to head back to Syria. However, 

Naaman’s servants convince him to at least give it a try. They reason that if Elisha had told him to do some bizarre things, such as jumping up and down and chanting magic incantations, he would have surely done so. Then why not do as the prophet said and wash seven times in the Jordan River? They encourage him to at least give it a try and to see what happens. It’s at this point that we enter the story in our reading. And as we now know Naaman was indeed healed of leprosy and through this miracle was converted to faith in the One True God. 

This story speaks to me very clearly about the Seven Sacraments through which we encounter God’s presence and power in our own lives today. Our sacred rituals are so much like what we see in Naaman’s experience of God because they make use of ordinary things to bring the extraordinary into our lives. And like Naaman, I think that it’s so easy for us to at times doubt that the presence and power of God can indeed come to us through these simple rituals. We can find it hard to believe that God’s healing and grace truly comes to us and changes us through such things as the water of baptism, the oils of Confirmation and Anointing, the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the laying on of hands at Ordination, or the vows of Matrimony. 

I mean who could imagine that simply through the pouring of water in baptism, we are healed of our spiritual emptiness and put into a right relationship with God? And how incredible does it sound that ordinary bread and wine at the Eucharist are truly transformed into the Body and Blood of the Risen Lord Jesus? Or that through our simple expression of sorrow in Confession our deepest sins are completely erased and our dark past is utterly obliterated by the mercy of God? And yet this is precisely what happens to us and for us through the Sacraments. 

But let’s not forget that Naaman wasn’t cured simply by going through the action of washing in the Jordan River. More importantly, he was healed because along with “the doing” he had “the believing”. Naaman trusted in the promise and power of God even if he didn’t understand how it would work. And so should it be for each one of us in regards to the Sacraments. You see, they are not magic rituals. Their spiritual power doesn’t depend solely upon saying the right words or doing the right actions. If that is how we view them then we have a pagan approach to religious ceremony just as Naaman did in the beginning. On the contrary, we must come to the Sacraments with faith in the Risen Christ in our hearts, trusting that he will reach out to us and touch us through the ministry of his Church, just as God once reached out to Naaman and healed him through the ministry of Elisha.