The Chicken or the Egg?

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 9 – Year C

July 7, 2013

2 Kings 5:1-14

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel."

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me."

But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

A few days ago it was the Fourth of July, the celebration of our declaration of independence from Great Britain.  I’m sure ours was not the only family that grilled out for the Fourth.  To not grill out seems somehow not right.  When you think of the Fourth, most people think of grilling hamburgers and hot dogs.  And, if you’re like me, whenever you grill out, you get an echo of the Fourth of July regardless of what time of year.  Grilling and the Fourth of July go perfect together. But, which came first in the relationship?

One of the questions that armchair philosophers like to bat around is: which came first? the chicken or the egg?  Was the chicken first, and from that first chicken was the first egg laid?  Or did the egg come first, and from that egg the first chicken hatched?  But if the chicken came first, where did it hatch from?  And if the egg came first, who laid it?  Now obviously, this is a question that has no real answer (except to say that God made whichever came first).  Of course, that answer isn’t sufficient for armchair philosophers so the arguments go back and forth, with people staking their positions on either side of the issue.  On one side you have the egg people, and on the other the chicken folk.  And from those positions they set forth their arguments.

Some arguments go on and one without either side really coming out ahead in victory.  It’s like an argument between two children about which teacher is their favorite.  Or, which is better Coke or Pepsi?  Or, how do you pronounce potato – Po-tay-to or Po-tah-to?  There are some arguments that are as much about personal preference as about what is the correct answer, because there is no answer.  Or at least not an answer we know or can find.

In Christian circles, one of the questions that probably falls into that category is: do you have faith because you were saved?  Or, are you saved because you have faith?  Does the fact that you have been saved, that God has claimed you as a child of God awaken within you the faith to recognize God as the source of that salvation?  Does the awakening of faith within your soul bring you to recognize that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the door to paradise, salvation itself, has been opened to you?  Which brings us to our text from 2 Kings about Naaman.

Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram.  He was in charge of thousands, tens of thousands of soldiers.  He had proven himself again and again in battle – he probably had multiple wounds to show for his efforts.  Yet, it wasn’t the sight of his wounds that caused people to look upon him with fear or disgust.  He had a skin disease.  Most translations call it leprosy.  He was marked by the disease.  No matter where he went, it was clear there was something wrong with him.

The thing about a disease in difference to a war injury is contagiousness.  A horrible disfiguring scar across the face may make you very uncomfortable to look at, but you would never be worried about catching such a scar from him.  Yet, if you saw someone whose face was covered in boils, or whose nose seemed to be rotting off their face you would not only look upon them with great discomfort, you would be worried about catching it from them.  Naaman may have been at the top of the pile as far as his career went, but every where he went people avoided him.  Little boys in Aram dreamed of growing up to be like Naaman, but not like him.

           

Naaman, because of his position was far from poor and had most likely already been to every healer and physician in Aram, so when he heard about some prophet in Samaria who would be able to heal him, I’m sure even though his ears perked up they didn’t perk up that high.  So he goes to his king, his boss, and asks for a letter of introduction.  And of course, a little something to grease the wheels; well, more than a little.  Naaman brought with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten full sets of sumptuous garments. It can be difficult to understand in modern terms just how much all this would be, but suffice it to say that the silver alone weighs some 750 pounds; not to mention the gold or the fancy clothing.  If it was possible to buy healing, Naaman certainly brought enough with him.

Of course, in the end Elisha doesn’t want money – he actually refuses it.  And when Naaman gets to Elisha’s door, the prophet doesn’t even come out – he sends his messenger instead.  Naaman was a powerful man, he wanted a powerful healing, something to match his prestige.  Naaman wanted a miraculous, and powerful healing – Elisha to wave his hands over the diseased area and it would be healed.  He wanted the prophet himself.  This close to the Fourth, we can say he wanted to see fireworks.  Instead, he’s told to take a bath.  And not just a bath, he’s told to take 7 dips into a muddy river.  He came all this way to be told that?  It’s an insult of the highest degree.

When he is finally convinced to enter the water, he doesn’t do so expecting anything to happen.  In fact, I’m sure he did it just to shut his servants up.  Yet, even though he doesn’t expect it, even though he thought that Elisha was a joke, he entered the water and found his healing.  Only after he had been healed did he make a declaration of faith – in the verses following our reading.  Naaman’s healing came before his faith- it was his healing that caused his faith to bloom.  In religious terms, healing is often synonymous with salvation.  So, in this story, Naaman was saved first, and because he was saved, he came to believe in the God of Israel.

The question about faith and salvation though, is a lot like the question about the chicken and the egg.  There may not be an answer – at least not one we can see.  At times, it seems as if salvation comes first – or at least an awareness of God reaching out to you, and after that comes faith.  At other times it seems as if faith develops and grows until salvation becomes apparent.

One of the ways we in the church speak about faith coming about is with the means of grace – a fancy label for the word of God, baptism and communion.  We claim that in these three things, in the reading, speaking and hearing of Scripture, in the waters of baptism, in the sharing of the bread and the cup, the Holy Spirit comes to us and ignites and sustains, within us our faith.  Yet, even here, we see the chicken and the egg.  Does our faith cause us to listen with hungry ears to the scripture, or does the scripture cause us to hunger for something more?  Do the waters of baptism serve as a confirmation of our faith, or as the beginning of a lifelong journey?  When we gather around the table of our Lord, do we come to the table in faith, or do we come to faith at the table?

These are questions that we may never answer.  Today we will gather around God’s table, and share in the cup and the broken bread.  We will come to the table in faith, yet also praying and trusting that in this meal our faith will grow.  We will be sustained in our journey; we will be recharged and refueled to continue.  All of us have come to this place from different places, even though we may have family connections they are no guarantee that we agree in all aspects.  We all probably come to the table with differing thoughts regarding the sacraments, how we think about them, how we understand them, how we see God active in them.

Some of you I’m sure have noticed that my 2 young girls take the bread when the plate is passed.  Do they have a deep, theological understanding of communion?  Can they speak about the differences between transubstantiation and consubstantiation?  No, yet they do know that in communion, when they eat the bread, they take a bit of Jesus into their hearts – and in that is faith.  As the years pass they will grow in their understanding and in their faith.  Who am I to withhold from them one of the declared ways in which the church understands that faith grows?

Please, understand, I am not saying that you need to follow our example.  I’m not saying that my way is the right way – it’s probably another of those chicken or the egg things.  I’m just asking you to think about it.  Naaman came to faith only after experiencing God.  How often in Jesus’ ministry did he bring healing and salvation before faith?  Did not God send Jesus to bring salvation to the world before the world believed?

Come eat and drink, taste and see the goodness of God.  And in that moment may our faith grow, may we find our salvation and may we experience our unity with the entirety of the Christian faith; those who have been, those who are, and those yet to come.  Amen.