“Hope for the Hopeless”
2 Kings 5:1-14
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today’s message comes from the Old Testament Lesson for today 2 Kings 5:1-14. It’s entitled “Hope for the Hopeless,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

1. Have you ever found yourself in a real itchy situation? Maybe you walked through a patch of poison ivy, stinging nettle, poison sumac or got stung by an insect. Needless to say, you felt really uncomfortable after this happened. Maybe you’ve had the chicken pox. This sickness starts out like a cold -- you feel lousy, have a runny nose, and run a fever. Then, all of a sudden, itchy red bumps start to break out all over your body. The itching drives you crazy, but you can't scratch, because that just makes it worse. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling, but it isn't hopeless. But then you opened a bottle of medicine called calamine lotion that helps stop itching. In a few days, the sores go away, the itching stops, and life is back to normal again. Thank God for calamine lotion and other creams that help to relieve us of the pain of that itchy feeling!

2. In the Bible we often read about a terrible skin disease called leprosy. Two of our Bible readings for today talk about this terrible disease. Jesus dealt with a leper in the Gospel reading and the Prophet Elisha dealt with Naaman, who also was a leper, in our Old Testament reading. When someone had leprosy, they were covered with sores all over their bodies. Unlike chicken pox, these sores didn't go away. When someone had leprosy, it was hopeless, because there was no cure. No calamine lotion back then! To make matters worse, other people considered them to be unclean.


3. The Aramean warrior Naaman found himself in a hopeless situation. Even though he was a wealthy man and a great commander of the Aramean army, there was nothing he could do to cure himself of his leprosy. 2 Kings 5:1-5 says, “Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. 2 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. Naaman thought that he could buy healing and cleansing for himself, but he was mistaken. He also thought that a powerful man, such as a king could heal him, but he was also wrong. Despite his misunderstanding of how our LORD works, God still chose to heal him. Isn’t that how God works in our lives? We sometimes expect him to do great things and yet sometimes He works the most insignificant ways to do great and miraculous things!

4. When Jehoram, the king of Israel received the letter from the King of Aram he was completely devastated. He too saw Naaman’s healing from leprosy as hopeless. It’s easy to see why he thought this way. Jehoram didn’t worship the LORD our Heavenly Father, but golden calves. He didn’t share the same simple faith as the servant girl. He was wise enough to realize that the golden calves he worshiped couldn’t heal anyone from leprosy. All the King could do was to tear his garments in frustration. Here’s a king with so much power and authority. But, he couldn’t heal someone with a skin disease such as Naaman. Thank the Lord that God was still determined to bless Naaman, an outsider and enemy of Israel!

5. God did send someone to rescue him from his deadly disease. Elisha, a prophet of God. But, he wasn’t someone of great power or authority such as Jehoram the King of Israel. This troubled Naaman at first. Here’s what happened in 2 Kings 5:9-12, So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman wanted Elisha to at least come outside, look upon his sores of leprosy, wave his hand or do some sort of hocus pocus and heal him of his disease. Instead Naaman gets a promise. We also get promises each day. If we hear them from someone we trust we’ll believe them. As Christians God’s promises never fail! When Elijah told Naaman to wash in the River Jordan and be cleansed, he was as good as cured. But he still had some doubts. Isn’t this what happens sometimes in our lives? We expect God to help us out of our hopeless situations. Maybe things are going wrong at your job, with your family at home or you’re having problems keeping those New Year’s resolutions. Whatever problem you’re dealing with God is still with you. He can help you through any hopeless situation!

6. Later on in the story of Naaman we learn that God kept His promise. Here’s what happened in 2 Kings 2:13-14, Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. How great our God is! Again we see that he worked through the meek and lowly to bring about Naaman’s healing. As he was walking away in anger his servants stopped him. They got him to reconsider Elisha’s help. Maybe this God could do great and mighty things after all? The servant’s got him to think that the problem may not be so much with God, but with Naaman himself. By his unbelief Naaman was rejecting God’s promise and blessing. When he followed God’s words and dipped himself into the water He received God’s blessing of faith and was healed. Some of God’s other promises seem unreasonable. Who would ever think that the man on the cross is the Son of God and that his blood cleanses us from sin? Many reject this teaching as pure foolishness, but to us who have heard God’s Word of promise and have been washed through the waters of Baptism this “foolish word” has saved us. How great God our heavenly Father truly is.

7. We hear of Jesus healing a leprous man in the Gospel lesson for today taken from Mark 1. There’s some interesting facts to this story. Lepers were social outcasts from the towns that they once lived. They were regarded as unclean and untouchable. The Levitical law demanded that whenever lepers came near people, they had to cry out, “Unclean, Unclean!” When they were healed they were to show themselves to the priests to determine whether they were actually healed or not. The man who approached Jesus in Mark 1 didn’t call out unclean. Here’s strike one against him. In the man’s great distress he didn’t want Jesus to walk away from him. He said, “Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Because of his faith, the man knew that Jesus could do this. Compassion filled Jesus’ heart. That’s what He does for you and me. He’s had compassion on us and healed us of our sin in the same way He healed this leper. Jesus actually touched this unclean man! Jesus shows us that when it comes to the requirements of the ceremonial laws, love and compassion take precedence over ritual and regulation. With one simple phrase He cured the leper.

8. Despite the man’s disregard for Jesus’ orders, he still remained healed from his disease. God does this with us as well. He heals us despite our sins and failures against Him. He continues to do so, even though we sin against Him everyday. Nothing that we do on our own can save us. Once we were not a people of God. We were outcasts like Commander Naaman and the leper in Mark 1. We didn’t deserve to be forgiven or given the gift of eternal life. But God sent Jesus to save us from our sins and give us the gift of eternal life. How awesome our God truly is. His great compassion has healed us from sin, the deadliest of diseases. More deadly than Aids, Cancer or any other physical ailment. Sin kills 100% of its victims. But, in Jesus all of us have been healed and given the gift of eternal life. Our situation is no longer hopeless, but full of hope. Remember this the next time you find yourself in an itchy situation. Know that no matter how uncomfortable the feeling, God can get you through it. He loves you very much and has healed you of the disease of sin. He’s prepared for you a much better place to live with Him eternally. A place called heaven. Thanks be to God! AMEN.
BLESSING— Jesus came to bring hope to the hopeless. When you find yourself in a hopeless situation, may our Lord put His hope and trust in you. May He live and dwell within You through the power of His Holy Spirit and keep the knowledge of salvation through Jesus within You. Amen.