Three Pastoral Functions Seen In Three Biblical Servants
Please open your Bibles to II Kings 5. Part of the story was read earlier. I would like to recount it in my own words.
The story starts in Israel. A young girl… I am going to call her Nachah… because… well why not? We don’t know how old she was but she lived with her parents in Israel. A raiding party, essentially a group of criminals… plunderers attacked a village in Israel. They probably killed the parents of this girl, kidnapped her and brought her back to Damascus, capital city of Aram, to be sold as a slave. She was purchased by General Naaman and his wife. Losing your parents and being enslaved is horrible. However this seems to be about as good as it could be for her under the circumstances. The General’s wife was kind and Nachah was well-cared for.
So General Naaman contracts leprosy. We don’t have a complete understanding of what leprosy was back then. We know it was a contagious skin disease or a group of contagious skin diseases. On a practical level it was also a social disease. People would avoid those with leprosy… making them outcastes. It is hard to hide because it is a problem that shows up on the outside and we are quick to see and respond to superficial or surface-level problems. There was also a spiritual stigma because people then…. as now unfortunately… tend to assume that if you have a visible flaw, that you must have done something wrong and are now punished by God.
Nachah heard about this and she told the General’s wife… “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” The wife told her husband, and her husband, a very important person, a VIP, in the court of Damascus, told the king… who supported General Naaman going into Israel in search of this prophet. Now did this military general trust the word of Nachah so much that he would go on such a risky and doubtful quest? I don’t think so. But he was desperate. When you are desperate weird or doubtful ideas seem good. I have been there. You embrace hope no matter how uncertain because if you don’t, all you are left with is hopelessness.
The king of Aram writes a letter to the king of Israel, because kings tend to take letters from other kings seriously. Naaman and his servants and a lot of gold, silver, and fine clothes to reward, or perhaps bribe, the prophet traveled into enemy territory.
Arriving in Israel’s capital city of Samaria they have audience with the king there. The king of Israel was frustrated. “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” The king is a little bit whiny, to be honest. The king also tore his clothes because that was how people back then expressed grief.
Thankfully, Elisha the prophet heard about this. We are not told how… but he sends a message to the king, “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
Naaman and his entourage of servants, horses, chariots and treasure all arrived at Elisha’s home. That must have been quite an amazing event to have witnessed. But Elisha does not come out to greet the general. Instead, he sends out one of his servants with a message. We can call him Rapha. Rapha tells Naaman
“Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
Naaman was enraged. The general went to the king of Aram and was welcomed in as a VIP. The general went to the king of Samaria and was accepted in as a VIP. But here he is at this dumpy little house of a prophet, and the prophet will not even come out to meet him. Instead, he treated him like maybe a salesman of tanned leather… only sending out a servant who essentially says, go away and take a bath.
Naaman was a desperate man… but he was also a prideful man. Desperation can lead us to make sometimes foolish decisions, but that is also true with pride. He decided to go back immediately to his homeland. His servants stepped in at this point. One acting as a representative, we can call him Azar, encouraged him to do what Rapha, the servant of the prophet said. The general came all this way… why not do one more little thing?
The general agreed… went to the Jordan river. He washed in it 7 times and was healed. An amazing day!
Now I am going to stop there. Of course, I am sure that most of you know the story continues and there are two major twists that happen later on. I am not downplaying those at all… but I just want to focus on this arc… healthy, to sick, and back to healthy.
And I want to focus on the servants in the story. You are training to be ministers… essentially servants. Servants of God and servants to your people. If that knowledge is uncomfortable for you, now is a good time to rethink your path. There are many stories in the Bible that focus on the servants, even if we often ignore them.
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Servant #1. Nachah. She is the initiator of the story. General Naaman had leprosy, but if she did not tell Naaman’s wife about the prophet in Samaria, there would be no quest… no story.
Nachah provides the ministerial function of Guide. This may seem a bit strange. A young girl in a foreign land guiding a general of the armies of Aram? Frankly, this young girl did not seem to have a lot of knowledge. There is a prophet in Samaria who can heal the general. No name. No address. No cellphone number. Nothing. But good guidance does not need to be highly detailed and directive.
So let’s change the ministerial function to “Guidance without much Knowledge.” This is good… because the temptation in the ministerial role is to try to be Clever. It is tempting to show off what we know. Someone comes to you about a marriage problem. It is tempting to start talking about the 6 types of love based on Greek and Latin. Or perhaps you begin explaining to them their incapatabilities based on the Enneagram, or Myers-Briggs, Taylor-Johnson, or the Big Five. But while you are showing off all of the cool things you know, are you caring for the other person? Or are you caring for yourself— satisfying your need to be seen as clever, knowledgeable, wise. You do not know the situation of the other person as much as God. You do not know what the person needs do as much as God knows. Guiding with a little knowledge helps the other person depend on God— God’s Word and the Holy Spirit… rather than depending on you.
The servant girl, Nachah, in the story of General Naaman the Leper did not know much. But she was able to guide him in the area that he truly needed. He needed to know that there was hope, and a gentle push in the right direction. The little guidance she gave was enough.
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Rapha, the second servant was Elisha’s servant who served as a messenger, letting Naaman know how to be healed. The second pastoral function is Healing… Healing… but without much skill.
When Naaman finally gets to Elisha’s home. Elisha does not come out.
Instead he sends Rapha, described as Elisha’s messenger, to pass on the prophet’s words to him— go to the Jordan River and wash yourself seven times to be healed. Naaman was angry. He wanted to be healed by the prophet… the professional healer… not simply get a message from his untrained servant. People want to see the expert. Years ago one of our children had a serious eye problem. It was an unusual problem and the closest expert on this specific problem was in Manila. We set up the apointment. Had some specialized tests done in Baguio. Then we got up really early, collected the results of our tests, took a bus to Manila and after a few hours we were at the specialist’s office. It was there we found out that the expert doctor had decided to take leave and cancel all appointments. Another doctor talked to us who was not the expert. We were angry. We were frustrated. We did not go all of that way to Manila simply to have our appointment canceled by the only person who could help us. We wanted an expert.
In fact… that is the temptation for a pastoral person— to be seen as the expert… especially an expert healer. If you as a pastor, or a chaplain, or as a seminarian visit a sick person, you will be asked to pray for them. Why? Typically, they believe that you as a religious professional have prayers that are just a bit more UMPHH then their own. In our chaplain training at Bukal we encourage trainees not to yield to that temptation. We want the sick to trust God, NOT trust the chaplain.
Naaman wasn’t happy that Rapha, a mere servant, came out rather than Elisha. Naaman 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.” In a different context he may have said… “I expected someone who would sprinkle me with holy water… mark me with the sign of the cross with olive oil… dust me with salt… blow cigar smoke or spit Tanduay on me… all while saying some holy sounding incantation. Why didn’t he put his hand on my forehead and shove, and say “I declare thee healed!!” But the servant was not a healer and that’s okay because Naaman did not need a healer. He needed a messenger… a servant. The servant could not heal. Frankly, even Elisha could not heal of his own ability. Naaman needed to hear the message of the one who truly heals. He did not need someone to wave his hands over him. He needed to hear the word of the Lord and obey it. Rapha did not provide what Naaman wanted, but rather what he needed.
We in ministry love to be the expert. We love it when people believe that we are a bit closer to God… that our presence and words have more power— that our requests are put on the top of God’s to-do list.
God doesn’t need a bunch of experts. The second servant, Rapha, WAS a healer— he connected Naaman to the Message of healing. We connect those in need with the resources of healing— the One who truly heals.
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The third servant, Azar, is listed as the servant who joined Naaman on his journey. He served as the spokesperson for the rest. The servants as a group exhibited the pastoral function of sustaining. Naaman was a sick man… having leprosy. But the servants traveled with him in his illness and shame through Israel— enemy territory. They even called him “Father,” a term of both honor and affection. Azar carried out the ministerial function of Sustaining… but really Sustaining with Little Power. They had no real authority, wealth, or influence. They had little power. They were simply servants.
Those who are hurting, struggling, and shamed, need our presence… a ministry of abiding. We walk with them, sustaining them and encouraging them to keep progressing. But when things get too difficult and they refuse to go on— we don’t leave them behind. And we don’t carry them. We can’t. We stop and remain with them until they move forward. Many here are probably familiar with the Christian poem, Footprints in the Sand. It describes Christ carrying us when we are too weak or tired. It is a nice poem, but I don’t think that God works that way very much. I don’t think God carries us very often. I think God is more conerned about us than He is about getting to the destination on time. Usually when we stop, he stops and abides with us. What about us as ministers? We certainly can’t carry others even if we want to. We can barely carry ourselves. Our temptation is to “Be the Hero.” To be the Savior. But God is the Savior… the Hero. Really, people need us to abide with them…. helping to sustain them through the difficult times.
In the story, Naaman had servants who traveled with him to care for him wherever he went. They sustained him, abiding with him and encouraging him. Unlike the case of Nachah, who told Naaman something he did not know, Azar told the general something he already knew. Namaan was ranting about how he had been insulted and told to do some stupid silly thing to be healed. Azar 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’!”
Naaman was willing to give a king’s fortune to be healed. He was prepared to walk through fire or do most any extreme thing to be healed. He already showed this by traveling into enemy territory as a military general without his army risking his own life to be healed. Naaman already knew that he would do most anything… even something seemingly stupid or silly to be healed. He just needed a bit of help to remember this.
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So here are my three bits of advice for those of you getting ready to leave here and serve in the place prepared for you…
Be like Nacha. a Guide, without much Knowledge. Don’t try to be the Clever One… the know it all. The world is overflowing with such people. God is the one who knows it all… not you. Help gently guide people to seek wisdom from God.
Be like Rapha. A Healer without much skill. Don’t try to be seen as an expert. Far too many experts out there. God is the expert and the one who truly heals… not you. Help people trust in God as healer.
Be like Azar. A Sustainer without much power. Don’t try to be the Hero. God is the true Hero. In their struggles, help them to call on the name of the Lord.
