The Faith of a Young Slave Girl

Sermon Text || Year C: Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

We don’t always feel like we’re worthy to share our faith with someone else. Maybe we’re afraid of being rejected. Maybe we’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. But if we have access to the greatest gift of all that heals us and makes all things new, then how could we not share it? The gospel text today reminds us that even the testimony of a seemingly insignificant person can make a big difference.

The Faith of a Young Slave

And You Thought Your Speech Was Poorly Received

Have you ever given a speech in speech class or in some other setting like work or school or church and you just know that you bombed it. I mean nothing seemed to go right, you lost your audience, and you may have even made a few people upset.

I think anyone who has put themselves out there like this has had that kind of experience.

Well, fear not because you are in good company. After Jesus started his ministry, he made his way back to his hometown and things didn’t go quite like we’d expect…

Luke 4:21-30

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ”

And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. Luke 4:21–30

Today this Scripture Has Been Fulfilled

Last week we talked about how Jesus sort of cuts and pastes parts of Isaiah 56 over the text of Isaiah 61. There’s a couple ideas behind why Jesus did this. The first that is that Jesus was simply doing a creative reading and Luke is recording it exactly like it happened. The second, and this is the one I lean towards, is Jesus read that entire section of Scripture, and Luke is giving us a clue as to where to start and where to end reading.

The idea is that Jesus fulfills this entire section of Isaiah, a section about the hopes, dreams, and salvation of a people who had been through a lot.

Part of this promise of restoration was the inclusion of other nations. Isaiah 60:3 talks about how kings and nations would come to the light of Israel. After all, God had promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his seed, which is Christ.

So when Jesus sees that all “spoke well of him…” he realizes that they may not have actually picked up what he was putting down. So he doubles down.

Two Examples of God’s Abundant Grace

To show the extent of what God was up to, Jesus points to two stories about God’s abundant grace. The first comes from the life of Elijah.

In this story, Elijah visits with a widow of gentile descent. After he experiences her hospitality, a hospitality that couldn’t be stopped by a famine, he blesses her with unending meal and oil for bread. He didn't stop there, though, for shortly thereafter her son became extremely ill, and his breath left him. The widow thought she had lost her son, but God answered Elijah’s prayer to bring him back.

As Jesus observed, there were many widows in Israel during this time because of the famine, but Elijah only went to a gentile widow.

The next example of God’s abundant grace is the account of Naaman the Syrian. Naaman had leprosy, and he couldn't find any cure for it among his own people. Thankfully, Elisha’s faith preceded him, and Naaman quickly sought out the prophet to find healing from God. But like the story of the widow, there were many with skin diseases in Israel, but only Naaman found healing.

This is a God who colors outside of the lines, and if we read through our Bibles too quickly, we may just miss it.

But here’s a question: how did Naaman know that he could find healing in Israel?

Who Told Naaman?

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 a skin disease. 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 skin disease.” 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. 2 Kings 5:1–5

Alright, let’s think about this. Jesus said that many people had skin diseases during the days of Elisha, so how did this young slave girl know to send Naaman to Elisha?

I can only think of one possible answer: she must have heard of the healing of Miriam and the miracle of Moses. Her parents must have been the ones to tell her about what God could do. So even though she had never witnessed a healing of this kind herself, she knew that if God really was with that prophet in Samaria, then there would be nothing stopping God from healing the husband of her master.

This is incredible!

How many of us, if we were in this little girl’s place, have reasoned that since we haven’t seen God work this way in our day that God must be out of the skin-healing business? How many of us would allow our lack of vision to squash our faith?

Which leads to another question…

Do we walk by sight and not by faith?

Do we have eyes to see the impossible and the courage to boast that this is what our God can do?

Do we trust that the healing we’ve experienced and witnessed through the gospel is worth telling others?

Do we have the faith of a little servant girl from Israel?

Now, you need to be careful with this challenge because you may just find yourself on the edge of a cliff.

Lectionary Reading: February 2, 2024 - Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

Old Testament: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm: Psalm 71:1-6
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Gospel: Luke 4:21-30