Lather, Rinse and Repeat
a sermon by the Rev. Eleanor Stanton, Saratoga Springs, New York
based on 2 Kings 5: 1-14
During the youth group's last trip to Europe, we visited an art museum in Dresden that had a large number of paintings depicting biblical stories or portraits of biblical figures. On one wall, there was a huge canvas of old Simeon at the temple holding up the baby Jesus. On another was Hagar, driven into the desert with her son Ishmael. As I identified each subject, I'd say, "Oh that's Mary Magdalene" or something like that. I didn't think anyone was listening until one of the teens asked me, "How do you know?" So I explained some of the symbols artists have used to identify different characters. I found myself wandering through the gallery with our teenagers, telling them not about the artist but about the stories behind the paintings.
While most of the paintings depicted biblical characters in biblical dress, there were also a number of paintings with biblical characters dressed in contemporary clothing. Well, contemporary for the 17th century. There was a painting of Jesus meeting the two disciples at Emmaus and everyone, even Jesus, was dressed in European clothing. I figured that at least one of the sixteen faces in that painting belonged to the artist's patron, who wanted to be portrayed as a disciple of Christ. There were
portraits depicting plump European ladies as the Virgin Mary – complete with jeweled gowns, necklaces and beaded headdresses. Not very biblical, and yet true to the understanding that the Bible is our story and we don't have to look very hard to find ourselves within its pages.
Take today's story about Naaman and Elisha… Naaman is a powerful, successful man. He's good at what he does. He's wealthy, has a nice family, and influential friends. He's got everything going for him, except for one thing: he has leprosy.
Unfortunately, leprosy turns all his positives into a negative. Now the word we translate as "leprosy" is also used to mean any disease of the skin. So it's possible that Naaman didn't have a degenerative disease, but he did have something wrong with him that moved him from the center of power to the fringes of his society.
Can you relate? I find it easy to imagine a modern-day Naaman. Things are going great for him, he just has one problem that seems to be ruining everything else. Is it a drinking problem? Addiction? Uncontrollable anger? Whatever it is, that one thing
just seems to leak all over everything else and ruin it.
Whatever was wrong with our biblical Naaman, it wasn't going away on its own and he, with all of his talents, couldn't fix it. I know he must have been getting desperate. He was willing to take advice from anyone. He was willing to travel to a foreign country for a cure. He was even willing to go to the king of a country that he'd been at war with in the not-too-distant past. But all that bravery was wasted because the king of Israel couldn't do a thing for him.
Luckily, Elisha heard what happened over at the palace and sent for Naaman. But when Naaman and his entourage arrived outside Elisha's house, he wouldn't even walk outside and talk to him face-to-face. Elisha just sent a servant out to tell him to go wash himself in the river seven times. Elisha didn't even follow it with "and see me in the morning." His message pretty much said, "go wash then go away."
Well, Naaman wasn't used to being treated like that. I don't know what offended him more: (1) that he didn't get the respect he expected, (2) that Elisha didn't cure him instantly, or (3) that he was asked to do something so… easy. After all, Naaman was a warrior. He's done more difficult things than washing. There's no prestige in just washing. ANYBODY can wash.
And right there, Naaman's pride almost caused him to walk away from the very transformation he'd been hoping for. I don't know whether he was unwilling to do something that anybody could do or maybe it was the repetition that bothered him. You see, he couldn't wash just once, he needed to "lather, rinse, and repeat" seven times.
That's when my own face stared back at me from the story. I have to say that I'm not much on "lather, rinse, and repeat" myself. I hate to repeat. It's more exciting to do something difficult, something that takes all my energy and attention, and then to finish it. But repeating… well, that's the difference between getting married and staying married. It's the difference between redecorating your house and keeping it clean.
There was a time when the children were smaller when I despaired of keeping my house clean. Keeping. Hah, I wasn't sure I could even get it clean some days. Then I found this website that told me the secret to keeping a clean house was simply keeping my sink clean. Keeping my sink clear of dishes at all times, the writer assured me, would have a transformative effect on my kitchen, which would in turn have a transformative effect on my entire house. All I had to do was commit to keeping my kitchen sink empty… every day.
You know, it worked. It sounded ridiculous when I first heard it – and it still sounds ridiculous to say it – but that one thing made a huge difference. The problem with it, as I quickly discovered, is the sheer unglamorous repetition of it. When I saw Naaman complaining about doing something easy, but doing it over and over and over again, I'll confess that my eyes drifted to my sink… filled again with dirty dishes.
The hard fact is that it's easier to get started on these projects than to keep at them. And yet, just like Naaman, our lives can be transformed when we commit to little things. There are lots of things like that… simple little things that if we do them over and over and over again have the power to transform our homes, our health, our relationships, our finances, our lives.
The sad thing is that we already know what these little things are that we should be doing. But the good news is that God seems to bless little things that are done faithfully. God seems to bless the people who are willing to be faithful rather than successful… with success. God seems to want to bless all people. Naaman wasn't a Jew. He was Syrian. He'd been fighting Israel; taking their people prisoner. And yet, he wasn't beyond God's love. God's blessing waited for him to reach for it, just as it waits for us.
Each of us has areas in our lives that need blessing, that need healing, or just some firming up. What if the wholeness that we want is already within reach? What if all we have to do is be willing to do some small thing, but do it over and over again? Would we really, like Naaman, walk away from the fullness of life just because we're not willing to "lather, rinse and repeat?"
Naaman was lucky. He didn't face this challenge alone. He had a number of people helping him, guiding him, supporting him, as he reached for the change he needed in his life. But even that group wasn't enough. He might have still walked away at the last minute if it weren't for the servant who loved him enough to stop him, to ask him to think about what he was doing. His servant helped him choose life over his pride.
We're lucky, too. We have people who will help us, encourage us, and support us as we reach for transformation. We shouldn't try to go it alone but, like Naaman, seek the support of our group. And when other supports fail, we also have someone who will reach out to save us. Jesus, who called himself a servant, calls us to choose the fullness of life rather than our own pride.
Jesus called his followers to be faithful rather than successful and yet their faithfulness transformed them. He commanded them, and us, to do things that can't be completed… only repeated: love God with all your heart, mind and soul; love your neighbor as yourself; turn the other cheek; be merciful. These aren't things that can be accomplished in one try. They are part of the daily challenge of living faithfully. And so, every day, we are given another chance to do them. Every day we are given the opportunity to build a lifetime of faithful transforming commitment, one day at a time.
"Follow me," Jesus said, "Love others as I have loved you." May the Lord give us the heart to lather, rinse, and repeat, as long as necessary.