LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 102

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104

CONVENTION BIBLE STUDIES

Another act of grace—”To sleep, young man!” While he
sleeps, God creates. Another gift of grace, his Eve. And to
this day, a man has no clear understanding of the wonder
of the woman, because he slept through her creation! Her
beauty he comprehends. His desire for her is real. A great
surprise! “This at last is bone of my bone. This at last, flesh
of my flesh!” “Well, you two, I give you dominion over all
things! Use your authority well.”
All of the above can be seen as God’s gracious activity
for the sake of his beloved children. In that sense, then, the
act of creation is in itself a declaration of God’s Gospel love
for His people.
But despite this, God’s people listen to the pernicious
voice of the Serpent. They are tempted away by Satan,
away from the closeness of the Father, and are hurled away
out of Paradise Eden into a wilderness where they live in
fear, in servitude, and where they will meet death one day.
They will meet death because death comes with sin (Romans 5:12). Sin and death will put, ostensibly, an end to
them forever.
That is, it would be an end forever were it not for the
gracious intervention of the God of love, who extends Himself now graciously to His runaway creatures. We are not
privy to God’s converse, but we know that He gave them a
promise, veiled though it was, when He cursed the Serpent,
that ancient foe, and said, “The man’s Seed will prevail over
you” (Genesis 3:15).
Even our running, first parents ran with a sense of hope
and future, for God had not forsaken them. The pain and
agony they faced now was not God’s doing, but theirs. However, the undoing of that pain and agony, that was indeed
God’s business—and that was accomplished finally and
completely in the person of the woman’s Seed, Jesus the
Christ of God, through His life, His death, and His resurrection.
Since that early day, no one has escaped the pain of sin
and death. But since that early day, too, everyone is given
the opportunity to escape from its everlasting condemnation. You and I know that, we believe it, we rejoice in that
Good News of Jesus in whom the ancient curse has been reversed. And we are here to tell others about it, that they,
too, can live with hope in a world that doesn’t share hope
well at all.

II. Children Teach: Naaman and His Kin
2 Kings 5:1–15
Jesus said, “Unless you become like little children” (Mt
18:3). He loved the kids—and we do too, for they teach us
much about how to witness, how to share the Good News
in fresh and effective ways.
We don’t know her name, this little one. A tragic child
really, she had reason to live in despair and sadness. She
had been ripped cruelly from her family, from her mom and
dad who evidently had loved her and taught her well about
the God who would have mercy on people, the God who was
about the business of bringing health and hope in the name
of the healing Christ, to borrow a phrase from the Mission
statement of Wheat Ridge Ministries.
This all took place 2,850 years ago. A little Israelite girl,
she was. Ripped from the security of her pious home by
2004 Convention Proceedings

heartless soldiers from the army of one Ben-Hadad II, a
king of importance to some in those days. His throne was in
Damascus, and perhaps he was the one who first named
the famous street “Straight.”
The Aramean King Ben-Hadad was celebrating. His
troops under the leadership of the commander, Naaman,
had won victory over the Assyrians. Naaman’s army bands,
pumped up from the victory over the Assyrians, also made
border raids on Israel, taking spoils, one of which was this
beautiful little girl. She is placed in servitude to Commander Naaman’s wife.
Dreaded disease invades the Commander’s body! Naaman, commander of victories, the great one, now faces defeat at the dreaded hand of leprosy. He is on his way down
to death!
The servant girl to her mistress: “If only he would see
the prophet in Samaria! He could heal my master!”
Ben-Hadad hears this from the servant girl and commands a letter be sent to Joram, the weak King of Israel!
“Joram, see that my servant Naaman is healed by the
prophet in your country!” Joram shudders. He has no idea
how to heal anyone, nor does he know that there is a
prophet there in his land who can—Elijah by name.
The story unfolds as Elijah gives healing directions to
Naaman: “Seven washings in the Jordan River!” These directions he only grudgingly follows, not wanting to bath in
the second-rate waters of the Jordan. (Naaman did not
know that this is not simple water only, but water used together with God’s Word and by His command.)
He is healed, and when he is, he gives his life and praise
to the God of Elijah and the God of the little girl. He is
healed because of the witness of a slave girl. She was the
one involved in that “critical event” in the life of Naaman
through which he was healed and saved.
Last May, at Salem Lutheran Church, Springdale,
Arkansas, where I was privileged to serve as interim pastor
for a time, we celebrated “Child of God” Sunday in recognition of National Lutheran Schools Week. Some parents who
had no church home but who had kids in the school came to
the services to give support. In talking with such a family, I
inquired: “Do you folks have a church home?” The little guy,
student at our preschool spoke up for the family, “No, we
don’t have a church, but now we do, don’t we, Daddy!”
Daddy blushed and nodded a tentative “Yes.” We’ll see.
Sunday School in the church basement on Easter Sunday, the teacher says to the youngsters, “Children, what did
Jesus say when He came out of the tomb?” The kiddos
thought and the bright little girl said, “Teacher, I know
what He said.” “What did He say?” “He came out of the
tomb and stood there and put His hands here and said, ‘Ta
Da!’ ”
The kids know how to share the Good News.

III. The Effective Witness
of an Old Grouch
The Story of Jonah
Grouchy old people don’t do so well! “Jonah, go to Nineveh!” “Ouch!” he said, as he ran in the opposite direction.
He figured God would take care of it anyway, so why did he