Naaman asks a pretty good question, “Aren't the rivers back home in Syria better than the Jordan River?” Seriously? Dip in the Jordan River? The backwater of some rinky dink little kingdom? To all appearances, the Jordan River's got nothing on the mighty rivers of Naaman's own country. To all appearances, a little splash of water in baptism doesn't seem to have anything on the great spiritual experiences people seem to have. Hearing God or some agonizing feelings of conversion or some peaceful feeling that makes you think God must love you: that's what people are looking for. There are so many strange and powerful experiences people have regarding religion that it doesn't seem like Baptism is really a big deal at all. But here's the thing. The Lord did not tell Naaman to dip in the waters of his home rivers to get rid of his leprosy. He told him to dip in the Jordan River. And He doesn't tell us to go looking for Him in some strange experience or burst of feelings. He tells us that being washed with water and the Spirit is what makes us a new creation and takes our sins away. In other words, the big deal isn't what LOOKS like the big deal. The big deal is the the thing to which the Lord attaches His Word and promise.
The devil always wants to lead us to look for God in our experiences and feelings rather than where His Word promises Him to be for us. That's the religion that Naaman starts with. “I thought he would come out and call on the name of his God and wave his hand over my leprosy.” Yeah, Naaman, that's how they do it on TV. That's what the devil wants us to look for. Something flashy. Or fancy. Or that looks spiritual or religious or miraculous. People love to “experience the Holy Spirit” or get wrapped up in strange History-channel religious puzzles or have some sort of dream or vision and think, “This must be God doing it.” Even if we don't go to those extremes there is still the temptation for us to try to figure God out from the way things are going in our lives. Something good happens and we cry, “God is good!” Something bad happens and we wonder, “Where was God?” But the Lord rescues us from all that sort of thinking by giving us His Word so that we can be certain where He is and what He is up to.
We know from today's Gospel reading that what Jesus says happens. He told the centurion his servant was healed and so the man was healed. When Naaman is told to dip in the Jordan, the Jordan washes away Christ's Word does what it says. But since Christ is Himself the Word made flesh what Jesus says and does is so. Make sense? If Jesus says it, it happens. If He does it, it is accomplished. Naaman would be surprised again. The world doesn't get it. Instead of a powerful shining in glory God who makes sure everyone knows He's God, Jesus is arrested, beaten, tortured, crucified. Doesn't look like God there does He? He doesn't look much like God when His corpse is being taken down from the cross and laid in a tomb. Aren't the rivers of Damascus better? Isn't some good feeling in my heart better? Nope. God dead on a cross. That's what takes away your sins. That's where God saves you. That's where He's most God, when He looks least of all like God and is doing everything for you. That's not the kind of religion Naaman believes in. It's not the kind of religion we'd go for either.
But pay close attention to Naaman. He walks into the water of the Jordan an unbeliever and comes out a believer. That water and Word and promise of God turn Him from one who denies God's truth to one who receives and believes it. He goes in an unbeliever and a leper and comes out a clean-skinned believer. He goes in as an enemy of God and comes out as one of the faithful of Israel. That is the power of God's Word and the water. It's the same power that works when a person is splashed with water and God's Word at the holy font. We bring an unbelieving baby who is stained with the leprosy of sin and they come away healed, forgiven, a child of God. That's what God's Word says happens. It doesn't look like anything fancy. The baby or person doesn't look any different after than before, other than being wet. But what is not seen is what God's Word says: a new name, a new creation, forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil and eternal salvation! Now what does Naaman say? “There's no other God than the one in Israel!” The Lord did that. With His Word.
Your life will be filled with good and pleasant things that may tempt you to conclude that God loves you and is happy with you. Your life will also have its share of troubles and awful things that the devil will use to persuade you that you are doomed and God is against you. The devil will stop at nothing to try to convince you from your experiences or feelings something other than God wants you to know and believe. So learn from Naaman that there is nothing more solid than Christ's Word which does what it says. It can take a river like the Jordan and turn it into a leprosy-erasing bath. So learn from the centurion's servant that when Jesus speaks a thing, it is what it says it is and it gives what He says it gives. Thus you will be freed from trying to “read God” in the experiences and feelings of your life to trusting in Him surely and certainly by the promises He gives in the word and water of Baptism, the words of Holy Absolution and the Words of Institution of His Supper. For those words all say that you have the forgiveness of sins for His sake. That you are a child of God in Christ. That you are a new creation by His Word. That you have eternal life and a God who loves you, no matter what's going on around you. Jesus says it and that makes it so. For you to be certain! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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