How often in this highly advanced, ultra-technological, scientific age, do we expect a ‘quick fix’ for the things that are broken?  Do we expect to find an ‘expert’ to consult for every single ill - of ourselves or of the world?  Do we seek answers or solutions from the wrong people or places?

These are some of the questions that sprang to mind when I considered the account of Naaman’s healing, in our first reading from the 2nd book of Kings. He received wise counsel from, what in his day was a most unlikely source: a humble, lowly slave girl. Naaman - brave and successful commander of the Syrian army. Naaman - who gave orders to others and they obeyed.

Naaman - in high favour with his master, the King of Aram.  That Naaman actually listened to such a person - a young, female, Israelite, taken captive to serve his wife - is a miracle in itself. It is also a sure indication that his affliction of leprosy had brought him to the end of his tether.  Given his high position, we can imagine Naaman had access to the physicians of Syria and all who attended the King, but still none had managed to cure him.

It is also clear that the servant girl had been taught the faith well and believed in God. She either knew or knew of the prophet Elisha and even though there is no recording of him ever having been used as an instrument of God’s healing before, her faith is strong enough to believe he can cure Naaman. That Naaman took notice of her is surprising.

So he presented himself to Elisha amid much pomp and ceremony, with a letter from the King and all the royal trappings. Clearly, Naaman expects Elisha to stand to attention in much the same way as one of his soldiers might, but Elisha does no such thing. Instead of waving a Holy Magic Wand (which is what Naaman implies he expects), Elisha tells him to wash in the Jordan seven times, which incidentally would have been cold and some think particularly excruciating to leprosy-ridden skin. Do this, says Elisha, and ‘your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean’.

This, of course, is a test. A measure of obedience is needed to believe in God. So this is a trial of Naaman’s obedience. Elisha knew Naaman to be a proud man and he was letting him know that before the great God, all people stand on the same level. It was not what Naaman expected. Despite his dire situation, he had forgotten, 1) that he was a leper, which according to the law of Moses, shut him out from society, and 2) that he was a petitioner - he was in no position to demand anything: beggars must not be choosers and patients must not prescribe to their physicians.

It is only when his servants approach him that Naaman realises his stubbornness. Is it such a difficult thing, they ask, for you to wash in the River Jordan seven times? And when, finally, he does, we are told “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.”

Here, perhaps, it is good for us to have those around us who will be honest with us, who will faithfully tell us of our faults and not be afraid of our reaction. We all need to have our ears open to good advice, sometimes from unexpected people, when it is given respectfully, out of love.

Naaman’s healing parallels that of the leper in today’s Gospel reading.

We’re not told the name of that person. It is actually unimportant because healing stories in the New Testament always focus on the healer, that is, Jesus, the Son of God, who is sent by God to restore and redeem His people. Jesus is the Physician with a capital P.

You will be aware that we are developing a Ministry of Healing. Through our Healing Fellowship - which, by the way, is not exclusive, anyone can join - members of our team churches meet together for prayer, fellowship and hospitality. And through regular Healing Services, prayer and the laying-on-of-hands for healing is offered.

The church’s Healing Ministry spans an enormous breadth of need in this broken world: for the healing of relationships, nations and lands; for the healing of creation itself. If these concerns are your concerns, please look out for ways in which you can be involved: the Healing Fellowship is not an elite group, it is a catalyst for God’s healing - consulting the past, listening to the present, to inform the future.

As Christian disciples we are all life-long learners, on the way to wholeness; that is, seeking to be at ease in body, mind and spirit, until we reach the point when we are at one, with Him and in Him.

Listening is part of gracious hospitality: making time and space to listen to the other person is one of the greatest gifts we can give to each other. We all know how good it feels when we have really been listened to.

One of the learning opportunities that will soon be offered is a Christian Listeners course, so look out for the dates if you are interested. Christian Listening is a valuable tool whatever we are involved in. It is a good place to start in the context of Christian Healing, because it recognises the need to hone our listening skills in order to listen to the other person; to ourselves [silently, as it were], and to God, simultaneously. Such three-way listening is soaked in prayer - before, during and after any encounter.

As we have acknowledged, even with all our scientific advancement, nobody knows how transformative healing happens. Such healing remains hidden, part of God’s mystery. Nonetheless, the people of the book - the biblical community treasures stories of specific transformative healings that have been wrought - we confess - by the power and mercy of God.

Both of today’s readings tell of a dreadful, concrete need. Both tell of inexplicable power offered through an individual human agent. Both culminate in a rehabilitated person who has done for him what he cannot do for himself. The church’s - our treasuring of and witnessing to these marvels is not diagnostic or explanatory. It is pure and simple testimony of what has been seen and heard - and we trust the witnesses! Which reminds us, we need to share with each other our stories of God’s work in our lives, too.

The first and most appropriate response to God’s transforming work in our human lives is gratitude. Gratitude to God is possibly not a particularly ‘cool’ gesture in a society governed, as ours is, by a culture of self-sufficiency!

The kind of thankfulness that I’m thinking of is expressed in today’s Psalm (30), when the Psalmist says:

We don’t need to understand or manage everything in the world if we can learn to depend upon God. He knows our needs and has the power to meet them.

God forbid that any of us should suffer from leprosy or any modern-day equivalents. But many of us have bits of ourselves or of our lives that we would rather hide from others, keeping hidden the things of which we are ashamed. Like Adam and Eve after eating the forbidden fruit, we may unsuccessfully attempt to hide our shame from God too. But we only fool ourselves.

The leper who approached Jesus does not doubt Jesus’ ability to heal him but he prefaced his words of faith with, “if you are willing”. Treated as an outcast of society, perhaps after a history of rejection and resulting low self-esteem, the leper was unsure how Jesus would react. He might have worried that Jesus would view his disease as punishment from God, which was the common thinking of the day. But no, Jesus’ response was full of compassion, he touched this leper whom everyone else shunned; he demonstrated such love and, consequently, healing.

In our own lives, let’s remember Naaman’s willingness to listen to advice from an unexpected source, resulting in his albeit, at first, reluctant willingness to listen to and take Elisha’s advice and, thus, receive healing.

Let’s remember the leper’s boldness in approaching Jesus whilst still unclean and be encouraged by Jesus’ response to him. The fact that he was cleansed and given a fresh start tells us that such healing and acceptance is there for us too.

Healed people are thankful people. They are not indifferent or lackadaisical. Healed, grateful people resolve to live a very different life.

Healing takes many forms and we may not have all the answers to life’s questions - including why God lets bad things happen, but in faith and child-like trust we are encouraged to “cast our cares upon the Lord.”

As members together in this Body of Christ, let us go on learning how to listen to God; to listen to each other; to listen to those in the other circles in which we move, and to seek God’s healing day-by-day, that we may live our lives as thankful, transformed people.