July 4, 2010

“Rocket Science Religion”

2 Kings 5:1-14; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

 

How many of you plan on being around fireworks today? Be careful. Someone recently said that a July 4^th celebration doesn’t really begin until something blows up.

I’ve always wondered about people who manufacture fireworks. Did they start off their careers wanting to be rocket scientists and just never passed the final exam?

I wonder about people in general who just like to blow things up or create a big mess for a living. The following story comes from the California Poultry Industry Federation: The US Federal Aviation Administration has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane’s windshield at approximately the speed the airplane flies. The theory is that if the windshield can withstand the carcass test impact, it’ll survive a real collision with a bird during flight. Apparently, the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, high-speed train they were developing. They borrowed the FAA’s chicken launcher, loaded a chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken not only shattered the windshield, but went through the engineer’s seat, broke an instrument panel, and was imbedded in the back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to review the test to see if everything was done correctly. The FAA reviewed the data thoroughly and had one recommendation: “Thaw the chicken.”

Is this a possible hint at the reason we are celebrating our independence from the British today?

One of my favorite phrases is, “This ain’t rocket science.” This refers, of course, to something that is much easier or simpler than people generally think it is. This is particularly true, I believe, in terms of spirituality or faith. People often want to make it more difficult than it needs to be. I have dubbed this phenomenon “Rocket Science Religion.”

We find a proponent of Rocket Science Religion in our lesson today from 2 Kings 5:1-14. Naaman is a commander of the army of the Arameans (modern day Syria), enemies of the neighboring Israelites. The biblical writer is somewhat enamored with him, calls him “a great man,” and claims that Israel’s god has given Naaman victory in battle, even over the Israelites themselves. Things are going pretty well for Naaman. He’s like a rock star in Aram. But he has a problem. He has leprosy, which, in biblical terms just means that he has an irritating skin problem. It could be almost anything really, but it is bad enough to seek healing.

Ironically, it is an Israelite girl, captured on one of his successful raids against Israel, who tells Naaman there is a prophet in Israel who can cure him. So he asks permission from the king of Aram to go to Israel to seek this prophet. The king writes a letter addressed to the king of Israel asking permission for Naaman to see this prophet. Obviously, there is some kind of peace agreement at this point between the two nations because in addition to this letter, Naaman feels he needs to bring silver, gold, and fancy garments to pay for his healing, otherwise, as a conquering general, he would have simply demanded healing.

The story provides a lot of insight into the political climate of this time because the king of Israel believes this as an attempt to create animosity between the two nations. If the healing doesn’t work, won’t there be conflict? So he sees the letter from the king of Aram as provocation. Meanwhile, the Israelite prophet Elisha hears about the king’s dilemma and comes to the rescue. He sends word for Naaman to come to his home. Naaman shows up with his entourage: horses and chariots and soldiers. Imagine the intimidation effect! I better be cured, or else!

But Elisha can’t be intimidated. He doesn’t even go outside to greet the Aramean general. Instead, he sends out a messenger to tell him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times and he will be healed. Now it is the Israelites who seem to be picking a fight! This is mighty insulting, telling an Aramean general to go bathe in the unimpressive Jordan River, and sending out a messenger to tell him to do so rather than giving the message himself!

Not only does Naaman think he should get more personal attention from Elisha, he is also insulted by the prospect of bathing in the Jordan River. As he said, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of Israel?” He is enraged and about to leave when his servants convince him that it is such a simple request; why not give it a try? So, the story goes, “he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan,” and “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.”

This story is not very difficult to interpret. From the writer’s perspective, even though God had allowed the Arameans to be victorious over the Israelites in battle, the God of Israel (Yahweh) and even the nation of Israel (including its rivers) is superior to Aram, its gods and rivers. Elisha is claiming Yahweh’s superiority to the Aramean gods by telling Naaman, an Aramean, to seek healing for his skin condition in Yahweh’s river, the unimpressive Jordan. That’s the plain meaning of this story. As I’ve said many times in the past, the theme of the Old Testament is, “My God can kick your god’s you-know-what.” If you know that, you’ve basically got the Old Testament figured out.

The question of whether any one religion is superior to another, or whether one religion’s god can kick the you-know-what of other gods, is not a question any human being is equipped to answer. We like to think our religion is superior because this justifies in our minds our participation in that religion. To put a Fourth of July spin on this, people from every religion in the world like to think that their religion provides the biggest fireworks display. There may be “light” in other religions, but not like ours! Maybe there is light in all (or most) of them, but they all use different colors and explode in a different array of patterns. And some are louder than others.

Another way to read and interpret this story in 2 Kings 5 is to say that Elisha is offering the easiest and simplest cure available to Naaman. He has a skin disease that needs cleansing. This ain’t rocket science. We have here a man who could probably just use a good long scrubbing! Since Naaman is already here why not just send him down to the local river, rather than make him travel all the way back home to Aram to one of the rivers there? And because there really is nothing anyone can do for him other than have him take a long bath, why go outside and meet him because you know he will expect some big fancy miracle with all the “fireworks.” But this ain’t rocket science, Elisha is thinking. Just go to the river and take a long bath, Naaman. In fact, take seven baths you dirty warmonger. That ought to do it. Naaman, however, was a proponent of Rocket Science Religion. There has to be more to it than a simple bath!

I have identified three characteristics of rocket science that all apply to Rocket Science Religion: 1) It is expensive; 2) It is explosive; and 3) It is exacting.

First, it is expensive. Recently, the U.S. government cut the budget for NASA’s Constellation Program, which will delay our efforts to get back to the moon. The billions of dollars we have spent on rocket technology haven’t produced the desired results and with resources being somewhat limited, the government decided to put our plans for a lunar mission on the back burner. Of course, the Obama administration is taking some heat for this by the rocket science community. Rocket science is expensive. Rocket Science Religion is also expensive and therefore accessible only to those who have the resources. Naaman, the Aramean general with leprosy, thought he could purchase his healing. He took with him to Israel “ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.” Notice, however, that neither the king of Israel nor the prophet Elisha took the money for Naaman’s healing. This ain’t rocket science, they were saying.

Second, rocket science is explosive. That goes without saying! It measures success in terms of a big bang, in terms of power. Naaman demanded such power. He wanted Elisha to come outside, “wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy.” Rocket Science Religion is for those who light the fuse and expect an immediate explosion. They don’t like to wait on anything. There is no patience in Rocket Science Religion. It’s all about instant gratification. This contrasts with a more developmental approach to religion. Notice the word on my new stole: “Journey.” A journey suggests something that is long, slow, and plodding. Christians today are discovering that spirituality is a journey. It has a very slow fuse. The “born again” experience is not a one time big bang. It is an everyday occurrence marked by small, incremental steps of spiritual growth.

Finally, rocket science is exacting. It is difficult, requiring detailed precision. It is very complicated. It takes a rocket scientist! My daughter, Shanna, just finished taking a physics course in college. She called me the other day after her final exam and said to me that she just doesn’t have the brains to be a scientist. She’s studying to be an elementary teacher instead and so I told her, “Thank goodness that ain’t rocket science.” (I don’t mean that disparagingly.)

Rocket Science Religion is also difficult and exacting. Naaman assumed his healing would be more difficult than it turned out to be. When he became enraged that Elisha wanted him to simply wash his body in the Jordan River, his servants said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it?” Followers of Rocket Science Religion love to make things more difficult than they are. Even if a religion begins on a very simple level with a very simple message, such as, “The kingdom of God has come near to you,” human beings always find a way to turn it into, well, rocket science.

In Rocket Science Religion there is a lot to know and understand. There are many doctrines and practices that we have to get just right. There are complicated theological systems to be mastered and elaborate church structures to be maintained. To use a Fourth of July analogy, Rocket Science Religion is as complicated as choreographing an hour long fireworks display. But our religion, Christianity, is as simple as lighting and waving a sparkler. Christianity is all about letting the light of Christ shine in our lives. That’s it. It ain’t rocket science.

The kingdom of God, to use Jesus’ words, is not expensive, but free; it’s not explosive, but subtle; and it’s not exacting, but simple. Remember that when you light your sparklers tonight.