7/7/19 “Common Sense” by Chalice Overy

Text: 2 Kings 5:1-14

Voltaire said, “Common sense is not so common.” The phrase suggests that some lack the basic reasoning or logic necessary to make it through life. Especially life with other people.

I, however, want to affirm the mantra of our call to worship–that wisdom indeed resides in all of us. If that is true, then wisdom is also beside us and amongst us. Some measure, some piece of wisdom resides in us all–some insight, some understanding that can be used for the benefit of more than just the individual that holds it. Maybe this is why Paul, when using the analogy of the human body to communicate our interdependence, says, No member can say to another, “I have no need of you.” It wouldn’t be true, nor would it be wise. For the body operates best when each part is sharing its wisdom for the good of the whole.

So when I talk about common sense, I’m talking about the collective wisdom that is accessible to us when we believe that wisdom is within us, and beside us, and amongst us. Imagine what we could accomplish, what problems we could solve if we could combine our collective wisdom. Not just our institutional wisdom, or our national wisdom, but our collective common sense. Now theoretically, the wisdom is there, but, logistically, it is difficult to access. There is no person who knows every other person in the world…and everything that those individuals know. And it’s not as if we have some sort of massive database of collective wisdom that we can just search at will to find the answers to our questions and the solutions to our problems. Well, I guess we do have the internet. But the wisdom that some people have will never be published in an academic journal because their methods don’t meet the standard of those who set the standards. Not everyone can afford the self-promotion of a blog or website. 10 percent of the world’s population doesn’t have electricity. You won’t see their hashtags, quotes or videos going viral. There are barriers of time, space, language, and others that put this collective wisdom out of reach…for now.

Naaman is in need of a particular piece of wisdom that will heal what ails him. He possesses a certain wisdom in himself. For he is a successful military commander. Maybe because he can think strategically. Maybe he has a high EQ and he’s really good at managing and motivating human resources. Maybe he’s just nice with a sword. I don’t know. His inner wisdom has helped win great military victories, but it’s doing nothing to help him win the war being waged against his body. Naaman does not know how to heal himself.

But I’m sure he’s not so arrogant as to believe that wisdom can not be found beyond him. As a man of means, we can assume he looked for this wisdom in the reputable professionals of his day. But he doesn’t find it there. Ironically, the healing that Naaman needs is held by a slave girl that Naaman holds captive. In fact, it appears that all the wisdom found in this story comes from people who are captive in one way or another.

It’s one thing not to be able to access the wisdom that we need to heal ourselves, to heal our world. But how tragic is it that Naaman is holding captive the very person that holds the wisdom necessary to liberate him from his suffering?

We should not take for granted that this is only true in cases of slavery. As long as individuals and institutions seek power through control we run the risk of holding wisdom captive–within our reach, but locked away under a multitude of false assumptions.

It is the thirst for power that has the king of Aram is picking fights with Israel and other nations. He wants to conquer and control. Because the most powerful leaders are the ones with the biggest empires. They maintained their control through terror, like the raids during which Naaman ripped this little girl from her family and homeland and forces her to wait on his wife. When you tell a person where they can go and what they can do and you dictate how they order their time, you’ll come to believe that their only value is their ability to do what you tell them to do. It doesn’t occur to us that they might have something more to offer.

So we find that each piece of wisdom in the text is offered as an act of grace from those who no one would have bothered to ask. Aware of Naaman’s condition, the young captive girl says to her mistress, If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.

You know, it’s hard to control people and be with people, because control causes distance between us and the very people that possess the wisdom to heal us. For Naaman, the conquest of Israel has caused this distance whereby the commander of the Syrian army cannot simply show up at Elisah’s house. The visit requires an act of diplomacy. So instead of going straight to Elisha, Naaman goes to the king of Aram, who gives him a letter to take to the king of Israel. And even after these diplomatic efforts, the king of Israel still thinks that the king of Aram is trying to start a conflict!

Now the king of Israel is literally undone, and we’re wondering, How did this happen? Why didn’t the king of Aram tell the king of Israel that he was sending Naaman so that the Elisha could heal him? When the king of Israel seems confused about this point, why doesn’t Naaman explain it to him–tell him what the little girl said? Why do these powerful people keep fumbling when it comes to following through with the wisdom that they’ve been given?

Because our ability to control people gives way to a false sense of superiority. That’s why the king of Israel is trippin’! Imagine how much anxiety a person must live with when that person operates under the assumption that, If I can’t do it, it can’t be done. Dude, you’re a king! At least survey the kingdom! See if there is someone among you that possesses the wisdom you need. The reason all these powerful people can’t seem to solve the problem is because, though wisdom is amongst them, they keep missing it because they’re only looking for it between the three of them. They only expect to find wisdom in other so-called powerful people.

In the midst of this chaos, Elisha graces the powerful with the text’s second piece of wisdom: Tell the king to put his clothes back on. Send the man to me. I know what to do.

Naaman rolls up to Elisha’s house with his whole posse in tow–horses and chariots and all these elaborate gifts. And Elisha sends his servant out to Naaman with the wisdom that will heal him. Wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh will be restored. But instead of walking in the way of wisdom, Naaman walks away angry because Elisha has rubbed his sense of superiority every which wrong way.

Naaman comes to Elisha, which probably required him to muster a lot of humility in itself because he’s doing it on the advice of a little slave girl. But when Naaman comes to Elisha, Elisha doesn’t come out to meet him. Naaman’s angry because his superiority complex tells him that Elisha should be interested in Naaman or impressed by his entourage, status and wealth. But Elisha could care less, and this makes Naaman furious!

Not only that. Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan, when Naaman’s sense of superiority tells him that, Nobody has greater waters than Syria. He rejects the wisdom that will heal him because it challenges his false sense of superiority because he can’t control it.

But the final piece of wisdom comes from a chorus of Naaman’s servants. Just do what the man says! Trust that wisdom is amongst you. Naaman washes and is restored. But I can’t help but wonder how long he suffered unnecessarily because he was holding wisdom captive. Because he would never have thought to seek it among those who held it.

How much of the wisdom we need to heal our nation, our world, has been confined to reservations or lost through forced assimilation? What measure of this wisdom is held captive in pre-planned ghettos, terrorized by over-policing? How much potential is locked away in detention centers at the border or in the modern-day plantations called prisons? What wisdom is held captive in those who cannot get treatment for mental illness, who struggle with homelessness or are locked into cycles of poverty?

What wisdom are we missing out on because we fail to acknowledge that wisdom is within us, and beside us, and amongst us? And we can’t access this wisdom through a search engine. We’ll only be able to glean from this common sense when we come to value all people, abandon our efforts to control one another, and liberate each other to offer our best to the world. When we stop demanding that other people set the table for us, and decide to take a seat together.