By Michael A. Milton
2 Kings 5:1-16
I
love that Normal Rockwell painting of the lady bringing in the turkey to her
family and friends and all are smiling and happy. That painting is called “Freedom
from Want.” It was the fourth in a series of Freedom paintings which Rockwell
painted in 1943, during World War II, and in support of the vision of President
Franklin Roosevelt.
“In
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address, the president outlined
the reasons for our country’s support of the Allied nations in World War II.
In his speech, Roosevelt promoted the concept of the four basic freedoms to
which all people are entitled: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom
from want, and freedom from fear.”1
Advertisement
It
was from that speech that Rockwell painted his four freedoms. And that is how
that beautiful Thanksgiving painting came to be. It was nostalgic. It was idealistic
and it was intended to be. When your survival is being threatened, you want
to go back and look to your best dreams. And Thanksgiving is a great dream of
this nation. But the truth is, like Rockwell’s painting, it is a dream that
is best dreamt in days of trial.
Thanksgiving
was proclaimed by General Washington amidst the heroic but costly struggle for
freedom from our Mother country. And National Thanksgiving came when a tired
but visionary leader named Lincoln called for a day of national gratitude amidst
the backdrop of the bloodiest war in American history.
This
year, Thanksgiving comes at a time when our nation is at war and terrorists
have targeted our country for attack. Many of our sons and fathers are risking
their lives, going door to door in terrorist-infested bombed-out villages in
Iraq. There are disagreements in families, tensions over past problems, and
anxieties over family health, finances and a lot of other things.
And
so in the Word of God. Thanksgiving is the overflow of our hearts when we come
to see our desperate need and God’s gracious deliverance.
It
happened like that with a man named Naaman. Today I want to consider the story
of Naaman and the lessons of his Thanksgiving.
The
latter days of the reign of Israel’s King Jehoram, in the ninth century BC,
there were endless raids by the Syrian King Ben Hadad II into the Northern Kingdom.
These raids were led by the brilliant and highly decorated Syrian Field General
Naaman. But this great man suffered from leprosy. It is important to note that
the Hebrew condition and word which is rendered ‘leprosy’ is likely not Hansen’s
disease as we know it today. But it was a serious skin disease. The ancients
were particularly repulsed by these diseases as they reminded them of the rotting
flesh of the dead. Thus, we have a great man, a man highly esteemed, but a man
with a great disease. Matthew Henry said that the least slave would not have
traded to be in the skin of this great military leader.