Nancy E. Petty

Pullen Memorial Baptist Church

July 8, 2007 – Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Text: 2 Kings 5:1-14

Wisdom from a Young Slave Girl

The story of the healing of Naaman is surely one of the most fascinating in the book of Kings. It is a remarkably entertaining drama with a rich cast of characters, a well-developed plot, many ironic twists, comic relief (like the image of the panicky king), keen insights into human flaws (a war hero’s ego), and a satisfying conclusion. Given its rich cast of characters and the theological themes it embodies, there are many angles from which one can engage this story. Take for instance the main character, Naaman. It would not be a waste of our time to consider where and how we reflect a bit of Naaman in our own lives—specifically, how we allow our egos to keep us from experiencing the healing and wholeness we so desperately seek and need. Neither would we be wasting our time if we took the next fifteen minutes to explore how often we respond to the needs of our world and the people of this world in the same manner as the panicky king—being so angry, fearful, and overwhelmed that we can’t solve all the problems of the world that we don’t attempt to solve any. And for sure, our time would be well spent if we took a closer look at Elisha’s role in this story—a prophet proclaiming God’s grace and acceptance of and for all people. One could argue that in this entertaining drama it is indeed Elisha’s character and role that offers us inspiration and hope and theological grounding for our living as people of faith. However, as you might have guessed from the sermon title, it is the wisdom of the young slave girl in this story that I want to focus on, for I believe it is her story, her character, her courage, and her role that offers us the depth of inspiration, hope and theological grounding that is needed in our world today.

For those of you who know me, it will not surprise you that I need and will take a moment, a little space if you will, to point out that once again in Holy Scripture we learn about faith and spiritual depth through yet another unnamed woman. Time and again the mothers and sisters and daughters of our faith go unnamed. And while we can intellectually explain that this is so because of a past patriarchal system and society, that fact does not lessen the effect it continues to have on women today. The fact is, as throughout ancient history, women in recent history have continued to go unnamed. No place in modern history is this truth more profound than in the telling of the story of the civil rights movement. While names like Martin Luther King, Jr. and W.E.B. DuBois define publicly the civil rights movement, the truth is that that movement would not have been successful (and some would argue would not even have begun) had it not been for the countless unnamed women who gave their time and their very lives to its beginnings. Only in more recent historical accounts have we heard the names and stories of people like Pauli Murray, Mary McLeod Bethune, Lillian Smith, Daisy Bates, Mary Church Terrell, Ella Baker and thousands of other women who were the trailblazers for equal rights. Some historians now tell the truth—had it not been for these women there would have been no civil rights movement. And had it not been for the wisdom of a young slave girl, Naaman may never have been healed from his leprosy. So, when you read scripture (and history for that matter) and encounter an unnamed woman, hold on because something significant is going on.

As I read the story of the healing of Naaman, several things strike me about the characters that we encounter in the story, the first being the words “young girl” that describe the girl taken captive during the battle between Israel and Aram. When the biblical text uses the word young, it means young. This “young girl” taken captive was more than likely between the ages of ten and thirteen. Once taken captive, she was forced to serve as a slave to the wife of Naaman, the commander of the Aramean army. It was not uncommon in biblical times and it’s not uncommon in certain cultures now for children to be taken into a system to do jobs of great responsibility and it seems that this young girl was no exception. I’m amazed every time I hear a modern day story of children in Africa (and I mean children) bearing the responsibility of working so that their families can afford to buy food. And who can ignore the stories we have heard and pictures we have seen recently of children as young as six and seven carrying guns and fighting in the wars of their country. I think it is important that when we read this text and read the words “young girl” we understand what that means. It is a story of a child taken captive and made to serve in her oppressor’s household—a story that in many parts of our world is still being played out today.

As I think of this unnamed young girl, who is, at best, cast in a supporting role within the larger more important story of Naaman’s healing, I imagine her to be a strong young woman—performing her duties as a servant with loyalty and dedication. I imagine that if she walked into this room right now, made her way down this aisle, and stood before us and told her story we would experience her as one wise beyond her years. I imagine that through her suffering, being taken from her family at such a young age and made to serve others in a foreign land, she developed a depth of compassion and spiritual understanding that is hard for many of us to understand. I like to imagine that in her youthfulness there were those times when she rebelled against and subverted the oppressive system in which she was forced to live and participate. I imagine her to be proud of and committed to her heritage. I see her as one who stands upright with integrity and determination and looks into the eyes of those from whom she takes her orders. The story doesn’t describe her this way, but then again it doesn’t describe her at all. Neither does the story tell us how long she had served as a slave in Naaman’s household but it must have been long enough for her, even at such a youthful age, to gain the respect and trust of her oppressors. How else could she have gained the ear and attention of Naaman and his wife when she suggested that there was a prophet in her homeland that could cure Naaman of his leprosy—a disease that ironically left him oppressed among his own people? I find it somewhat amazing that both Naaman and his wife believed her when she suggested that she knew someone who could cure Naaman. Why of all people should they believe her—a simple slave girl who more than likely had just entered her teenage years?

I don’t know but I can tell you what amazes me about the wisdom of this young girl and why I think her story offers us inspiration, hope and theological grounding for how we are called to live in this world as people of faith. What captures me about this young unnamed girl is that she had the vision and the wisdom not to respond to her own oppression by oppressing another. She did not let her own oppression dictate how she would respond to the pain and oppression of another human being. Instead she had the courage to respond with compassion to the pain of her fellow human being even when that compassion was not extended to her. She knew the truth that her sister Marian Anderson would write thousands of years later: “As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him [or her] down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.”

When I first read this story in 2 Kings I saw this young slave girl stuck in powerlessness and hopelessness. But the more I reflected on her story and the simple act of courage and compassion she displayed in offering her knowledge so that another may find liberation and freedom, even as she remained oppressed, I began to see her as one who had great power and she became for me the embodiment of hope. When we can mature to a place of working for another’s good and well-being regardless of what it means for us individually we will honor the story and the faith of this unnamed young woman and we will make our world a more peaceful place for all to live.

Such wisdom is hard for us to understand and live by in this world. It is so counter-cultural to the daily messages we receive in our society. We are a “look out for yourself” world. We are a “what’s in it for me” society. We have lost sight that we are indeed our sister and brother’s keeper. It seems we have stopped believing that without freedom for all none of us are free; if we ever believed it. We have forgotten that if one person is oppressed, we are all oppressed. And we have forgotten that our faith is one of sacrifice—not an easy word to say in the midst of a group of liberal Baptists, especially Pullen Baptists.

At first reading she is at best a background character with a small supporting role in the larger more dramatic story of the healing of Naaman. Like many women in the bible, she is unnamed. We simply know her as the young girl taken captive from the land of Israel who served Naaman’s wife. She is not mentioned in any commentary that I read. The prophet Elisha is given full credit for healing Naaman. But it is her story that inspires me. It is her story that gives me hope. It is her story that grounds me theologically. Why? Because her story inspires me to live beyond my anger and my fears and my resentments. It is her story that reminds me that I am not powerless. And it is her story that grounds me in the one act my faith calls me to live out daily—to act compassionately toward my fellow human beings. It is her wisdom that the world so desperately needs.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word for wisdom is Sophia. From now on when I read this story this is how I will read it. “Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. Her name was Sophia.”