The subject of Elisha healing the leprous Naaman is one with obvious lessons and I thought it would be good to move through the story this morning.

Naaman was an amazing example of humility and faith. His faith was so pronounced that Jesus picked him as an example to the synagogue in Nazareth. If you’ll turn to Luke 4:22 you’ll see after Jesus’ reading of Isaiah that the people were amazed and doubted by saying, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” There was a great amount of skepticism towards Jesus, so he responded to their unbelief in verse 23,

Prayer is a very powerful thing in the hands of a righteous man. It can change events. God will listen to a request and grant it if the person is righteous. James says in chapter 5:16,

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

or as the RSV says,

“The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.”

Intro

During the ministry of Christ, he directly quotes Hosea 6:6 not once but twice.  “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”  Quoting a verse more than once is rare for Jesus.   He must be putting emphasis on this verse as a key to what God had sent him to do.  It is a passage that strikes at the nub of the problem with the Pharisees way of thinking.  In typically fashion, Christ provides a short succinct passage expecting the hearer to go search out its fuller meaning.  The first instance is in Matthew 9:9-13,

At work I had to have my annual "performance evaluation" done. I've had to go through this several times over the last eight years and in the past I've also had to give them. It's not an easy thing for either end of the table but it is very necessary thing for increasing the productivity and efficiency of the employee. Most companies have such a system showing it's wisdom in application.