Ruben Goldberg was a comic strip writer whose comic strips featured a Professor who would invent complex devices to accomplish simple tasks. Since that comic strip was published in the mid-20^th century, people have been creating Rube Goldberg devices.

Instead of simply going over to the toaster and pushing the lever down to begin the toasting process, a Rube Goldberg device would perhaps roll a ball that would fall into a cup which would trigger a scale to release an action figure that would be launched into the sky and come down on the lever thereby beginning the toaster. It would have been much simpler to just push down the lever but the Rube Goldberg device celebrates the spirit of invention and creativity. A Rube Goldberg device makes the simple, complex.

One cartoon invention of the comic strip professor is a napkin-wiping hat. This invention features a string attached to a spoon in such a way that when the wearer eats a spoonful of soup it triggers a cracker to be thrown past a parrot on a perch. The parrot will fly off the perch thereby unbalancing it and releasing seed into a bucket. The extra weight of the seed in the bucket will move a fuse in front of a lighter thereby setting off a rocket that will cue a sickle to cut a string that releases a napkin on a pendulum that will then wipe the wearer’s chin.

You could also think of the children’s game Mouse Trap. You turn the crank, which kicks the shoe, which releases the ball, which falls through the bathtub, which lands on the seesaw, which launches the man that lands in the bucket that releases another ball that slides down the stair and hits the pole that releases the cage that traps the mouse. Or think of the various devices in a Wallace and Grommet feature.

All of these things seek to make the simple, complex. And while there’s great excitement and fun in watching and creating these machines, if the goal was simple it would be easier just to do the simple task. Of course the joy of a Rube Goldberg device is the fun of watching the (mostly) controlled mayhem.

When Naaman journeyed to see the prophet Elisha, whom he had been told about, he was expecting something complex. He was looking for healing and figured there would be some complicated process involved in his healing. But instead he only got a message from the prophet and was told to go take a bath in the Jordan. Naaman pitched a fit when he heard this simplistic solution. "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!"

Certainly we know God could have worked that way. There could have been a whole ritual involved complete with incantations and incense. But instead of working in complexity, God chose to work in simplicity. Even Naaman’s servants who have journeyed all the way to Israel with him, emphasize that this is a simple solution so why not do it. "You wouldn’t have hesitated if something complex and difficult had been asked of you, would you?"

Certainly Elisha could have come out and said some hocus pocus type words and maybe even danced around a little bit and then told Naaman to go and wash in the Jordan. Perhaps this would have pleased Naaman, even though it would have been a Rube Goldberg device – a complex way to get Naaman to simply wash in the Jordan.

Naaman, being the tough and victorious warrior, wanted some pomp and circumstance to his healing. He at least expected to have an audience with this prophet he had heard so much about. He didn’t expect to be dismissed to a simple cure at the word of a servant. The solution of a bath in a river seemed insulting for this man who had arrived at the humble prophet’s home after traveling many miles in his fine chariot pulled by fine horses and toting many riches. Why would he have come all this way just to take a dip in a river when there were rivers right in his own backyard?

Though the Jordan River holds a special place in scripture, it is not a river that flows with intrinsically different waters than any other river. Naaman could have been healed by immersing himself in another river, if God had chosen to work that way. The water of the Jordan doesn’t have magical healing powers. It’s not the water that healed Naaman, but God.

Just like the water in our baptismal fount, the water in which Naaman was healed was just plain ordinary water. We don’t use special holy water for baptisms because it’s not about the water – it’s about what God can do with it. Dirty or distilled, it is God who works for healing.

God is always working in unexpected ways. Naaman was expecting a ritual and to be asked to do something difficult in order to be healed but God turned away Naaman’s expectations and worked in a simple and unexpected way. Just last week we heard about how God had worked in complicated ways when Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind accompanied by a chariot of fire and horses made of fire. There’s nothing simple about that! But God works as God chooses, sometimes in complex ways and sometimes in simple ways.

I wonder how many times we seek to make a Rube Goldberg device out of God’s simple ways. How many times do we seek to make God’s simple solutions complex? Aren’t there times when it would just be easier to reach out a hand to a neighbor in need?

Naaman is mostly remembered for the healing he received. When Jesus was preaching in his hometown of Nazareth, he mentioned Naaman. Jesus spoke of how even though Naaman was an outsider to the Israelite community, Elisha showed him the way to healing. It’s the healing of Naaman that is remembered. But the story of Naaman doesn’t end with his skin being restored.

We usually don’t hear verse 15 when reading about Naaman. Verse 15 reads: Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant."

Naaman is healed from his leprosy but in his healing he discovers something new bubbling up within him. While he is immersing himself in the Jordan River, he notices living water bubbling up within himself. And after he finishes with the simple solution for healing Elisha offered, Naaman returns to Elisha and confesses faith in God.

He could have easily just hopped back in his chariot and ridden back home after he had been healed. He could have taken all that gold and silver he had brought as payment (because Elisha hadn’t asked for any payment) and just headed back home. But he didn’t.

Instead he returned to Elisha’s humble house and this time gained an audience with the prophet. And the purpose of this audience was not to thank Elisha, which might have been shocking to some at the time. Naaman does not attribute his healing to Elisha but to God. In that sensation of healing, Naaman comes to belief. Naaman comes to the right conclusion that it isn’t Elisha who holds the power of healing, but God.

All of a sudden we come to realize that the simplistic solution Elisha offered for Naaman’s healing wasn’t about restoring his skin. God was working something more than skin-deep there. God was working a conversion wrapped in a healing. God was taking care of the complex and complicated work of bringing someone to faith through the simple task of bathing in a river.

God takes the ordinary and causes the extraordinary. God can take simple bread and grape juice and cause us to meet Christ. God can take simple water from the tap in the kitchen and use it to call ordinary human beings to extraordinary callings. Many times God uses the simple to accomplish the complex.

One of the quotes I remember from John Calvin’s Institutes, that two-volume theology where our denomination finds a foundation for its beliefs, is about the work of the Holy Spirit. "Faith is the primary work of the Holy Spirit." It’s the Holy Spirit that works to bring people to faith. Creating faith in others is not our job as Christians.

I know that might sound shocking among all the culture of "saving souls for Christ." But I cannot make anyone believe in Christ. I can preach until I’m blue in the face but I can’t make anyone have faith in Christ. You can share the gospel with friends, neighbors, or strangers, but there is nothing you can do to make someone believe in Christ. "Faith is the primary work of the Holy Spirit."

It was not Elisha who brought Naaman to faith but God. All Elisha did was show Naaman the way to the water. Elisha offered the simple, while God took care of the complex. The simple is all we can offer as well. We can offer a simple drink of water, a hand extended in friendship, a bag of groceries, a smile, a listening ear, a call for justice. God will tend to any necessary conversion. How many times have we turned our calling from God into a Rube Goldberg device; making the simple, complex? But sometimes isn’t it the simple things that are the most difficult to do?

Naaman balked at the simple solution offered to him. Let us not balk at the simple tasks given to us: Love yourself, love your neighbor, and listen for the fountain of the Holy Spirit bubbling up within you. May God give us the strength, the courage, and the endurance to walk this faithful path simply guiding others to the water, where God can work the complex task of conversion. All we can do is point the way to the water.