2 Kings 5:7-15

“But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’” vs 13

Naaman was rich and powerful and he expected that Elisha would provide him a spectacular healing, something like what a television evangelist might do. But the man of God didn’t even come out to see him! Instead he sent a messenger with instructions to go wash in the river Jordan. It was all so ordinary…and in Naaman’s mind, demeaning. We laugh at Naaman’s prideful response even when we have the same tendencies. We want God encounters, of course we do, but we’d like them to be spectacular, something we could brag about with our friends, a special action reeking of divinity, something unmistakably miraculous. We want lightning flashes and rolling thunder, not a long forgotten washing with water and periodic tastes of bread and wine. It all seems too simple and there’s just not much for us to do. In fact there’s little more than nothing for us to do to receive God’s healing touch. “Wash and eat,” our scriptures tell us, and that will be enough. No bells or whistles, just the gentle presence of the Spirit in water and bread…and healing is ours!

Thought for the Day: What healing have I received?