Word to the Wise
Monday, March 12, 2007 - Monday of the Third Week of Lent
[2 Kings 5:1-15 and Luke 4:24-30][Naaman's] servants cane up and reasoned with him. "My father," they said, "if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, 'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
Individual and group egos are capable of considerable expectations that can serve as obstacles.to faith and grace. Naaman's ego is a big one. Anything he does has to be dramatic and big. His leprosy is an embarrassment but since it is a public problem, he's got to have a big public solution. Yet, the prophet sends him to wash in a muddy little (to his eyes) creek. Naaman would have expected a demand that he wash in a BIG river like those that he mentions. One thing can be said for him, however, He listened to the servant girl when she recommended Elisha and he listened to his servants when they told him he ought to do what Elisha commanded. He might be egotistical, but he's not stupid or pigheaded. The group ego of the townsfolk in Nazareth also is an obstacle to listening to Jesus. They show themselves only interested in his doing the same signs for them that he did for others. When he challenges them, however, they try to drive him out of town. In this case, their blindness remains an obstacle and unlike Naaman, they do not get what they desire. It might make an interesting Lenten exercise in self-honesty to ask whom we DO listen to. Are we neglecting a voice or two that might offer us a way through a moral or spiritual problem? Is this neglect due to our being proud and/or pigheaded? The answers might surprise us! God sends unusual prophets! AMEN
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