Word to the Wise
Monday, March 8, 2010 - Monday in the Third Week of Lent
[2 Kings 5:1-15ab and Luke 4:24-30][Naaman's] servants came 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." So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
I may have told this story before, but I think it is worth retelling. My (then) little grand-niece had always wanted one of those hooded red coats like "Little Red Riding Hood." My mother went and got one for Megan's birthday and placed it on a chair where Megan could see it as soon as she entered the room. When she entered the room and saw the coat, she started crying and wouldn't go near it. She kept repeating, "I want a present...." My father saw what was happening and in all the commotion took the coat and quickly wrapped it in a dress box he found, and then brought it to Megan, who tore it open and squealed with delight. The coat was then a "present." Naaman always reminds me of that occasion. He was an important person and believed that anything done for him had to be done in an important way. To be told to go and wash in a muddy creek seemed an insult, even if a man of God told him to do so. His expectations very nearly cost him his cure. Fortunately, he was open to reasoning from his servants (one of whom had suggested that he come to Elisha in the first place) and did what he was told to do. His initial reaction, however, had not been unusual. Elisha and Jesus in both the scriptures today warn us that our expectations of God can get in the way of God's doing great things for us. If we have a notion that God's gifts have to come to us in a particular form (like my grandniece did) we risk missing out on the gift itself. Prophets like Moses and Jesus may not tell us what we want to hear in the way we want to hear it, but if we fail to listen, we will not hear what we NEED to hear. AMEN
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