12 March 2012

12 March 2012


"Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place."

Not being from Israel are we off the hook?  They rejected him because they thought they knew him.  They had certain expectations which he didn't meet.  They thought that he had no right to impose his expectations on them because they had been near each other for so long before that.  How could it be that one of their own  should be elevated in this way and not they themselves?  Maybe, they thought, if someone showed up suddenly out of the blue with might and glory they would listen.  More probably they wanted the exultation themselves so that they could be untroubled by the expectations of one who sees the heart in all its depths.  Naaman had a problem with expectations as well:

"I thought that he would surely come out and stand there

to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy."

It is fortunate that Naaman was humble enough to listen to the voice of his servants who convinced him to heed the prophet.  He wasn't from the prophets native place but his expectations almost got the best of him anyway.  His humility was the crack in the armor of his set expectations that let the LORD shine his light into his life.

 "Send forth your light and your fidelity; they shall lead me on"

We have the blessing of having more appropriate expectations of Jesus.  Yet we face the danger that our expectations are probably far more fixed.  We must be on guard to be humble so that we can take the LORD at his word.  If we do then we too can be made once more like little children.  Our expectations can lead us to a prideful anger when our problems aren't solved in our way.  If we can only forget these expectations and discern our true longing.  We want the LORD as the hind wants running waters.  We want the cleansing waters of the Jordan.  We want the power of baptism unleashed in our lives.  We want to know what Naaman came to know from his heart.

"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel."