(Audio)
As they were going they were cleansed.
The LORD wants us to have thankful hearts. He continues to do mighty things in us as we are going. He continues to cleanse us of our faults and sins. But since this cleansing is caught up with the rest of life we are often too distracted to return and give thanks. We are already on our way, no longer doing anything overtly spiritual, heading back to business as usual. When the LORD changes us in the midst of our daily grind do we notice enough to be thankful?
No wonder he the LORD wanted Naaman to be washed in the Jordan rather than any water in his home country. He wanted him to fully realize how special his healings was. And it worked.
please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,
for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
to any other god except to the LORD."
Even though the LORD does want us to recognize his healing hand at work he does not want to be confined only to the specifically spiritual. He wants to us to be able to offer our lives in thanksgiving whether we have the mule-loads of earth from a sacred place or whether we are simply on our way.
But the word of God is not chained.
It is the cross of Christ that unleashes the grace of God to transform us in every way, in every time, and in every place.
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
if we persevere
we shall also reign with him
Jesus died outside the city (see Hebrews 13:12) and tore the veil (see Matthew 27:51). Just as Jesus first offers himself in thanksgiving (as Eucharist) to the Father, so too can we now offer ourselves, wherever and whenever we remember to do so, in Spirit and in truth.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
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