3 Points of View

Some thoughts about this morning's 1st reading at Mass, the story of Naaman the leper.

1. Naaman, in search of a cure, heads down to Israel with a load of treasure. He presumes that a cure is going to cost him a bribe to the King. Here Naaman is concerned with handling things as he thinks other people expect.
2. He ends up at Elisha's house, parks in front, and Elisha sends him the cure in message form. Naaman is put off because Elisha doesn't even do him the courtesy of coming to the door. Im sure in his home country and in the lands he's conquered, doors get opened for him and important people fawn all over him. Now, Naaman has let the way he sees himself get in the way.
3. Finally, there is the way God sees it, and the cure to his leprosy. Naaman goes and jumps in the Jordan seven times. Not only is he cured of the leprous sores of putrefying flesh (no reason to tell you that, other than I love that word), but his skin goes back to being the skin of a baby. Only when he moves beyond others and himself can he open himself up to God.

What a great lesson in our spiritual lives.