What I’m Thinking: Simple Things

How often do people fail to do the simple things that might help them the most?

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the 5th chapter of Second Kings (2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c): the healing of Naaman, the Syrian general.

Naaman had been diagnosed with leprosy. Whether it was actually Hansen’s Disease, as we refer to that particular ailment today, or as some other skin condition, well, there’s simply no way to know that. There were several skin conditions they would look an awful lot like Hansen’s Disease, and in the ancient Near East people feared pretty well all of them. So he needed to seek some kind of healing, some kind of treatment, if he was going to continue his life.

As a result, he followed a lead to the nation of Israel, where the prophet Elisha was known to be, well, I’m healer. When Naaman arrived at Elisha’s home, Elisha didn’t even meet him. He sent out a messenger with very simple, straightforward advice: go wash in the river Jordan.

Naaman the great general was offended. Weren’t there better rivers in Syria, he asked, than this little creek of a Jordan? it was Naaman’s servants that persuaded him to do the simple thing because, after all, he would have done anything that was difficult. Sure enough, after Naaman washed, he was freed of the disease.

It just seems to me every time, I think, I read this text, that human beings so resist the simple things, the practical things, the things that are likely to have results. Over these last 2 1/2 years of global pandemic, we have repeatedly seen people actively resist the simple measures to prevent transmission of a respiratory disease carried on the air.

“Masking? No. Not gonna do it.” “Keep distance? No. Absolutely not.” People have over and over again chosen to do the thing or to not do the thing that is simple, and as a result in the United States over a million people have died.

Naaman didn’t want to do the simple thing. It was beneath his dignity, somehow; not consistent with his power; not consistent with his view of the world; but when people who worked for him but who appeared to have cared for him intervened, they persuaded him to do the simple thing.

And in the simple thing he found his healing.

In the simple things we may find healing, but we may also find that we prevent transmission of disease, that we enhance our relationships with one another, that we live better and more righteous lives. Do the simple thing as Naaman, in the end, reluctantly but blessedly did.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comments section below; I’d love to hear from you.