Monday of the Third Week of Lent
My grandson is at a fun age where his language is exploding, and he comes up with funny phrases or ideas every day. Currently, if we ask him where something or someone is, he tells us that it is “in his pocket.” As I was reading recently, I came across the idea of how sometimes we may try to put God in our pocket. We might claim to think we know God and can hold onto Him, even though He is more expansive in His love, mercy and compassion than we could begin to imagine. We will never know God completely, so we need to remain open to His revelation with a deep faith. When we see beyond our narrow viewpoint, we find that God is alive and active in the world around us- in places and in people that we could not even imagine. When we have open eyes and heart, we can see God’s surprises in our everyday lives. God invites us to take Him out of our pocket and allow Him to reveal the fullness of His love to us. Knowing this great love should fill us with joy and send us forth to share this wonderful God with others.
In both scripture readings today, God’s power and love is limited by human doubt and closed-minded attitudes. Naaman is a leper who seeks healing. When Elisha instructs him to go wash in the Jordan, Naaman questions how this will lead to his cure. He has a preconceived idea that the prophet would call out and invoke the Lord and move His hand over him to cure him. With coaxing from his servants, he eventually takes the leap of faith and washes in the water where he becomes clean. Naaman had to give up his narrow view of God, and realize that God works in subtle and sometimes very simple ways. Naaman was surprised by God’s blessings and with this new found faith exclaims, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” (2 Kings 5:15)
In the gospel reading Jesus reprimands the people of Nazareth for their lack of faith. He explains that people outside of the Jewish tradition (the widow receiving food from Elijah and Naaman receiving healing from Elisha) were able to experience God’s blessings because of their openness to God. Jesus was not able to cure many in Nazareth due to their lack of faith. The people of Nazareth in some ways were keeping Jesus in their pocket, since they could not believe that He was the Christ sent by God. They missed out on the many surprises that Jesus could share with them, since they could not accept Jesus beyond the idea of being the son of the carpenter. Instead of the joy of seeing God’s blessings, they responded in fury.
As I look into my own life, I know that there are many times when I do not allow God to be God. I miss out on the many blessings He wants to share with me because of my preconceived ideas of who I think God is and how He should act in the world. Maybe I am even like Naaman when I expect God to work in great and miraculous ways, and I fail to recognize Him in the simple and ordinary experiences of my life. I need to be open and allow God to reveal Himself to me and not keep Him bound up by my narrow perspective. If I allow God’s grace to transform my viewpoint, I will be able to find God not only in prayer, scripture and sacrament, but also find Him in the spectacular sunset, the checkout clerk at the grocery, and even the difficult co-worker at my job. When I allow God to be God- who is unending love, mercy and compassion, I will have great hope, and I will want to tell others this amazing news. Pope Francis explains this well: “Dear Friends, if we walk in hope, allowing ourselves to be surprised by the new wine that Jesus offers us, we have joy in our hearts, and we cannot fail to be witnesses of this joy. “(Church of Mercy pg 63)
Through the eyes of faith, if we can find God every moment of our lives, then we will be able to sing with the psalmist: “Then I will go to the altar of God, the God of my gladness and joy; then I will give you thanks upon the harp, O God, my God!” (Ps 43:4)
Heavenly Father, help us to always be open to you and your love. Through the gift of Your Spirit allow us to grow in our faith, so we can see Jesus in our lives and the lives of others. May we rejoice always and give You thanks for your care and compassion, we pray this through Christ our LORD. Amen.
- Marylynn Herchline