Wash and Be Cleansed!

I have a friend who used to throw sheets over her mirrors.  She had heard of a religion that believed your soul could be stolen if you looked in a mirror at night.  My husband went to law school with some very intellectual individuals who would not take a test without their lucky article of clothing.  I have many faithful Christian friends that forward me emails promising blessings and riches if I pass it on to seven people in the next seven minutes.

Often we are more apt to believe the extravagant rituals and superstitions than the simple call of our God.  The Bible constantly condemns the people of Israel for putting their faith in an idol they had created with their own hands.  It sound ridiculous to us that someone believed that a golden calf could bring rain or offspring, but we put our faith in hopeless things as well.

We put more faith in our intelligence, career, family, or money- all which could be gone in a moment of tragedy- than we do in God and His ability to provide us with all that we need.  God asks us to seek first His Kingdom and all else will be given to us.  It really is that simple but we would rather trust our own creations than our Creator.

The Biblical story of Naaman is a perfect depiction of how we often make belief more complicated than it really is.  Naaman had a leprosy, a horrible skin disease that was very contagious and often left the victim disfigured.  Naaman was told that he could find healing through the great prophet Elisha.  Elisha instructs Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times and he would be cured.

Naaman goes away angry and says, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel?   Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” (2 Kings 5:11-12)  Naaman was expecting some kind of showy affair or at least wash in rivers that were considered cleaner than the Jordan.

Naaman thought the river or the ritual held the healing power, but it would be his belief demonstrated in following the instruction that would cure him.. Elisha could have instructed him to wash in a different river or roll in the mud or do ten jumping jacks and he would have been healed either way.  Naaman doubted God’s capabilities of healing him and was putting his belief in the act of the cleansing.

Naaman’s servant reasoned with him, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?  How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed!'”  Naaman is convinced and washes in the Jordan and is healed.

Like Naaman, God has given us the same simple commandment: Wash and be cleansed!  We act out our belief in God through Holy Baptism, where we are washed clean of our sins through the belief in the sacrifice of Christ.  Through his cleansing we are cured, but we must believe in order to be cleansed.  And just like Naaman, we often doubt the simplicity of the whole thing.  We say, “I thought surely God would ask me to do good works, to sell all of my possessions, to pay for my sins, and make myself acceptable in His sight first.  Doesn’t that make more sense?”

How often do we overlook and limit the miracles of God because we count it too simple to believe in?  Our life has been tarnished by our sin.  We have separated ourselves from our Creator by placing our trust in the things we have created.  We have covered ourselves in the filth of greed, lust, and hatred.  We are burdened by our actions and our hearts are grieving.  And our God is making a simple call for us to wash and be cleansed.  Have you overlooked His call because you were looking for something more complicated?