Does anyone remember CoViD-19?
For those with brain fog from long-term CoViD, CoViD-19 was a Corona Virus – the Co and Vi in CoVid. disease – that’s the D in CoViD, that began to be seen in human beings in 2019 – that’s the 19 in CoViD-19.
Humans didn’t have immunity against the virus that caused this: SARS-CoV-2.
SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, CoV stands for Corona Virus, and 2 means it’s the second of these viruses, after SARS-COV-1 that caused the SARS outbreak of 2003.
You may remember that there were several suggested methods to decrease transmission of CoViD-19:
- distancing
- masks
- avoiding public spaces
- vaccines
You may also remember some objections to these methods. Sometimes the objection was that the precaution was ineffective. Sometimes the objection was that the precaution was harmful. And sometimes the objection was that CoViD-19 itself was nothing to worry about.
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, to help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
A few notes about our reading from the Hebrew scriptures this morning:
Naaman was the commander of Aram’s army. Aram was a group of tribes to the east of Assyria, Ammon, and Moab, which in turn were east of Samaria and Judah.
The Kingdom of Israel had split into two nations: the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. The northern Kingdom was sometimes known as Samaria.
So with that background, the commander of an army one country east of Israel, Naaman, had a skin disease. And his army had been raiding Israel and took a young girl captive. The young girl, who was serving Naaman’s wife, suggested Naaman could be cleansed by a prophet in Samaria – that is to say, Israel.
Inexplicably, our reading from the Revised Common Lectionary skips over these verses:
4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said.
5 And the king of Aram said, “Go, then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.
6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his skin disease.”
2 Kings 5:4-6, NRSVue
Without those verses, it doesn’t make a lot of sense when we read
7 When the king of Israel read the letter…
2 Kings 5:7a, NRSVue
So the King gets the letter and has no idea what he should do about this general’s skin disease. He thinks the King of Aram is just trying to start a conflict.
But the prophet Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan. A simple task.
Naaman is NOT having it. Why didn’t the prophet just cure him? And why should he come all the way to Israel, when there are perfectly fine rivers in Assyria and Aram.
But his servant asked whether he would have done something difficult to cleanse himself, and this was just a simple thing, so why not do it?
So Naaman washes, and is clean.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus cleanses ten lepers of their skin disease. Only one comes back with gratitude to Jesus, and he is from Samaria, the northern Kingdom of Israel that had now been conquered by the Assyrians .
Sometimes what we’re asked to do seems too simple. “How can that even work? I’m not doing it.”
Sometimes it seems to convenient. “Why do I have to travel all the way there?”
And when it works, we sometimes don’t have the gratitude we ought to have.
During the beginning of CoViD-19, we were asked to do some things to slow the spread.
People complained that masks and distancing were too simple and didn’t stop viruses. People complained that these measures were too inconvenient. And those of us who got through the peak of the pandemic without a severe case of CoViD 19 were often not very grateful for those suggestions that helped us.
I am on the very end of a respiratory issue. I had a collapsed lung – or more technically, a pneumothorax.
When it was diagnosed, I was told to go to the emergency department, which was inconvenient and a little expensive. I was told to rest, which was inconvenient and simple. I told a few people around church, who have been praying for me.
And as of Friday, the pneumothorax had decreased from 40% to “tiny.”
I am grateful for my healing.
I am grateful for the instructions from medical professionals and the prayers of faithful people.
Whatever it is that ails us: viruses, skin diseases, lung problems, chemical dependency, there are often simple things we can do to “get clean.” Sometimes they seem silly. Sometimes they are inconvenient. But it is worth it to make the effort, even if it is small, to help ourselves.
So my challenge to all of us this week is to be aware of those tasks that seem simple or inconvenient, and to make the effort to complete them anyway.
And to be grateful for the healing we do receive.
Amen.
Let’s sing There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
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