Recognizing God is the miracle

Intro: A long line of cars going up Whitewood… empty right turn lane.  Someone uses it and then pulls into the lane to mix in with all of these other cars.  There is a special place in………. the line for this person, part of God’s creation.  But he shouldn’t have done this.  It was clearly wrong, putting himself above all of us, NOT LOVING HIS NEIGHBOR!

Often times we think that people are just good because they don’t commit murder or sell drugs to children.

But we all do things like this, in our own way.  We might not be a cheater, a cutter-inner,

but we have our own leprosy, our own sins, our own things that get in the way of our relationship with our God and neighbor.

Our first reading shows Naaman (explain the story)

‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?[e] Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’ (King of Israel)

Elisha - that he may know there is a prophet, go wash in the Jordan 7 times

Are not Abana[g] and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?

And then he does and is healed, and is converted.

Sometimes we think, like Naaman, that Christianity needs to be harder

Like a gym membership

its too easy to get grace, baptism (my parents choice), Eucharist (is it even really Jesus?), Confession (I’ll just go when I can), Marriage (that’s a lot to some, Why do I have to get married in the Church?)

Talking with our Confirmation students this week.  How many of us really value our baptism? This gift that our parents gave to us? Make any difference in my life? maybe if it was harder…

Theme: To be a Christian is not easy, it is not free, but it is a gift.

Batman had to go up to the top of the mountain to get a small little flower and bring it back to be in the League of Shadows. It was hard and he almost died.

I wonder if the faith was like that.  You can only be forgiven if you do this really hard thing.  It might make you stop sinning, because its hard.

Naaman goes, “I don’t want to bathe in the Jordan, it is grungy.”

Go wash in the Murrieta Creek (Murrieta Creek runs 13 miles southeasterly through southwestern Riverside County, California, United States, through the cities of Wildomar, Murrieta, and Temecula, ending 0.5 miles southeast of the city center of Temecula, where it has its confluence with Temecula Creek and forms the head of the Santa Margarita River.)

Its not even just enough to follow the right guy! The story continues with Elisha’s servant going behind Elisha’s back to receive the thanks offering that Naaman wanted to give.  Elisha had told him, no money, and then Elisha found out and said, “May the leprosy that he had pass onto you!”

“Persevere in the faith,” not just, live until you die, but pursue the highest things.

“Got to go Father, I have homework to do!” “On Sunday?”

For even good things like homework, can interfere with your 1 vocation of being totally the Lord’s.  Most of us think, “When I’m on retreat, then I’ll give that time to God” - but that’s not enough, its that your whole

The Gospel has put me in chains to the world, but the Word of God is not chained.

So what does Christ do, the new Elisha, he cures 10 lepers by his word. Elisha fed the multitudes with bread, Elisha raised the dead, Elisha split the waters of the Jordan…

He says go show yourselves to the priests, good they did that, the old law.  But the Samaritan, a Gentile turned back, to give thanks, glory, honour, DOXA to God.  The law of love required something like that.  The law of love requires that you not cut in front of others waiting in line, because you are not more important. But the law of love is not natural, it is contrary to our flesh.

“We have died to the false prophets of pop psychology who dominate our culture.  They tell us to simply accept ourselves as we are: Jesus tells us to give ourselves away.  They tell us to be proud of ourselves; Jesus tells us to be humble and honest enough to confess that we are sinners and to\ ask God for forgiveness.  They tell us to be content; Jesus tells us to hunger and thirst for righteousness so that we can be filled.  Pop psychology tells us to just be ourselves; Jesus tells us to be saints” Peter Kreeft 601 Food for the Soul C

Jesus says here that HE is God, only God can heal leprosy.

A boy said, “can’t I just be a good person and give to charity and such?”

God didn’t come down from heaven so that you could donate some of your money to good causes, but you have to make sure they are good, he came that so you might become LOVE.

He falls at the feet of Christ, because Christ is God.

Paul and Barnabas get worshipped, they are appalled.

John worships the angel in Revelation, “No! I am a servant like yourself.

“Go show yourself to the priests”

Jesus the High Priest surrounded by his band of new priests.

The Gentile recognized God, so he says to Jesus, “Yes, it will be worth it to go to the Gentiles, you aren’t wasting your time, we will give you thanks!”

“This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him

we shall also live with him; if we persevere

we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him (in everything we do this applies).

he will deny us. If we are unfaithful

he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” 2 Tim 8:11-13

This is wedding language.

Can I be happy without Christ? If you are baptized…short answer, NO, because you have been conformed to Christ.  you can reject that gift, but for every soul, Christ is the completion of our souls.