Just because there’s a simple solution to a problem doesn’t mean that the solution is going to be easy. So it is with many biblical stories.
The healing of Namaan (2 Kings 5:1-14 ) has long been one of my favorite Bible Stories. It’s got a little bit of everything hit seems. There’s a war hero, brought low by something he cannot control. There’s diplomatic maneuvering, war and rumors of war. The Holy Man speaking for God and the promise of healing and redemption for a warrior, and the voices of those on the margins speaking the truth to power. There’s faith and doubt, heroism and miracles.
A couple of weeks ago I went to see the Academy Award Nominated film The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. First of all,
Mickey Rourke as 'The Wrestler'
let me say that you, should you decide to see the film, need to be prepared for hard realities as regarding violence, language, sexuality and despair. Just because a priest likes the film doesn’t mean it’s easy to watch. This is a story about an aging professional wrestler, a warrior, who has lost all of the relationships that are dear to him outside the ring. He’s faced with a stark choice about what the meaning of life and living is, both physically and philosophically. What he’s called to do is simple, but that’s not to be confused with it being easy.
As I reflected on the experience of Randy ‘the Ram’ Robinson in the film and read the healing of Namaan from 2 Kings I was struck how similar they were. These are both warriors seeking a return to wholeness.
Namaan is afflicted with a disease that puts him outside the mainstream despite his success as a warrior and value to the powers that be. Randy ‘the Ram’ is afflicted with an inability to be Robin Ramzinkski (his given name). He, like Namaan, is stained. Namaan has the ability, for whatever reason, to listen to reason. The folks at the margins of Namaan’s persona are able to get through to him. ‘The Ram’ doesn’t fare so well, or so it seems, in the film.
I’m not into ruining endings. I will say that doing the simple may be the hardest thing we are ever called to do, especially when it comes to redemption. Sometimes, in fact often, God calls not for heroism but heroes. A hero is one who sees what needs to be done and does it. Heroism, it seems to me, is more dramatic and more self-serving. Most -isms work against the truth they seek to emulate.
May God inspire you to see what needs doing and give you the courage to choose simply to do it.
