Miracles can be ordinary

What do we think of when we think of a Miracle, I think we immediately think of something like the miracle at Fatima, where the sun dances in the sky, fireworks are going on and everyone .  That's what we expect when we think of a miracle.  We expect things to be flying around the room, booming voices from heaven, and all that goes with them.

Today we hear two rather interesting stories, one in the old Testament, one in the Gospel.  Whenever we hear the stories in scripture, often they're modeled on older stories, but he gives them a new twist, makes them into something that no one was expecting.  Of course there are all sorts of stories of healings throughout the scriptures.  On the other hand, throughout history, even when we look at other faiths, even ancient mythology, there were all sorts of healings there too.  So when we think of that...it's good for us to take a moment and really ask...so what is special here.  What makes this story different from all of the others?

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Jesus wasn't so much the extra-ordinary things he did, but that to him, they were so...ordinary.  He never made a big show of it.  There are no big magic words.  There are no great costumes or waving of hands.  He simply says in normal words "Go, show yourselves to the priests" and the ten are healed.  It's very much the same story when we hear about the healing of Namaan in the first reading.

Imagine, Syria and Israel have been at war for generations….well, ok, that part's not so hard to imagine, but the conflict dates back to biblical times.  Now the General in charge of the entire Syrian army discovered he had the beginning stages of leprosy.  He tried everything under the sun and he was desperate.  So, having heard about a prophet in Israel...he was willing to give it a try.  He was expecting some big magic words with a great show to go along with it.  After all, that's probably what all of the Syrian healers had done and he never got anywhere.  Yet, Elisha told him.  Go down to the river here and wash seven times, and even though he thought it would never work, that it was too simple, he was convinced to do it anyway and it happened.

In the same way in the Gospel, Jesus tells the Samaritans to go and show themselves to the priests.  Along the way they were healed.  Sometimes we can get so caught up in looking for great signs and miracles that we miss all of the things that happen every day.  Sometimes if we're not careful, we wind up looking for a 2-bit magician rather than Jesus. 

The real Jesus is God, after all.  He created the world and everything in it.  He has no reason to show off, because well, who exactly does he need to impress.  Throughout many of the healing stories, we see this same theme.  Jesus heals through a simple word or action.  He makes miracles without a big show.  He offers us salvation, but if we're not careful, we can miss what's happening because it looks so ordinary. 

When we hear the story of the 10 leapers who were healed, only one was paying attention, only the foreigner realize that what Jesus said actually happened, only the foreigner realized he should probably go back and thank Jesus.  Only he went above and beyond what he was told.  Only he looked into the ordinary and noticed the extraordinary.

Don't we all do that in our own lives sometimes?  When we see those moments of grace, when life is up in the air, and unexpected good things happen, even though it could easily have been just a coincidence, do we thank God for coincidences? After all, if we've been paying attention in the Gospel, that's the way he usually likes to work.  As we go through this next week.  Sometimes it's good for us to take a moment to pay attention to all of the little ways that God cares for us each and every day.  Perhaps we should take the time to thank him for those things.