The truth of God is the most comforting and joyful presence we can imagine; and also the most disorienting and demanding. There\u2019s a famous Old Testament story (2 Kings 5) about the great military leader of ancient Israel\u2019s fiercest enemy, who comes to the prophet Elisha to be healed of his leprosy; and the prophet tells him simply to wash in the river. He is indignant: surely there must be something more difficult and glamorous and heroic to do? No; it\u2019s perfectly simple. Go and wash, go and join all those ordinary humble folk who are sluicing themselves in the river after a long day\u2019s work, or beating their laundry against the stones. Go and join the rest of the human race and acknowledge who you are. That\u2019s the truest heroism and the hardest.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a foreshadowing of the New Testament invitation: repent and believe and be baptised. Turn round and look where you\u2019ve never looked before, trust the one who is calling you and drop under the water of his overflowing compassion. Be with him. Join the new human race, re-created in the Spirit of mutual love and delight and service.<\/p>\n
If Jesus is strange and threatening, isn\u2019t that (the New Testament certainly suggests) a sign of how far we\u2019ve wandered from real humanity, real honesty about our weaknesses and limits?<\/p>\n