BCP- Don't think about it, do it

"Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, `Wash, and be clean'?"

This leapt out at me the first day. First off was the clear connection between Elisha here in numbers and Jesus in the Gospel. The difference of course is that Jesus does not send someone to the Jordan (but I dig the Jordan baptism connection) but simply pronounces people clean.

I think there is a connection here two with the Epistle and the reality that discipline is more concerned with what I do rather than thinking about what I am to do. Here Elisha commands the man to go to the Jordan to become clean. The Epistle speaks of the need to have self control over the body as an athlete. Self control is not always easy and it becomes easy to justify our reasons for not doing what we set out to do. (What is interesting as I want to develop toward a disciplined rule of life I find that it is often these things which get thrown out the window first when dealing with life. It is easier or at least it seems easier to finish tasks like papers, bills, assignments, and emails. They are tangible.)

At the center of the above reading is the son speaking to the father. The father is mad because Elisha's answer to him did not match (I guess) what the father wanted him to say. I find it humorous (because I identify with such idiotic thinking) because the father wants Elisha to simply wave his hand. He then goes on to complain about the river selection.

Then reality hits. The son reminds the father. Just do it. Do what he says. Intention may help action but it never replaces it.