"Ordinary" Water

2 Kings 5

            I wouldn’t be much of a Lutheran if I didn’t point out how thoroughly the story of Naaman draws us to Christian Baptism.  So, a man in need of an impossible healing is sent to bathe in very ordinary water.  The ordinariness of the Jordan offends him, because he wanted something flashy—calling on the name of the Lord, waving hands, and so on.  But the Lord uses ordinary water to bring him healing.  Note the similarities: humans stand in need of an impossible healing, namely, forgiveness and new life.  We are directed to the most ordinary of water—Baptism.  And Baptism is ordinary.  We Lutherans don’t even have tanks for full immersion.  It’s a splash of water—and tap water at that!  We don’t even have consecrated, holy water.  Ordinary, ordinary, ordinary!  Baptism is pretty easy to underestimate, even to ignore.  No wonder that so many Christians are drawn to something flashier—dramatic conversion experiences, for example!  But we don’t judge Baptism based on the water but based on what God says happens through that water.  And that miracle Paul describes like this:  “a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).  New life and renewal?  Pretty big claims for a splash of water.  So, let’s learn from Naaman: it’s not the water that matters; it’s the Lord who works through that water.