Copyright © 2005-2007 Collin Park
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.Notes for reading of June 23
Elisha the prophet went to Shunem, where a rich but childless woman provides a room for him. She furnishes it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. He says to her, "You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?" (2 Kings 4.13)
How would you like that? Help out a traveling preacher, and he offers to talk to the President or the Governor for you -- what would you ask for if that happened to you?
The woman (we never learn her name) can't think of anything to ask for. I don't think it's only because she's rich. I think it's because she has learned not to expect too much in the way of things that would bring real joy to her. If you don't expect too much, you won't be disappointed.
So when Elisha says, "About this time next year you will hold a son in your arms," the woman objects. "No, my lord," she says. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of God!" (2 Kings 4.16).
Life has taught her to lower her expectations. Or maybe it was her genes. In any case she is completely unprepared for a big blessing. But God wants to give her one, anyway, because "the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her." (2 Kings 4.17)
What joy she must have felt! We don't have any details, because in the very next line he is walking and talking. [H]e went out to his father, who was with the reapers. "My head! My head!" he said to his father.2 Kings 4.18-19
He dies that same day, and the mother can't even tell anyone about it. But somehow she knows where to find Elisha. She leaves the boy on the bed in Elisha's room and goes to him. When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet.... "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?" she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes'?" 2 Kings 4.27-28
There, she was right all along. You get your hopes up, and maybe for a little while things are looking up. But life will always zap you in the end.
And yet, look at what happens next. Elisha returns with her. He prays to the Lord. Then a miracle happens. "The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes." (2 Kings 4.35)
This is yet another reason the Bible says there is no god like the Lord -- his astonishing generosity and goodness. In those days, it was assumed that the gods of a city (or nation) would help kings in battle, grant a bountiful harvest, this sort of thing. But a god who cares about a dead young boy and his mother, and wants to give her enough joy to burst her heart -- that's the character of the God we serve.
She was childless, I guess for some time. She was more or less resigned to that condition, and hope came suddenly. She didn't want to believe that she could have a child, and yet one came! Life was good for a few years, but then he died, her only child. She could have decided to settle into her old life of resignation, but she didn't! She seized the day, even in her bitter distress, and went to the man of God, maybe not even knowing why. Then the impossible happened and her son came back to life.
What a roller-coaster!
The Lord gave her a gift that she didn't even want at first, but now she has experienced life at its fullest. Not all happy -- she had a huge disappointment -- but she's seen two miracles. Life for her is an adventure again.
And how about for me? What do I want from God today? Dare I hope?
If not, why not?
posted June 25, 2006
Bible
WARNING: this is even more scatter-brained than usual
At the beginning of Fiddler on the Roof, the protagonist Tevye praises tradition, saying
Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.
Tevye was only partially right, but like many of us, that didn't make him unsure.
"Often wrong but rarely in doubt" -- is that an apt description of the human condition vis-รก-vis these questions? I'm going to say "Yes", based on this comment from Jesus:
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus also said,
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Matthew 7:22-23
Apparently they'll be surprised on that day -- they're wrong but not in doubt.
There are all sorts of reasons why we're this way. For one thing, there is no one universally-accepted unequivocal standard by which to judge answers to this question, so we tend not to sense a credible challenge to whatever folly we happen to be pursuing. Instead, we face an abundance of conflicting advice. Self-proclaimed experts abound. And family, friends, colleagues, celebrities, literature, film, etc., all influence us. There's also a lot of confusion about these questions within the church, not to mention other religions.
But the biggest reason we unquestioningly pursue our folly is that we are sinners. I know; I'm one, too. We all have a natural tendency to turn away from God and to seek meaning elsewhere. We choose goals poorly -- the first one being to find fulfillment apart from God -- and pursue them more or less without question. Some of the things we do actually seem to work.
Here's an example. For many years, the way I chose to feel good about myself was... to be "right". I wanted to know what the rules were, and to follow them well, so as to be above criticism. I hate being criticized. And if I follow the rules more closely and carefully than you do, then I might think to myself that I'm a better person.
Pretty dumb, huh? The goal is completely wrong, but the actions I took in pursuit of that goal... well, they had some positive results. Following the traffic regulations, for example, avoids a whole class of problems. Nothing wrong with that, as far as traffic rules go, anyway.
There are unwritten rules about social interactions, too. Following these rules (which include, but are not limited to, "etiquette") will tend to make those interactions go more smoothly. But will etiquette guarantee good results? Nope. Will it give you or me a deeply satisfying life? Forget it! Will etiquette make you a warm and attractive person? Ha! All it can do is make you correct. Following it will reduce the incidence of certain kinds of unpleasantness all around; this isn't bad, and it isn't trivial, but it has nowhere near the power I had sought. "Love me, I always say 'Please' and 'Thank you'" Or whatever.
A couple of weeks ago, we enjoyed the company of a missionary couple who told us about some of the things they were doing. They work for an outfit focused on specific technical tasks, but in a recent meeting with their team, they asked, "What would it look like if the Kingdom of God were to come to this people?"
What a terrific question! Now what does Headquarters think about this? Well, they're mostly OK with it. I mean, the reason this organization does all those technical tasks is for that purpose. Do we not pray, "(May) thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"?
Yet there are members of the team who say, "God called me to do this technical task"; they apparently want to limit their activities, and their thoughts, to this technical task.
I certainly can understand that way of thinking; I've felt that way myself at times. "This is what I do, and I do it well," goes the mantra. And "When I run, I feel His pleasure," as Eric Liddell said. And this is a good thing -- no, a very good thing. It is very good for us to exercise our gifts and to do things that God has gifted us to do.
Yet it somehow shortchanges us, and God, to limit ourselves to things we've always done, to look for satisfaction where we've always found it. To limit ourselves to tradition, in other words.
I'm no iconoclast; I think tradition is great. It's just not everything.
Bible,
The lovely Carol was reading part of today's reading aloud, and she pointed out something I missed. As I wrote last year,
Elisha the prophet went to Shunem, where a rich but childless woman provides a room for him. She furnishes it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. He says to her, "You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?" (2 Kings 4.13)
So what had I missed? That although this was allegedly a partiarchal society, Elisha talks to the woman, not to her husband. It is she that he asks, "What can be done for you?" It is also she who runs to him when her son dies. Indeed, she doesn't even tell her husband what she's up to, but dodges his questions and heads out.
This is a powerful, capable woman, like the one described in Proverbs 31. She is not to be messed with. Sure, she's got her vulnerable points, but anybody who says that the Bible demeans women has surely not encountered this woman.
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