As we turn to 1 Kings 4, we read of Elisha performing four miracles. First, a widow came to Elisha telling him her husband had died, and her creditors were going to take her two sons as slaves. Elisha told the woman to borrow as many vessels as she cold from her neighbors, and to fill them with a single bottle of oil she had in her house. The oil lasted until every jar was full. The woman was able to pay her creditors and to pay to support her family from the proceeds of selling the oil. Next, Elisha and his servant, Gehazi, developed a relationship with a Shunamite woman, who provided them a place to stay when they passed through the area. As a reward, Elisha prayed for the LORD to give the woman a son. When the child was older, he died. The woman went to Elisha extremely upset. She had told Elisha she didn’t want a son, perhaps because she was fearful he wouldn’t be able to provide such an amazing gift. Now, her son was dead. Elisha raised the child from the dead! Next, Elisha was having a meal with some prophets, who had picked some herbs and put them in the stew. They turned out to be poison. Elisha had them put flour in the soup, and it was safe to eat. Finally, Elisha multiplied loaves of bread, so there would be enough for a large group of prophets to eat. These miracles remind us of Jesus. He would perform similar miracles during His earthly ministry, which tells us how powerful Elisha’s ministry was!
2 Kings 5 records Elisha’s encounter with Naaman, a commander in the Syrian army. Naaman lived with leprosy, but he had a servant girl who had been captured during a raid in Israel. She told Naaman the prophet, Elisha, could heal him. He received permission from the King of Syria to go on a journey to Israel to look for Elisha. He gave Naaman a letter of introduction to present to the King of Israel. The king of Israel was disturbed, because he thought this was simply an excuse to start a war. Elisha intervened and told Naaman to come to his home. When Naaman arrived, Elisha sent Gehazi out to him, and told him to go wash in the Jordan River seven times, and he would be healed. Naaman was incensed. Not only did Elisha not come out personally, but Naaman said there were far better rivers in Syria than the dirty Jordan. He started to leave, but his servants convinced him that if Elisha had asked him to do something difficult he would have done it, why not do the easy thing Elisha asked him to do. Naaman was healed by his obedience to Elisha’s instructions. He returned to Elisha and offered to pay him for the great miracle, but Elisha would take no payment. Afterwards, Gehazi in a moment of greed, followed Naaman and said Elisha had changed his mind, and would take payment. He took the payment for himself, but when he returned to Elisha, Elisha knew what he had done, and pronounced a judgment on Gehazi. From that moment forward, there would always be someone in each generation of Gehazi’s family with leprosy. The lesson here is obvious: The LORD’s blessings aren’t for sale. He helps us because He loves us. If He uses us to heal or help others we aren’t to seek payment.
2 Kings 6 starts with Elisha performing another miracle. This time one of the prophets was cutting down a tree when the axe head flew off into the water of a nearby river. The servant told Elisha the axe was borrowed. Elisha promptly threw a stick into the water and the axe head floated to the surface. How? The only explanations are: it didn’t happen, or the LORD gave Elisha a supernatural solution once again. We believe it was the LORD. Following this, we read of the King of Syria attempting to kill Elisha, because Elisha was constantly giving his plans to the King of Israel. Finally, the Syrian army found Elisha and surrounded the house where he was staying. When Elisha’s servant looked out and saw all the soldiers, he was terrified. Elisha asked the LORD to show the servant His army. The servant’s eyes were opened and he saw the Lord’s vast army, including chariots of fire. Elisha went out and asked the LORD to blind the Syrian army, which He did. Then Elisha had them march into the middle of Samaria, whereupon he gave them back their vision. The King of Israel asked whether he ought to slaughter them, because the LORD had delivered them into his hands. Elisha’s response was to feed them and release them. Upon their return to the King of Syria, the response led the king to stop pursuing Elisha and Israel for a time. As the chapter ends, though, Ben-hadad, the King of Syria has besieged Samaria, and the people are starving. The King of Israel was outraged at the plight of the people, and promised to kill Elisha, because he saw Elisha as the reason for their problems. The chapter ends with men sent from the king interacting with Elisha, and Elisha pointing out that he was not the problem. It is always easy for us to point our finger at someone else when we experience pain or problems. As they saying goes, “Hurting people hurt people.” But when we go through difficult times, we must first ask ourselves whether we are the source of those difficulties, or what part we are playing in them. If we are not to blame, then we must call on the LORD to intervene. If we are to blame, we must change our behavior and then call on the LORD to intervene, because as we have seen many times in our daily readings, God loves us despite our sinfulness. He will intervene in our lives regardless of the cause of our difficulty.
In 2 Kings 7, Elisha promises the King of Israel the LORD will provide food, and it will be more than needed. The captain of the guard tells Elisha it isn’t possible. Elisha tells him, he will see it with his own eyes, but won’t participate in it, because of his disbelief. The next day, four lepers decide to go to the Syrian camp to beg for food. They said they were going to die of leprosy anyway, so if the Syrians killed them it would only speed up the inevitable. But when they arrived at the camp, not a single Syrian could be found. All their goods were there, but no Syrians. They started collecting the plunder, and then realized what they were doing was wrong. All the people in the city of Samaria were starving, and they needed to tell them. When they did, and the King verified their account was true, the people stormed out to gather the plunder. As Elisha had said the captain of the guard saw this, but in their rush to leave the city, the people knocked down the gate. It fell on the captain and he died as he watched others receive the blessing Elisha predicted. What a strong reminder of how important it is for us to trust the word of the LORD!
As we turn to Matthew 7, we come to the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus starts by calling us not to judge others, because we will be judged with the same standard we use in judging them. He gives the illustration of how we often see the “speck” in another person’s eye, while ignoring the “log” in our own. How true! Before we call someone else into judgment, we need to be sure our own lives are free of the sin we are judging. Some have used this passage to avoid calling others to accountability, because none of us are perfect. The better response is to judge ourselves first, and then to help others who are heading down the path to destruction by pointing out their sin as fellow sinners, rather than as self-righteous Pharisees.
Jesus follows up this instruction with a brief comment regarding not throwing our “pearls” before “swine.” He was telling us not to offer the good news to those who are unwilling to hear it. In my experience, it’s easy to tell whether others are open to the gospel or not. When they aren’t, we don’t give up, but we do disengage from the situation, until they are.
Next, Jesus tells us to “ask, seek, and knock” when we need something from the LORD. The verbs are in the present imperative, which means we are to keep asking, seeking, and knocking, and not just to do so once. Jesus reminded us our earthly fathers give us good gifts and they are sinners, so how much more does our Heavenly Father want to respond to our prayers.
Jesus’ next command is to do to others as we would have them do to us. We call this the “Golden Rule.” Jesus tells us this command sums up the whole Law and the Prophets, or it sums up the Old Testament. Wow! How important that makes this instruction. As we seek to do to others as we would have them do to us, it’s helpful to remember every person is different, and sometimes if we do to others what we would want them to do to us, it may not come across as we intend. The better approach is to get to know what the other person wants to have done in a situation, and then provide that, so long as it will draw them closer to God in the process.
Jesus goes on to tell us the way to heaven is “narrow.” In other words difficult. Salvation is free. Jesus gives it to us as a gift, but living as Jesus’ followers is often hard. As I often say, “Following Jesus is simple, but not easy.” Jesus goes on to remind us the way to tell whether someone is following Him is to look at the “fruit.” As He points out good trees produce good fruit, while bad trees produce bad fruit. He then goes on to tells us not everyone who uses His name, or calls out, “Lord! Lord!” is going to heaven, but only those who do the will of His Father in heaven. Jesus was not teaching we gain heaven through our works. He was teaching us when we have been saved by His grace, and been born again, our lives will demonstrate that salvation through good works. We don’t do good works to get saved, but because we are saved.
Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by telling us that anyone who hears this teaching and lives it is like a man who built his house on a rock, or on a solid foundation. When the storms and floods come, such a house stands. But if we hear the teaching and don’t live it, we are like a foolish man who built his house on sand. Such a foundation doesn’t stand against the storms and floods of life and it falls. Let’s trust Jesus enough to obey His commands in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we do, not only will our “house” stand firm, but we will be the salt and light others need to be drawn to Jesus!