This story is very like the story we read recently about
Elijah, a widow and a son. In that
instance there was already a son and the woman was not wealthy but she was the
widow of a prophet. Here, a wealthy
woman determines to provide a place for Elisha when he is in Shunem and, in
gratitude, he offers to do something for her as well. She wants for nothing he can give to her but
his desire is great to return the favor she has shown him. Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, offers up the idea
that she has no son and her husband is old, perhaps it would be a good thing
for her to have a son who would be there when the husband dies, a good thing
for many reasons, so it is done. When
the son dies, the woman is determined that the one through whom this son came
is the one through whom he will be restored to her. She speaks to no one of her loss but Elisha
and refuses to go at his word, her faith is completely in the prophet himself. This miracle is similar to the work Jesus did
in restoring the daughter of the synagogue ruler in many respects.
John didn’t trust those who came to be baptized. He was unsure about their motives. If their motives were pure, they would “bear
fruits in keeping with repentance.” To
their credit, they asked the most important question, “What then shall we do?” John’s answers were both practical and
personal. He spoke to ordinary people,
soldiers, and tax collectors and gave them ethical precepts to follow. Kingdom ethics require us to reach out and
love in both word and deed and teach us also to be satisfied with what is due
to us rather than greedily taking more.
In all three cases, you could sum up his teaching as loving your
neighbor. John’s message was plain, the kind of people you are is
determinative, not baptism. His mission
was to prepare a people who would be kingdom people, not just people who had
done the right religious things.
Saul/Paul (Saul is Hebrew and Paul is the Greek form of
Saul) is converted and no one trusts him. Ananias has to have a word from the Lord
reassuring him that indeed the conversion is real before he will go and lay
hands on him that he might regain his sight, just as Joseph had to have his own
visitation prior to marrying Mary. The
people in the synagogues at Damascus initially wonder what has happened because
of what they know about Paul and then determine that his initial mission of
persecution of the church was the right one and decide to carry it out on him.
The disciples there have been convinced his conversion is genuine and rescue
him from their plot. When he goes to
Jerusalem the church there wants nothing to do with him, they don’t trust him
either. Barnabas, for the first but not
the last time, raises Paul up and he begins his new missionary ministry. Barnabas’ testimony was at one with John’s in
the Gospel reading, he testified that Paul had repented and born fruits in
keeping with that repentance. Changed
life, not religion, is the mark of conversion.
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