2 Kings 4:42-44
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
At first glance this echos the story that we are all familiar with of Jesus feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish which is also in the lectionary this week. But what is the meaning of these stories. What is God trying to tell us. Within the miraculous, the voice of God can be heard but we don’t often hear it because we are focusing only on the miracle.
The entire 4th chapter of 2Kings is devoted to several miracles of God. It is also curious but intentional that there are no names used other than Elisha and Gahazi. The characters are just referred to as “a woman”, “a widow”, “a husband”, or “sons”. Perhaps we are to understand that the miracles that God performs are never about us. They are God and his love for us.
At this time, the people of God were oppressed by corrupt leaders. They were experiencing real issues of oppression: famine and poverty. The miracles are perhaps meant to remind us that despite how bad things might seem for those devoted to God, don’t lose hope. God is the giver of life. He sustains life. Even from death God brings life. Whatever is corrupted and brings only death, can be redeemed and sustain life for those devoted to Him. And from very little, God provides abundantly to those who trust him.
We live in a time where our leaders can’t be trusted, the media lies to us, corporations are in bed with the government and the middle class is disappearing. God calls them to repent the same as he calls all of us. But we can’t look to God to fix our government. We can only look to God to provide us with what we need. The story of Jonah reminds us that it is always better if our leaders repent and fix themselves rather than having another corrupt nation come in and take over as punishment. Corrupt governments are not going away. It is something that those devoted to God have always had to live with. Despite that, God is still active in reaching out to us to show his love.
As I pointed this out earlier, and now just to emphasize, the people in chapter 4 were nothing special and that is by design. God doesn’t need anyone special but he honors the faithful. And the items with which the miracles were performed were common: bread, oil, flower, soup and fish. Perhaps from that, we can learn that everything has a seed of the miraculous within it. It is just up to us to be faithful with the ordinariness of our everyday lives offering them faithfully to God who does the miraculous with the ordinary.