I love photo albums. While enjoying the instant nature of digital photography, especially the 'delete' feature, I prefer holding photos in my hand. Maybe it is age and familiarity, maybe I am a kinesthetic person and need to touch something. Whatever the reason, I love photo albums. A snapshot tells a story. I look at a photo of my daughter and I see my husband. I pick up a photo of my granddaughter and see my daughter's eyes.
For the next two sessions, we are going to look at some events in the life of Elisha that remind me of snapshots - quick pictures of people and events, of life and trauma and joy. And yet there is a common thread that runs throughout. Look for images of Jesus as you read these scenes.
Scene 1: 2 Kings 4: 38 - 41
I find it interesting that Elisha does not tell them to throw the poisoned stew away. Just dump it out and we will start over. This batch is bad. I have certainly done that often in my kitchen! While this pot of stew was all messed up and even carrying death, it was still redeemable. Has life "poisoned" you in any way? Life outside of God is a path to death. Sin is a path to death. Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 that the "wages of sin is death". I am grateful to God that He finds me, and you, redeemable. In essence God says to us, "No, my child, we don't need to throw you out. I can deal with the poison. I can make you good."
Elisha puts flour in the stew and it becomes nourishing. Odd. Maybe not. We know that in the Jewish worship and sacrifice system, one of the required offerings was called the "sin offering". It was necessary as a sacrifice for the person's sin. It was the way to cleansing, to purity. We learn in Leviticus 5: 11 - 13 that if a person had no money for the required animal to use as a sin offering, he was allowed to bring a handful of flour for the sin offering. Offer the flour and the redemption, the clean-ness would follow ... as a gift from God.
Can you see Jesus? Romans 8:3 says, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering." Our Lord is the flour! Our Lord is the source of any clean-ness, any wholeness, any goodness in me or you. It is He, and He alone, that can take the "death out of the pot"!
Close today with the words from Psalm 51: 1 - 2: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin."
I have a new image in my mind with these verses after today's reading. Not only can I picture standing under a shower of water and washing clean ... we can now add the image of being covered with flour! All over! White! Thank you Lord!!
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