Elisha left Jericho and went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, a group of boys from the town began mocking and making fun of him. “Go away, baldy!” they chanted. “Go away, baldy!” Elisha turned around and looked at them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of them. (NLT)
Now what is that all about!!! Elisha has just performed a miracle purifying a stream and now this!!
Being somewhat follically challenged myself these days I might understand Elisha's hurt, but surely the respond is completely out of proportion, isn't it? Some say that these two events echo the message from Moses, about having life and death set before us and to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:15). It shows that God can bring both life and death depending on our actions. I wonder if deep down many of us wish that sometimes God might do this sort of thing to those horrible people we encounter; as it says in a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon after Calvin has once more been bullied by Moe; "It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning".
Even-so if honest I am still left with questions about passages like this one and really have no clear cut answers. So why is this a favourite of mine?
Well it is because I am left with questions to struggle with. When ever I hear someone say we should do something because it says so in the Bible, I am reminded of this passage. It could be easy to use this passage to ask God to inflict all sorts of unpleasant things on the people who hurt us in different ways. I wonder whether more harm than good has been done over the years by people picking passages to suit their opinions. For me the Bible is the living word of God, it is by engaging with it prayerfully, even the difficult bits, and seeking the guidance of the Holy spirit, that we can grow in our faith and seek to make it relevant to the situations we face today.
Over eight hundred years later as he entered the last weeks of his life Jesus too was insulted, mocked, betrayed, scourged. He could have called on God like Elisha did but his response was very different. In this instance perhaps we should all seek to be more like Jesus than Elisha.
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| A more friendly bear |
Gracious God
In those time when others hurt us and we want to strike out, help us to be more like Jesus forgiving and seeking the good of all.
We pray for those who have been hurt by what others have said, bring healing to their hearts.
We pray for those who use words carelessly, help them to be more thoughtful.
As we read your holy word we ask
that the Holy Spiry will guide
and teach us
so that we may grow in love of you.
that the Holy Spiry will guide
and teach us
so that we may grow in love of you.
This we ask in the name of Jesus.
Amen
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