Elisha's Bones

Another interesting little passage I've come across in recent days ...

2 Kings 13:20-21

"And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.

And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band [of men]; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet."

Apparently they were burying the body of their dead friend and a bunch of bandits appeared. So they tossed the body in Elisha's grave and took off. But then ... the body the body touched Elisha's bones, sprang to life, and one must assume fled from the bandits with his friends! Could you imagine??? He must have escaped as Rabbi's later on claim that he went on to have a large number of children.

What a story! A dead prophet of God has more resurrection power than a live prophet of someone else.This metaphor is in the New Testament as well.

Luke 9:24

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."

John 12:24

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

And Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:11-12

"For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

So then death worketh in us, but life in you."

The paradox everywhere in the Bible is that death springs from life. So those of us who put up with all sorts of things like humiliation, loss, the critical spirit of those around us, no credit for what we do ... Paul calls it "being given over to death." This dying also can bring life to others. Jesus was maligned and misunderstood for sure, but most would say, even nonChristians that he lived the most attractive life ever. Its in our dying that His beauty grows in us, light and salt in the world. Life from death ... Everything to the good ...

Tim, in an obscure passage mood ...

There we want to be!

"When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom.Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be."

Henri Nouwen

Nouwen I believe, is speaking of the attractiveness of the free woman or man. I wonder if this doesn't lie close to the heart of the Gospel message... Jesus was apparently a shockingly attractive man, although scripture indicates it wasn't physical. People, sometimes in crowds, would leave everything, families, livelihoods, homes, just to be with him, to listen to him speak and to watch what he did. Society doesn't much like folks who live free of cultural imperatives, from the will of the crowd. "Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be." Yes indeed!