Sunday, November 28, 2004 Fish, Wine, & Oil (Tone 1)
Martyr Irinarchos of Sebaste
Kellia: 4 Kings 4:25b-37 Epistle: Ephesians 5:8-19 Gospel: St. Luke 18:18-27
2 Kings 4:25b-37MT ~ 4 Kings 4:25b-37 LXX, especially vs. 30:
"And the mother of the child said, As the Lord lives and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee.
And Elisha arose, and went after her." The prayer most frequently offered by Orthodox
Christians is, "Lord have mercy," which is found in a more extended form in the Jesus Prayer,
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner." In the present reading, one hears
the cry for mercy, but, more importantly, discerns the gift of mercy flowing in abundance. The
Shunammite riding intently was seen by Elisha yet a long way off (vs. 25). Christ our God sees
each of us coming to Him for mercy long before we reach him on the heights of heaven. How He
startled Nathaniel: "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you" (Jn.
1:48)! We do well to confess with the Samaritan woman, "see a Man Who told me all things that
I ever did" (Jn. 4:29), for He knows already our need of mercy (see Jn. 5:5,6). As Elisha, for
mercy's sake sent Gehazi to reassure the stricken woman (4 Kngs 4:26), so the Lord sends His
angels to assure us that He is ready to have us come to him (Lk. 2:9-11). Even before He Himself
appears in mercy to assuage our grief, His angels tell us that He is alive and present (Lk. 24:23).
Disciples of the Lord Jesus may not be able to cure our problems (Mt. 17:16), yet when He
comes, we find that He rebukes the demons that plague us (Mt. 17: 18).
Notice how Gehazi imagined to protect His lord from the woman who clutched his feet. He
would have "thrust her away" (4 Kngs. 4:27); but Elisha in mercy discerned that "her soul [was]
much grieved in her" and prevented him (vs. 27). The disciples, likewise, "rebuked" those who
brought little children to Him (Mt. 19:13) until the Lord Jesus with great mercy commanded
them: "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them" (Mt. 19:14). Are we in need
of mercy from the Lord Jesus? He urges us to persist in our quest for mercy, to be like a certain
woman who "by her continual coming" obtained mercy even from an unjust judge (Lk. 18:3-5).
Instead, He tells us in our need for mercy to "ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will
find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Lk. 11:9), assuring us that "everyone who asks
receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Lk. 11:10).
To confirm God's mercy to the Shunammite woman, Elisha sent Gehazi ahead of him with
careful instructions to "lay my staff on the child's face" (4 Kngs 4:29). Yet, as the Prophet was
approaching, still "there was neither voice nor any hearing" in the boy. Had she lost hope of
mercy, she would have found only a dead child in her home; but she declared, "'As the Lord lives
and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee.' And Elisha arose, and went after her" (vs. 30).
Likewise, if we will not depart from Christ in seeking mercy from Him, He shall arise and come
with us into our pain; and though He appears neither to speak nor act on our behalf, let us be
certain that He is only waiting for us to evince our faith in His great mercy. He looks for us to go
beyond crying "out to Him, saying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!'" (Mt. 15:22),
and to humble ourselves and reveal our deep trust in Him to be merciful (Mt. 15:26, 27).
Elisha "bowed himself on the child seven times" before "the child opened his eyes" (4 Kngs
4:35). Christ is ever working upon our needs, even as we wait to discern His mercy. The waiting
is ours until He calls us for He knows our lack of faith. Remember: "Jesus came..and stood in
the midst, and...said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your
hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving'" (Jn. 20: 26-27).
O Christ, our Light and Resurrection, hear our cry unto Thee, and give us grace to confess that
Thou art our Lord and our God, according to the greatness of Thy mercy.
