Body to Body
When Elisha reached the house there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 2 Kings 3:32-37
In liturgical churches during the season of Lent, many sermons are given about the abundant love of Christ and the sacrifice he gave on the Cross. There is a lot of focus on the fact that one perfect life was exchanged for so many imperfect lives. Jesus gave his all for us.
This story of Elisha and the son of the Shunammite woman, comes before Jesus in the Old Testament. To me it is more evidence that God never changes. Elisha does not have to give his life for the boy but he does take a huge risk. Moreover, the cost to Elisha is not detailed here.
Elisha put his body over that of a dead boy. Read the words carefully, “mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands.” Okay, the boy died of something. Elisha has no idea what nor does he seem to care. The “mouth to mouth” could read, “healthy ordinary germ filled mouth to sick, life taking germ filled mouth.” The same holds true for the hands certainly and maybe even the eyes. Elisha is taking a huge risk. He lays his healthy body down on top of a dead one. Forget our modern thoughts on that and think about the reaction of those times, to all things unclean, dead bodies being rather high on that list. With no thought to the social stigma Elisha does what he deems necessary and then returns the boy to his mother. What happens to Elisha at that point?
We can suppose that there are happy tears shed by both boy and mama but what of Elisha? My guess is that Elisha is done for a bit. He has called on every bit of God power in him to save that life. God’s power surged through Elisha to the boy and when all was said and done I bet Elisha felt his frail humanity and powerlessness.
I have been privileged to pray with people who are very ill, terminally ill even and with people who are world weary and frightened. I have prayed with people whose requests seem simple or who are rejoicing. In all cases I can feel the nearness of the Lord but when I pray with the ones who are suffering there is a difference. While in prayer with them I feel strange. It is as if something has taken me over, put me on autopilot. I guess that is because I have stepped out of the way, as much as possible, to let God speak through me. After the prayer is finished and the receiver goes along with his/her day I feel an emptiness, a weakness if you will. It is the recognition of the power that was there for the moment but is now not so evident. The power of the Holy Spirit is available to all of us who call on Him. However He certainly turns up the heat at times.
In liturgical churches during the season of Lent, many sermons are given about the abundant love of Christ and the sacrifice he gave on the Cross. There is a lot of focus on the fact that one perfect life was exchanged for so many imperfect lives. Jesus gave his all for us.
This story of Elisha and the son of the Shunammite woman, comes before Jesus in the Old Testament. To me it is more evidence that God never changes. Elisha does not have to give his life for the boy but he does take a huge risk. Moreover, the cost to Elisha is not detailed here.
Elisha put his body over that of a dead boy. Read the words carefully, “mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands.” Okay, the boy died of something. Elisha has no idea what nor does he seem to care. The “mouth to mouth” could read, “healthy ordinary germ filled mouth to sick, life taking germ filled mouth.” The same holds true for the hands certainly and maybe even the eyes. Elisha is taking a huge risk. He lays his healthy body down on top of a dead one. Forget our modern thoughts on that and think about the reaction of those times, to all things unclean, dead bodies being rather high on that list. With no thought to the social stigma Elisha does what he deems necessary and then returns the boy to his mother. What happens to Elisha at that point?
We can suppose that there are happy tears shed by both boy and mama but what of Elisha? My guess is that Elisha is done for a bit. He has called on every bit of God power in him to save that life. God’s power surged through Elisha to the boy and when all was said and done I bet Elisha felt his frail humanity and powerlessness.
I have been privileged to pray with people who are very ill, terminally ill even and with people who are world weary and frightened. I have prayed with people whose requests seem simple or who are rejoicing. In all cases I can feel the nearness of the Lord but when I pray with the ones who are suffering there is a difference. While in prayer with them I feel strange. It is as if something has taken me over, put me on autopilot. I guess that is because I have stepped out of the way, as much as possible, to let God speak through me. After the prayer is finished and the receiver goes along with his/her day I feel an emptiness, a weakness if you will. It is the recognition of the power that was there for the moment but is now not so evident. The power of the Holy Spirit is available to all of us who call on Him. However He certainly turns up the heat at times.
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