In our Old Testament reading we read of many kings of Israel and Judah who did evil in the eyes of the Lord. But when the prophet Elisha gets sick and is about to die, king Joash of Israel, who also did evil in the eyes of the Lord and wouldn't have listened to Elisha, got emotional and cried. This shows that all the while he was doing evil, King Joash still respected Elisha and didn't feel comfortable knowing Elisha would soon be gone. This is like when a loved one passes away, we often wait too long to tell them how much we loved and cared for them.
The miracle in chapter 13: 20-21, where a dead man is thrown into Elisha's grave then becomes alive again after touching Elisha's bones, would have been both awesome to see and shocking at the same time. God used Elisha here again, at least He used his body, after he had died, to perform this miracle.
In our New Testament reading, I find it amazing how Jesus handles the crowds that followed Him, even though He was feeling real down. He had just heard of the murder of John the Baptist, who was a great man of God, and Jesus needed time to deal with His sorrow.
But a crowd of approx 5000 people had followed Him and it was getting late and they hadn't eaten. Jesus could have said He had had a tough day and wanted to be left alone, but instead had compassion on the crowd and felt a need to feed them, which He did. This shows me how much He loved them, and loves us. He put the crowds needs before His own. A good reminder for me to think of others and not myself all the time.
3 comments:
That is a pretty neat miracle!
Jesus' compassion in the face of his own grief is amazing. And yet, often that's exactly what's needed to help us overcome our grief - turning our focus off our own grief and onto others. A great example for us to follow.
What tremendous courage John the Baptist showed by standing up to the King and calling sin sin, no matter the cost. Talk about not caving to societal pressure of his day. Pretty valid for us today I'd say!
I too, was impressed by the compassion Jesus showed to the crowd despite His desire and need to be isolated. He didn't just brush them off which He could have easily done (which is what the disciples were encouraging Jesus to do) but no He did what would have been much more difficult. He put His own desires to the side and met the needs of those people.
It reminded me that I need to be ready to help someone in need at all times, not just when it's convenient for me.
I just read the story about the feeding of the 5000 in my devotional time with my class today. What a great reminder that Jesus attends to physical needs of people as well as spiritual. Also, I always think about the offering of the small loaves and fishes and how foolish it must have looked compared to the magnitude of hungry people. How awesome it is that God can use what we have and not only make it "enough" but more than enough to make sure there are even leftovers!
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