‘A full Christ is for empty sinners’ (2 Kings 4)

Is the Bible sexist?  You see, so often in the Bible it is women who are portrayed as having the faith that men lack.  Then there is the fact that God reveals His special care for people like widows.  Why are women so often shown in better light than men?

In the book of Hebrews, we read that by faith, ‘women received back their dead to life again’ (Hebrews 11:35).  It was women who exercised this extra-ordinary faith and received this amazing blessing.  There are two recorded raising of the dead in the Old Testament, both in the books of Kings and both to of the sons of widows.

I think it is because women are often more marginalised, and that marginalised people are quicker to cry to God for help.

In our reading we have three little stories that each show the faithfulness of God to people who are in desperation.

1.        Filling for the empty (1-7)

This widow goes to the prophet Elisha and explains that ‘the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves’.  In the ancient near east a person could be made a slave in order to pay off a debt.  In God’s mercy He regulated this practice in His law and put time limits on it.

All this woman has is a jar of oil.  Elisha tells her to gather empty jars from her neighbours.  She does so, and God fills those jars.  Her debts are paid, and they have oil to live off.

The great preacher Spurgeon comments on these verses saying, ‘a full Christ is for empty sinners only … it is not our emptiness, but our fullness that can hinder the outpouring of free grace.’  It is only empty vessels that get filled.

One of the reasons that people like widows show such faith in the Old Testament is because their situation made them vulnerable.  They knew that they needed help.  They knew that they needed God’s help.  It is only when we face up to our brokenness that we can grow in faith.

2.       Life for the desperate (8-37)

Then we come to a wealthy Shunamite woman.  Another woman who is aware of her need.  Another example of God’s provision.

She practices hospitality, which is something highly valued in the Bible.  Elisha tells her that God is going to give her a son.  The son comes, years go by, and then the son dies.  She lays the dead boy’s body out on the bed that she has for Elisha in her home.

One commentator says, ‘the woman lost her child but not her faith’ (Wiseman).

Now look at how the men in this story fail.  She doesn’t tell her husband that the boy is dead, presumably because he doesn’t share her strength of faith and might tell her not to bother Elisha.  Then there is Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, who tries to keep the woman from the prophet.  Even Elisha does not seem to know when his original plan fails.  But she says, ‘I am not leaving you’.  She seems to know better than Elisha what was needed.

This determined and persistent faith is often shown in how Christian mothers pray for their spiritually dead children.  In the fourth century a woman called Monica would not give up praying for her spiritually lost son, Augustine.  He was found by God and become one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time.

Do you notice her repeated response to people, ‘it is well’?  Commentators suggest that what she is doing is pushing enquires aside so that they don’t get in the way of her getting to Elisha.  But I wonder if these are also words of faith.  It is well, because God will make it well.  I was working on this text around the time I found out that my dad was not going to be allowed home from the hospital, but would have to go to a nursing home.  I felt that God was saying, ‘it is well’, it will turn out well.

The healing itself is a scene of shocking intimacy.  It might make us uncomfortable.  Men don’t do such closeness, unless of course if they are doing evil.  But this is not evil, this is pure.  To become a Christian involves an intimate relationship with Jesus.  Through the prophet God breathes life into the boy.  In a similar way God has breathed life into you, if you are alive in Him. 

Jesus says, ‘I am the resurrection and life, those who believe in me, though they die, yet shall they have life.’  Jesus raises the dead every day.  Spiritually dead people are raised to life.  Those who die in the Lord are raised to eternal life.  If you think that being made a Christian is any less dramatic that the physical raising of this young man, then you have not realised how spiritually dead and condemned sinful people are until Jesus changes us.

3.       Grace for the starving (38-44)

The final section of our reading shows God’s provision for starving people.  There is both the cleansing of contaminated food, and the multiplication of food.  Our minds might be brought to Jesus who feed both the four thousand and the five thousand.

Climax: Why are woman more spiritual than men?

Tim Keller says that people who have been shut out from power are more likely to get the gospel.  You see if you have power you are more tempted to be self-reliant.  If you can see your vulnerability and weakness you are more likely to look to God for help.  In the ancient near east, and in almost every society, women have been pushed down.  That place of merorganization has given them a spiritual advantage.

Sadly, male pride can be a great barrier to spiritual growth.  Many men want to portray an image of strength, and so avoid vulnerability.  Many marriages fail because the husband won’t admit they need help.  Many children feel isolated because their dad doesn’t know how to admit weakness. 

But whether you are a man or woman, if you want to come to faith, and grow in faith, then you need to come empty, persistent and desperate, and you will find that it is well.  ‘A full Christ is for empty sinners.’