Sermon -- 5th Sunday in Lent (March 26, 2023)

2 KINGS 4:17-37

OUR LORD AWAKENS THE DEAD TO LIFE.

In the name + of Jesus.

       I suppose a little background is in order since our reading assumes we know the association between Elisha and the Shunammite woman.  Elisha served as the Lord’s prophet and carried out his ministry from town to town.  One of the cities he would visit on his circuit was Shunem.  In that town, a woman suggested to her husband that Elisha should be invited to stay with them in their guest room when he came to town.  Since she was so gracious to God’s prophet, Elisha was eager to be gracious to her.  She and her husband did not have any children, so Elisha prophesied that she would have a son in a year.  To paraphrase her response to Elisha, the woman said, “Don’t mess with me, man of God.  Do not set me up for disappointment.”  But true to Elisha’s word, the woman conceived and bore a son.

     Fast forward a number of years, and the child had grown some.  He went out to visit his dad in the fields during the harvest.  But we heard his exclamation, “Oh, my head!  My head” (2 Kings 4:19)!  Perhaps it was a brain aneurism.  In any case, the child died; and the mother who begged not to be disappointed was utterly grieved.  She set out immediately to find Elisha, and she laid the blame at his feet.  She did not want to bother her husband with the matter.  She would not speak to Gehazi about it.  Since it was Elisha’s word which gave the child, she would address only him.  Again, to paraphrase, she said, “Did I ask you a child?  Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t mess with me?!’”  All the joy she had because of her child was forgotten.  She was heartbroken and defeated.

     But Elisha, the man of God, had compassion on this woman.  He sent his servant, Gehazi, to run and to put Elisha’s staff on the boy.  He presumed that this would restore the boy to life, but it did not.  God’s word does not tell us the reason Elisha’s staff failed.  We only know that it did not awaken the boy from death to life.  I suppose we can take a guess why.  Perhaps God was telling Elisha, “You need to be invested in this personally.  You will need to touch the boy, his body connected to your body, to awake the dead to life.”  Even if that is not the reason, that is what happened.

     When Elisha came to the house, he invested himself to awaken the boy from death to life.  “He went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord.  Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands.  And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm” (2 Kings 4:33-34).  Of course, it was not Elisha who awakened the dead to life.  The Lord, who is the author of life, heard Elisha’s prayer.  The Lord had mercy upon the bereaved mother.  The Lord awakens the dead to life.

     Elisha is a foreshadowing of Jesus.  Jesus came to awaken the dead to life.  To do so, the Lord invested himself completely in us.  The Lord became a man, taking on our flesh.  His body is connected to ours in order to save our bodies from corruption and death.  When we think of Jesus saving us, we usually think only of his payment for our sins.  And that is certainly true.  St. Peter wrote, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Taking on our flesh was necessary in order to give it into death to pay for our sins.  He invested himself completely to save us completely.  He became a man in order to take up the cause of mankind.  The Lord not only united himself to us by becoming a human being, he also took into himself all our guilt and the punishment that comes because of sin.  So, Jesus has removed your guilt from you and delivered you from any condemnation.  You have been pardoned from every offense. 

     The Lord awakes us from death to life.  You have been given new life through Jesus Christ.  You are no longer dead in your sins.  You have been restored to godliness.  You have a status before God as one who is blameless, and the Holy Spirit has created in you a pure heart which strives to live blamelessly.  So, the curse of sin has been lifted from you, but you are still living with the effects of sin.  Bodies age and ache.  Eyes and ears and muscles grow weak.  You fear catastrophes and endure tragedies.  You have been delivered from sin, but you still live in a sinful world.

     When Jesus came to deliver us from sin, he came to deliver us from all of it.  The miraculous healings Jesus did give us a glimpse of the heavenly kingdom.  When we enter heavenly glory, there will be no wheelchairs or crutches.  There will be no hearing aids or corrective lenses.  There will be no prescription medication or doctor’s appointments.  All these come because of sin.  But Jesus will deliver us from all of these, as his miraculous healings testify.

     Sin corrupts and kills everything it touches.  It should bother us to no end.  Sadly, it does not bother us as much as it should.  For example, there is nothing holy about selfishness.  Selfishness is, ultimately, idolatry of myself.  But I don’t always feel bad about being selfish.  When I am selfish, I often get my way.  For that reason, I often consider selfishness a good thing.  I shouldn’t.  My selfishness is presumptuous.  It does not concern me with your schedule or your burdens.  I only care about my own.  Worse, it is an offense to God who has not created me to love myself above all things.  This should bother me more than it does.  Repentance is owed—not only for the selfishness but also for how little my sin bothers me.  It shows how little I take God’s word to heart.

     While our sins may not bother us as much as they should, what comes from sin sure does: death.  The Bible reminds us, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  How people die varies, but why people die does not.  We are sinners.  Sinners die.  And after death comes judgment.  But the Savior who has taken away our sin also delivers us from death.

     Jesus became a man and willingly went into death so that he could overcome it.  When Elisha was tending to the Shunammite boy, he had to call upon the Lord to raise him back to life.  We are never told about the boy’s life after that, but it is safe to assume that he grew older and finally died.  He remained dead.  The grave finally claimed him after all.  But Jesus raised himself from the dead.  He laid down his life only to take it up again.  Now, the grave no longer has mastery over Jesus.  This man has conquered death on behalf of all mankind.  Jesus lives forever, and forever has authority over death and the grave. 

     On the Last Day, Jesus Christ will awaken all the dead.  All graves will be emptied.  Death must give everyone back.  Those who are in Christ will be awaked from death to life everlasting.  So, while you will have to face a judgment, Jesus has already told you what it is: You are pardoned of all sin.  You have been cleansed by his blood.  You are marked for eternal life.  Those who remain outside of Jesus Christ, sadly, will still be in their sin, and God cannot reward sin.  Their punishment will be deserved.  Their selfishness will reap its ultimate reward, and their torment unending.  But for you, Jesus’ selfless life and death have atoned for your selfishness.  He was mindful to pay for your sins even if you were not mindful of them.  Now, Jesus lives to forgive your sins, to save you from a curse death, and to preserve you in the saving faith because he has awaked you from death to life.

     When Gehazi had traveled to put Elisha’s staff on the boy’s face, it had no effect.  Gehazi returned to Elisha and the Shunammite woman to deliver the sad news.  Gehazi’s words, however, are a marvelous confession.  He did not say, “The boy is still dead.”  He said, “The child has not awakened” (2 Kings 4:31).  Is there a better description of what death is for the Christian?  Jesus used a similar expression when we referred to the death of Lazarus.  “He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him’” (John 11:11).  Since our Lord has authority over death, he has authority to awaken us from death to life.

     Think about when you go to sleep at night.  None of us is afraid to go to bed.  When you were eight years old, you probably considered bed time to be a punishment.  But not now.  Now it is a reward.  But what happens when you go to sleep?  You are dead to the world.  You don’t see anything.  You don’t hear anything.  You have no idea what is going on in the world, and you certainly don’t have control over it.  But you peacefully go to sleep, confident that you will open your eyes to a new day.  The Lord Jesus will awaken us from death to life.  When you close your eyes in death, you will open them and see Jesus.  You will be with him in heaven, forever free from sin.  And on the Last Day, Jesus will awaken you from your grave.  You will open your eyes to a new, glorious, and everlasting day.  This why we confess joyfully: “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” (Nicene Creed). 

     We look forward to eternal life because our Savior is the resurrection and the life.  To ensure our part in that life, Jesus gives us his body and blood which has conquered death.  We feast on the living body and blood of Jesus.  Through this feast, Jesus sustains us in a dying world and assures us of life everlasting with our Lord. 

     Finally, there is one more point to make regarding the Shunammite woman and the raising up of her son—the joyful reunion.  When we must bid farewell to those who die in the faith, it is a bitter and sorrowful moment.  When death rips them away, the tear hurts badly.  We don’t need to feel badly for the Christian who dies.  He or she has entered the joys or Paradise.  He or she is forever free from the pains and sorrows that have been produced by sin.  It is our pain that makes us weep.  It is the unfixable separation from loved ones that hurts so badly.

     But fear not.  Jesus will mend what sin and death rip apart.  Just as the Shunammite woman was overjoyed to receive her son back, so we look forward to the joyful reunion of those who have died in the faith.  The grave will give back our dead.  And just as Jesus lives forever free from death, so will they.  And so will we.  For, Jesus awakens the dead to life. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.