Sister Maria Catherine Toon

Elisha’s travels allow him to take advantage of a married couple’s hospitality in this passage. God rewards those who generously provide for God’s kingdom. After being on the receiving end of others’ generosity, the Lord has shown me both how humbling it is to receive gifts from benefactors, but also that he blesses souls richly who respond with foresight and provide for the church. The wife’s conversion and salvation could very well depend on these small acts of generosity that she gives to the prophet.

Many of the Resurrection narratives take a similar approach – the Lord’s disciples flounder and feel despondent, unaware of the significance of his death and absence.

Both the first and second reading this Sunday wax eloquent about the wisdom that God offers his people. It eludes the power-hungry and even those who govern us (1 Corinthians 2:6). God offers wisdom to the spiritually “mature.” By Paul’s definition mature means those who put on the mind of Christ to see the world through the lens of his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10).

When the Israelites get a moment alone without Moses (without God, they think), their minds, and their hearts, go back to Egypt, filtering out their suffering. Our Lord is unrelenting, and impatient when the chosen people begin to show a marked preference for other gods.