In the days of the Jewish Prophet Elisha . . . many of the prophets of God lived together in enclaves where they shared a common life of prayer and study similar to what we know as monastic communities.  . . . All of these prophetic enclaves, however, seem to have been under the godly supervision of a chief prophet:  a holy man in whom the bulk of God’s authority resided.  . . . Elisha was such a prophet.  Consequently, Elisha used to travel a lot.  Elisha traveled great distances, it seems, going from one enclave to another in order to advise and oversee the prophetic ministry of speaking God’s advice and judgment to Israel.  . . . And the reading from the Second Book of Kings, which you heard a little while ago, is about a Shunammite couple who provided Elisha with hospitality in the course of his regular trips past their house on his way from one prophetic enclave to another.  . . . It began with a cup of water and a seat in the shade where he could rest his feet . . . and then another time the Shunammite couple fed Elisha a meal . . . and once they put him up for the night, because it was getting on toward dark when he came by.  Finally this Shunammite couple built an addition on their house for Elisha(!) . . . so that he could come and go as he pleased.  It was a pleasant and private room which they furnished with a bed and a lamp and a desk and a chair.  The Shunammite couple did all of this out of deep reverence for the Lord God Almighty of Israel Whose ineffable power had sanctified the words and very footprints of the holy Prophet Elisha.

    The devout and reverent kindness of the Shunammite couple was such that the Lord God Almighty rewarded them; . . . the Lord God Almighty gave the Shunammite couple a son.  . . . So that, when their son and only child took sick and died, Elisha was most urgent to come to their aid and most fervent to intercede to God on their behalf.  . . . And this morning you have heard the account of Elisha’s efforts:  . . . Elisha first stood transfixed at the bed upon which the boy lay, and he prayed fervently to the Lord God; . . . and then Elisha crouched over the child to use his own body heat to warm the cold flesh of the dead boy and to use his own life breath to fill the child’s lungs, praying fervently to the Lord God Almighty all the while.  Elisha’s intense physical and spiritual concentration was so exhausting that he was forced, at one point, to stand and walk about the room to relieve his cramped muscles (I&II Kings, John Gray:  “Old Testament Library”, p. 499), and then return to his prayer and warming and breathing again.  . . . And the Lord God Almighty heard the prayer of His prophet and the Lord God Almighty granted His prophet’s plea; … the Lord God Almighty restored breath into the boy . . . so that he lived.  . . . Pretty exhausting work, . . . but in the end Elisha is able to return a living child to the grieving Shunammite woman.

    In contrast to that, . . . consider Jesus.  It is a sabbath day and Simon Peter and his brother Andrew bring Jesus from the synagogue where Jesus has been teaching; . . . they bring Jesus to be a guest in their home.  But Peter’s wife greets them at the door looking anxious, and Peter asks what’s wrong, and she says that her mother has come down with a terrible fever and nothing will work to break it, and she’s burning up!  . . . And Jesus goes into the room where Peter’s mother-in-law lies shivering and breathing as if she’d just run a race, . . . and He takes her by the hand and helps her sit up . . . and the glazed look in her eyes disappears . . . and her breathing slows . . . and her skin is cool to the touch . . . and she smiles.  Nor does she remain in bed to recover her strength.  All the weakness is gone!  In fact, the woman feels so much herself that she chases the men out of the room, gets dressed, and sets the whole household bustling so that these three guests, Jesus, James and John, can be accommodated.  . . . Elisha was physically and spiritually stretched to his limit to restore the Shunammite boy to health, . . . but Jesus only touches Peter’s mother-in-law . . . and she is well.

    The difference between Elisha and Jesus, of course, is explained by Mark at the beginning of his Gospel, . . . when he tells us that at the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John . . . the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove . . . and drove Him out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan as Eve and Adam were.  . . . But, unlike Eve and Adam, Jesus was victorious . . . so that when He came into Galilee declaring that the kingdom of Heaven is at hand . . . Jesus came bringing Heaven with Him . . . so that we need not die in order to get to heaven . . . we need only to follow Jesus.

    And the proof of that, Mark says; . . . the proof that Heaven has come to us … is in the very touch of Jesus; . . . the very touch of Jesus which breaks a fever and restores life at Peter and Andrew’s home in Capernaum.  . . . Not only that, but

That evening . . . the whole city was gathered together about the door [of the house where Jesus was].  And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons . . .

because the very touch; . . . the very word of Jesus brings shalom . . . the very touch; the very word of Jesus brings the peace of Heaven into the life of anyone who will come to Him; . . . anyone who listens to Him speak.

    Elisha was a very holy man of God.  But Jesus is even greater.  For, Elisha’s holiness came from his obedience to God’s sacred Word, . . . but Jesus is God’s sacred Word . . . made flesh.  Jesus became our human nature so that we all might be like Elisha; . . . so that we all might know God’s sacred Word and do good.
    . . . When I first became a Boy Scout . . . I was taught that the Rule of Life for a Scout is that he is Trustworthy . . . Loyal . . . Helpful . . . Friendly . . . Courteous . . . Kind . . . Obedient . . . Cheerful . . . Thrifty . . . Brave . . . and Clean; … a Scout is all these things only because a Scout is Reverent.  . . . Reverence for God is not one of Twelve Things you should be.  Reverence for God is the One Thing that makes you the good that you are.  . . . For, what does Jesus say?  . . . When Peter and Andrew and James and John go looking for Jesus on Sunday morning and can’t find Him . . . until they stumble upon Him in an unobvious place outside of town . . . and they ask Him what He’s doing way out here, . . . what does Jesus say?  . . . He says, “Let’s go on to the next towns so that I can preach there also; because that’s what I came out to do.”  . . . Jesus says that it is the will of the Lord God Almighty that He bring Heaven’s goodness to simply everyone.  That is the purpose of His life.  That is what He came out to do.

    And so it is for each of you.  Your life is an expression of God’s goodness.  It is a gift to the rest of us, and without you we would be diminished.  . . . But the fullness of that sacred gift from God; the fullness of your life -- the goodness which it conveys -- . . . depends upon your being reverent enough to listen to Jesus!  The fullness of your sacred life and the good of it depend upon being reverent enough to know Jesus; to know Jesus as He is revealed to us in Holy Scripture (by reading your Bible) . . . and to know Jesus as He reveals Himself to us in the Sacrament of the Altar and in Prayer.  . . . The fullness of your sacred life depends upon your being reverent enough to learn from Jesus so as to do and become who and what God has sent you out to be.  . . . The fullness of your sacred life is attained in following Jesus with Reverence . . . so that you might be Trustworthy (for instance) and Loyal and Helpful and Friendly and Courteous and Kind and Obedient and Cheerful and Thrifty and Brave . . . and Clean.