There’s a certain miracle that the Prophet Elisha performed for a widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7 (4 Kingdoms 4:1-7 LXX) that gives us an example of God’s providential care, and how to act in faith. The widow’s husband, who was a son of the prophets, had died. The creditors were going to take her sons away to become slaves as payment for her debt. She went to Elisha for help, and he asked what she had in her house. All she had was a jar of oil that she used to anoint herself with. The Prophet told her to borrow empty vessels from all her neighbors, and to pour the oil she had into them. She did as she was instructed to do, and the oil miraculously multiplied, filling every empty vessel she gathered. When the number of empty vessels to fill up ran out, so did the multiplying of oil. She then sold the oil to pay off the debt, keeping her sons free, and they were even able to live off the oil left over.
This morning when I read this passage, I remembered a sermon I heard one Sunday on this miracle back when I was a Protestant. The preacher’s focus was how the story can apply to us today. He explained that the woman could have had even more if she would have borrowed still more vessels than she did. God can only give to us abundantly if we have abundant faith in him. His voice started to crescendo and he began pacing up and down the stage while telling us that today we can have that abundance, but we must believe and ask expectantly that God will provide that abundance. Everyone in the pews got up on their feet with excitement. He yelled into the earpiece mic that if we’re ever told to go out and borrow empty vessels, so to speak, then we better not stop at our neighbors. We better go call every family member, their neighbor, and any stranger on the street to borrow from, because our God is a good God, and He’s able to fill every single vessel we collect! At the peak of his preaching the band was back on stage in full swing, and the congregation was full of emotion, yelling “hallelujah” with their hands in the air.
I used to think back to that sermon fondly. It taught me that God gave that widow a way out, and that it was written for our benefit so that today in the New Covenant, we can be ready to expect God to miraculously help us out of financial situations, and any other hardship we have. Since the preacher harped on how the widow could have had more, I got the impression that she could have had even more faith than she did, and it was somewhat of a warning that we shouldn’t limit God in His miracles to only a few containers, so to speak. However, when I read this story again this morning, now being an Orthodox Christian, I had very different outlook on the story and what we can learn from it.
The Orthodox Study Bible notes that, “this account demonstrates the wondrous act of Christ’s charity made manifest through those faithful to Him and in whom His goodness is magnified” (p. 426). The miracle God worked in cooperation with the widow’s faith, which was proven by her following the instructions, did in fact lead to an abundance that was in no way lacking. She didn’t ask Elisha for money to solve her debt issue. She simply cried out for help, leaning on faith in God, saying of her husband, “you know your servant feared the Lord” (v. 1). When the Prophet told her to gather empty vessels, he explicitly said “from everywhere” and “do not gather a few” (v. 3). Inherent in the instructions was plenty, and when that plenty was in oil instead of money to pay, or men to fight off the creditor, the widow didn’t question or complain, she faithfully reported back to Elisha.
The preacher’s focus was on how man today can receive much from God instead of how God charitably gave much to the widow. I wondered how he could have come away from the story with the feeling that perhaps she could have gotten more. Then to tell us that we shouldn’t limit ourselves in our faithful asking, implying that she had limited faith, too. The Protestant world tends to focus on man and then works up to God, whereas in Orthodoxy, we start with God and then work our way down to man. It’s not wrong to receive good things from God, but to only expect God’s Providence by way of receiving good things butchers the full teaching of the Faith, and leads people to an unrealistic expectation of their Christian lives.
A big part of our Christian lives is struggle. God allows us to suffer hardships and tribulations. One reason why is because, as St. John of Kronstadt said, “we draw most near to God in time of affliction, from which no one can save us but God, to Whom we then turn with our whole heart, and thus approach Him sincerely” (My Life in Christ, p. 17). Even if God didn’t deliver the poor widow from the situation, and the creditors came and took away her sons, God would be no less good. He could turn even that situation into good. One perfect example is the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his own brothers. God turned that evil done against him into good by putting Joseph in the position to save his entire family in Egypt.
When we read this wonderful story, we witness God’s providential care, His charity, and His miracle working for His faithful. We learn how we ourselves may cry out to God in faith, knowing that He hears us and provides for us according to His perfect Will. I believe these are the focal points of the story, not the spiritual mechanisms by which man may receive the most amount of good from God in this world like I was taught many years ago one Sunday. Just as God used what little the widow had, he uses the little that we have in our possession, and makes plenty for us. Glory to God for all things.
Resources
St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, the Orthodox Study Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 426.
Saint John of Kronstadt (Archpriest Ivan Ilyich Sergiev), My Life in Christ: The Spiritual Journals of St. John of Kronstadt, trans. E.E. Goulaeff, rev. Nicholas Kotar (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Publications, 2011), 17.