Prophet

While they were eating the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” They could not eat it. Elisha said, “Then bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve the people and let them eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot. – 2 Kings 4:40b-41 (NRSV) 

There’s a famine in the land. The prophet Elisha sends somebody to gather wild herbs for stew. The guy comes back with gourds he doesn’t know are poisonous, cuts them up, and tosses them in. The food is ruined, until Elisha steps in. 

The story is part of a set: Elisha helps a poverty-stricken widow with a miraculous amount of saleable oil. Elisha helps a woman conceive. Elisha brings a dead child back to life. Purifies a pot of stew. Feeds a shocking number of people with very little food.  

Sometimes we get confused and think that prophets are primarily people who speak for God, that “prophetic” just means “yelling in a sermon.” But prophets are people who act for God. too. Here’s how a prophet acts: they help poor people without regard to their deservingness. Help people become more fruitful, more creative. Save people from death. Clean the poison out of the world. Feed the hungry. 

It’s no accident that the list of stuff Elisha did could be a précis of Jesus’ life; those touched by our God tend usually to do the same kinds of things. And if the details change, if what you’re doing is cleaning up a toxic environmental site or a toxic something in yourself instead of purifying a poisonous pot of stew, well, that doesn’t mean you’re not being a prophet anyway. 

Prayer
For all the prophets, and for all the ways I’m trying to be one, a blessing. Amen.

About the Author
Quinn G. Caldwell is Chaplain of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry at Cornell University. His most recent book is a series of daily reflections for Advent and Christmas called All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas. Learn more about it and find him on Facebook at Quinn G. Caldwell.