The Good News Must Be Shared

We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from 2 Kings 7 in which four lepers find themselves in a desperate situation. They are rejected by their own people (Israelites) for their disease, and their city is taken over by invading Arameans. Given little choice, the lepers enter their city, hoping the Arameans will be generous but thinking they are heading to their deaths at the hand of the enemy. But upon entering they discover that the Aramean army has, through an act of God, fled the city, leaving all of their food and possessions. The lepers begin to take the booty, but at some point they realize this is wrong and they should let their fellow Israelites know that their city is safe again. It is an example of God using unlikely characters to do God’s work, even sharing the good news and the bounty with people who had mistreated them in the past. We must ask what this means for us and how we, too, are called to share the Good News through our actions. And we must realize that God often calls the marginalized to spread the Good News, and we must be accepting.