A Stick Made the Ax-head Float
1 The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is toosmall for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”
And he said, “Go.”3 Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied. 4 And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron ax-head fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”
6 The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.7 “Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it. (2 Kings 6:1-7)
The young prophets of Elisha were in Gilgal (near Jordan). Gilgal means ‘circle of stones,’ in reference to a religious monument: twelve symbolic stones were set up to represent the twelve tribes of Israel, after they crossed the Jordan under Joshua’s leadership and stepped into the new land of Canaan. In Elisha’s time, the people of Israel were struggling with poverty because they had many wars with Moab and Aram (Syria). King Jehoram was evil in God’s eyes, and the people had turned away from God and worshiped Baal. However, the number of disciples under Elisha, who were studying the word and worshipping God, had increased, and the meeting place was getting too small for them. They made the decision to build a more spacious place near the Jordan by themselves, and asked Elisha to accompany them. Sometimes, we make decisions for our lives by ourselves without including God, and later we blamed God for the result that we don’t like.
While cutting down trees, an accident occurred. One of the disciples cried out to his lord, Elisha, that a borrowed iron ax-head had fallen into the water. Elisha kindly listened to the disciple, cut a stick from the tree, and threw it into the water at the place the ax-head fell.The iron ax-head floated.
The disciple was using a borrowed ax, not his own, to build the house of God. Do we serve God with our own gifts, talents, hearts, and faith? Or do we imitate and act like someone else, so our work has no power of faith and love and is like an empty shell?
Elisha reflects Jesus’ compassion and true love to everyone who comes to him for his miraculous help without judgment. Why did he cut a stick and throw it to the place the ax-head had fallen? What is the stick he cut from tree? It could be Moses’ staff to dry the Red Sea for Israel’s crossing, or the staff of our Good Shepherd for lost sheep. Yes! I believe that the stick is Jesus’ wooden cross, which pulled us out of the deep mud in the bottom of the river, and washed the sins from our hearts and lives; it was a new baptism, allowing us to imitate Jesus Christ to serve Him and His ministry. Amen.