It’s Not Fair!

June 11, 2009

Today's Reading: 2 Kings 13-14 and Psalms 31-32

I thought I would do a little retelling of what happened on the day of Elisha’s death.

Jehoash: Hey, Elisha, how are you doing?

Elisha: I’m dying, sire.

Jehoash: Shouldn’t a whirlwind be coming for you, or something?

Elisha: Everybody always says that. Your father, your father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!

Jehoash: Isn’t that my line?

Elisha: Yeah, but when I said it, it made sense.

Jehoash: Yeah, I didn’t think that made much sense, either.

Elisha: Get a bow and some arrows.

Jehoash: What? Are you going to shoot someone?

Elisha: I will…unless…you…get…those…bow and arrows.

Jehoash: It’s all right, I keep a spare underneath your mattress.

Elisha: I thought the bed was lumpy. Take the bow in your hands.

Jehoash: No problem. You want me to shoot you? Is this what this is about?

(Elisha puts his hands on the king’s hands.)

Elisha: Open the east window.

Jehosah: But I’ve got this bow in my hands.

Elisha: Put down the bow, and open the east window.

Jehoash: Okay, fine. It’s open, now what?

Elisha: Shoot!

Jehoash: Shoot? What? What did I do wrong?

Elisha: No, shoot an arrow, out the window.

Jehoash: What, seriously? What if I hit someone?

Elisha: Just shoot, God says so!

(Jehoash shoots his arrow out the window.)

Elisha: The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram! You will complete destroy the Arameans at Aphek.

Jehoash: Oh, sweet!

Elisha: Now, take the arrows.

Jehoash: No problem, where do I shoot them?

Elisha: Strike the ground.

Jehoash: I don’t really get it, but I’ll do it. In fact, I’ll do it three times. That will do it!

Elisha: No!

Jehoash: Dude, don’t get ticked off, man.

Elisha: You should have struck the ground five or six times, then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.

Jehoash: What? You didn’t tell me that’s what I was doing! Man, if you had, I would have smacked them until there was nothing left! That is so no fair.

Elisha: Life’s not fair.

Jehoash: Oh, that’s original. Elisha? Elisha! Seriously, you are going to die with a cliché on your lips? Your master dies in a whirlwind, and you do that. You’re a real piece of work, you know that? Seriously.

Isn’t this true? If Elisha had told the king what the Lord was doing, surely he would have done what the Lord would have wanted. The issue is, life isn’t really fair sometimes, and you pay consequences that you didn’t really intend to have.

That is life. We make our choices, but we can’t choose what happens as a result of them. And yes, it is not fair. I’ll leave it at that.