“take Him To His Mother.”

“TAKE HIM TO HIS MOTHER”

2 Kgs. 4:8-37

INTRODUCTION

A. MOTHER HUMOR: What Mom’s Say

1. “Keep making that face and it’s going to freeze that way,” Moms used to say to kids. I knew times had changed when I heard one Mom warn her scowling daughter, “Keep making that face and you’re going to need Botox.” —Mary Bouck

2. Susan Balducci says, “My mother, a master of guilt trips, showed me a photo of herself waiting by a phone that never rings. “Mom, I call all the time,” I said. “If you had an answering machine, you’d know.” Soon after, my brother installed one for her. When I called the next time, I got her machine: “If you are a salesperson, press one. If you’re a friend, press two. If you’re my daughter who never calls, press 911 because the shock will probably give me a heart attack.”

3. In a department store Sheila Custer saw a toddler was having a furious tantrum. His mom was unfazed. “You may as well give up on the crying,” I heard her say as she led him to the store exit. “You’re stuck with me for 18 years.”

B. WHAT MOTHERS LEARN FROM THEIR CHILDREN:

1. Mothers learned from their children that a 3 year old’s voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

2. That when you hear the toilet flush, and the words, “Oh, no!” – it’s already too late.

3. You’ve learned that play dough and microwaves should never be used in the same sentence.

4. You’ve learned that super glue is forever.

5. You’ve learned that the Huntsville Fire Department has a fifteen minute response time;

6. You’ve learned that the spin cycle of the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy but it does make cats dizzy. Also, you have learned that cats can throw up to twice their body weight when they are dizzy.

7. You’ve learned that certain Lego blocks can pass through the digestive tract of a 4 year old.

[John Hamby, "Wouldn’t Trade My Mother for Any One Else."]

C. TEXT

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a [great] woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. 9 She said to her husband, 10 “Let’s make a small room on the roof….then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” 13 Elisha said, “You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you?....14 Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!” 17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her. 18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father…19 He said… “My head! My head!” 19 His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 …the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. 27 When she reached the man of God…she took hold of his feet. 28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?” 29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run….Lay my staff on the boy’s face.” 31 …there was no sound or response. 33 [Elisha] went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he [Elisha] got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. 35 The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 36 Elisha…said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.

D. THESIS

1. This is the story of a mother who couldn’t have a child, then had a miracle birth, followed by the child’s death, and a mother’s grim determination to hold onto God until God should bring her child through.

2. The title of this message is “Take Him to His Mother.”

I. WHAT WAS SO GREAT ABOUT THIS WOMAN?

This story starts out with the words, “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman…” 2 Kgs 4:8. What was so great about her?

A. A HOSPITABLE WOMAN (Vs. 8)

First she wanted to feed him (without knowing he was a preacher with a hollow leg!), then she wanted to put him up at her house. She wanted to entertain a stranger!