NOT a Time To Take

2 Kings 5:26 (ESV) But he said to him, “Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants?

These are the words Elisha speaks to Gehazi after he returns from trying to make money on the ministry Elisha provided to Naaman in healing him from his leprosy. Gehazi secretly runs off to Naaman, invests a story about visiting guests and takes clothing and money for himself which he then tries to hide from Elisha. 

He should have known by now you cannot hide anything from Elisha.  

Gehazi has been faithful to Elisha in so many other respects. Why now does he suddenly see an opportunity to enrich himself through the ministry? I think it's because there's a weakness in all of us that when we are presented with an opportunity to indulge, we will. For Gehazi, it was monetary gain. Perhaps he realized the golden opportunity before him in Naaman. After all, Naaman did arrive in a motorcade with impressive apparel in tow to offer Elisha. Secondly, Naaman offered these gifts to Elisha and he refused. Perhaps Gehazi considered Elisha's refusal beyond the pale. If the rich foreign commander wanted to bless these lowly servants of Yahweh, all the better. 

But Elisha's question is provoking. He doesn't simply say, "Gehazi, this was wrong." He asks a probing question: "Was it a time to accept money and garments...?" The answer is "no" of course, but why? 

The answer is because Naaman's healing was a gift of God's grace into his life. He had thought his impressive status, gifts, and accolades would make the prophet in Israel gush with a willingness to perform some sacred ritual and heal him. Yet everything Elisha did for Naaman he did on purpose to teach Naaman, this gentile, that the God of Israel was a generous and gracious God who did not respond to our moral accomplishment but overflowed with boundless grace to the least deserving. 

By trying to get payment out of Naaman, Gehazi was undoing the entire lesson in one heinous and selfish act. The testimony of Israel's God was tainted by what Gehazi had done. Thus the severe punishment handed down to him and his descendants.

2 Kings 5:27 (ESV) Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow.

What we see in 1 Kings 5 is one man who received the grace of God in response to nothing he did (that is, Naaman) and one who wanted to use the ministry God gave him to enrich himself (Gehazi). 

Gehazi represents all those who follow the Christian movement for selfish reasons. They know how to "work the system" to get rich off God's people. Their judgment is sure as Jude records in the New Testament:

Jude 11–13 (ESV) Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

So Elisha asks, "Is this the time?" And the answer is NO! In the day of grace, we must be ever mindful that we do not use the good gifts God can and will bestow on us or our churches as treasures we can barter and/or sell. Most importantly, the Gospel is NOT for sale. This is the age of boundless grace and we must give the Gospel away for free. Yes, scripture calls for the financial support of pastors to come from the flocks they lead (1 Corinthians 9:11; 1 Timothy 5:17; Galatians 6:6), but to those outsiders who are coming to faith, we must never interrupt God's generous salvation with opportunistic greed.