06/21/2026 - "Peace Abounds" (2 Kings 6:8-14)

This week we come to the third fruit of the Spirit that Paul lists in his letter to the Galatians. This is the one that was the most difficult to find an Old Testament story to preach from, and looking around the world, it’s one of the fruits of the Spirit that we need the most right now.

And that, of course, is peace.

Scripture: 2 Kings 6:8-14

Aram’s king was fighting against Israel. He took counsel with his officers, saying, “I’ll camp at such-and-such a place.” The man of God sent word to Israel’s king: “Beware of passing by this place because the Arameans are going down there.” Then Israel’s king sent word to the place the man of God had mentioned to him. Time after time, Elisha warned the king, and the king stayed on the alert.

Aram’s king was extremely upset about this. He called his officers and said to them, “Tell me! Who among us is siding with Israel’s king?”

One of his officers said, “No one, Your Majesty! It’s Elisha the Israelite prophet who tells Israel’s king the words that you speak in the privacy of your bedroom.”

He said, “Go and find out where he is. Then I will send men to capture him.”

They told him, “He is in Dothan.”

So the king sent horses and chariots there with a strong army. They came at night and surrounded the city. Elisha’s servant got up early and went out. He saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. His servant said to Elisha, “Oh, no! Master, what will we do?

“Don’t be afraid,” Elisha said, “because there are more of us than there are of them.” Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.”

Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and fiery chariots surrounding Elisha. The Arameans came toward him, so Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this nation with blindness.” And the Lord struck them blind, just as Elisha asked.

Elisha said to them, “This isn’t the right road or the right city. Follow me, and I’ll lead you to the man you are looking for.” But he took them to Samaria!

When they arrived in Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were right in the middle of Samaria!

When he saw them, Israel’s king said to Elisha, “Should I kill them, my father? Should I?”

He said, “No, don’t kill them. Did you capture them with your own sword or bow? Do you have the right to kill them? Put food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and return to their master.”

So the king gave them a great feast, and they ate and drank. Then the king let them go, and they returned to their master. After that, Aramean raiding parties didn’t come into Israel anymore.

~

1st and 2nd Kings are not books known for peace. They detail the split of the united kingdom of Israel into the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. They tell the stories of kings fighting wars, sometimes defending their kingdom, but other times setting out on ill-advised campaigns that only brought death and destruction. They tell of prophets stepping into the courts of those kings, calling for them to listen to God and to their people instead of oppressing them and exploiting them for their own profit. And they rarely ever mention the impact that the constant conflict had on the ordinary people living in Israel and Judah.

This story takes place in the northern kingdom of Israel, under the reign of King Joram. But most of the time, he’s only referred to as the king of Israel. In fact the only person who’s name is used repeatedly in our passage today is Elisha, the new prophet of Israel after his mentor, Elijah, had been taken up into heaven. And like his mentor, Elisha’s ministry was marked by challenging those in power to do right by God and their people, while comforting those who were suffering in the midst of unending unrest, famine, and wars.

But he’s been away from most of the fighting up until this point. That all changes when he finds himself surrounded by the armies of Aram in the dead of night, with no way out.

Anybody in this situation would be terrified, just like the servant was, and rightfully so. Even though the soldiers had been given orders to capture Elisha and not kill him, Elisha and his servant didn’t know that. Plus even if Elisha was captured, the king of Aram was probably not planning on asking nicely how Elisha knew his every move before he made it.

So as the servant looked out at the army that surrounded them, illuminated faintly by the rising sun, he asked Elisha what they should do. He probably assumed that the answer would either be for him to sneak around the city to try and find some hole in their lines that they could slip through, or they would have to try and fight their way out. Two men against an entire army.

Neither option was a great one.

And when it comes to conflict, typically our options also aren’t great ones.

We feel like we have to avoid conflict all together, dodging topics at the dinner table like we’re avoiding dodgeballs at gym class.

Or we feel like we have to fight back, even though it can often just get us mired into a shouting match with somebody who has no intention of listening and instead feels like their personal identity and pride depends on winning this fight.

And if we’re being honest, our own identities and prides are also on the line too.

But these smaller conflicts aren’t all happening in a vacuum. Right now we live in a country that rewards this fighting and division. The algorithms that run social media accounts know that posts that are divisive and combative tend to get more clicks, comments, and sadly likes. News websites post clickbait headlines meant to make you react before you think about what they’re actually saying. And the rhetoric coming from the highest offices in our country is violent, and lived out in how our neighbors are being treated from our streets, to our schools, to our hospitals, and to detention centers around our country.

There are layers to this violence that can make it feel like peace is impossible, that our only option is to hit them back as hard as we can and hope we’ve done enough damage so that they can never get up again.

But there is a third option, because no matter how much war and violence permeates our world, God’s peace always shows up. We just need to know how to look for it and cultivate it.

When Elisha first prays for his servant’s eyes to be opened, and we join him in seeing the army of fiery angels surrounding the armies of Aram, we think we know where this story’s going. The next thing we expect to read is that the fiery army descends on the forces of Aram and burns them up in an offering to God. There are plenty of other instances in Scripture where this happens. But it doesn’t happen here.

Instead, Elisha waits until the army begins to descend from the hills, encircling the city to capture him. He waits to confirm that they intend to do him harm, and then he prays for God to blind them.

And God listens, and God does so. Elisha could’ve chosen to ask God to send down those chariots to destroy the army, but he didn’t. Instead he asks for God to find a peaceful way out. So he doesn’t take advantage of their vulnerable state to take his revenge for all of the pain and stress they’ve caused him. He doesn’t take the opportunity to strike them down so that his physical safety will be more secured moving forward. But he does lead them away from the town that they are threatening, taking Dothan out of the line of fire and keeping the people of the town safe.

Because the first step of making peace is stopping the harm that is being done, in a way that protects those who are most vulnerable.

So Elisha leads the men to Samaria, to the heavily fortified palace where the king of Israel is staying in safety. He then opens their eyes again, because they don’t need to be incapacitated anymore, they’re in a place where they can’t harm anyone. And when the king asks if he should do what the chariots were threatening to do just a few verses ago, Elisha scolds him. Because he knows something that the king doesn’t seem to get - that the answer to the continued invasions of Aram is not fighting fire with fire. If they killed all the soldiers, then the king would hear and retaliate, forcing Israel to retaliate again, and the cycle of violence would continue.

And we’ve all heard about what happens when you take an eye for an eye.

So instead Elisha orders the king and the palace to feed the soldiers. Eating is one of the things that every human has to do in some form or fashion in order to stay alive. And as a church that loves to come together for meals and fellowship, we know firsthand that eating together can help break down barriers that we may not have known were even there.

I really do think that’s what Elisha’s doing here. He’s subverting the army’s expectations of their enemy being a cruel, horrific people and instead treating them like honored guests. Like any other human that would enter the palace. He’s reminding them not only of their own humanity, but of the humanity of the people they’ve been trying to kill.

Then after reminding them, he sends them home, back to the king so they can tell the story.

And the raids completely stop. The kingdom of Aram backs off.

Why, we’re not told. Maybe it’s because the king of Aram was terrified of how confident Israel was in holding out against their raids, given that they’d thrown a lavish feast for prisoners. If they’d been worried about starving, they wouldn’t have done that. Or maybe it’s because the soldiers of Aram refused to try again to capture Elisha and refused to take up arms against people who’d shown them kindness. Who’d reminded them of their shared humanity.

So what can we take from this? Most of us aren’t soldiers or officers, the conflicts we face are more ordinary and personal. But I think there are still a few things we can learn.

First of all, peace does not come from avoiding conflict, from dodging the tough conversations that need to be had. All that does is stretch the tension in a room until we feel surrounded and suffocated and everything snaps.

Second of all, peace does not mean that we let harm and violence happen. At our best we follow Elisha’s example; we see the harm coming and we do everything we can to stop it before it starts. But when we can’t do that, then we do everything in our power to end it. Which could be anything including physically pulling people apart or stepping in between them, calling on those in power to commit to peace, or committing to remain in difficult conversations with people about the continuing harm they’re doing with their words and actions.

Finally, once the harm has stopped and the dust has settled, it’s remembering that both the person who’s been hurt and the person doing the hurting are both human. They are both made in the image of God.

We have to call the person doing the harm back to their soul, reminding them that we were made to love God and love our neighbors - and everybody on this Earth is our neighbor. We have to hold them accountable for their actions, and pray for grace to convict them of what they’ve done in the hopes that they will seek repentance. And as part of that repentance, help them find good ways to repair the harm they have caused.

And we have to heal the hurt that has been done, through being honest about what happened, and through providing support whether that’s emotionally, financially, or physically.

All of this is easier said than done. But this is the work that we are called to as Christians. This is one of the ways we live out God’s love in our world - our beautiful, but broken world.

We do this in the hope that one day we will all be able to be together again, eating at the same table, without having to dodge topics and conversations out of fear and shame.

We do this in the hope that one day there will be no more sorrow and no more pain.

We do this in the hope that one day there will be peace that is not predicated on avoidance or oppression, but instead rests in the love and respect that we have for each other as people made in the image of God.

May one day it be so.