When You Might As Well

The scenario in 2 Kings 7 is so intriguing.

The city is under siege by the Arameans. They have successfully strangled the city. Nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Food supplies have got so desperate that people are resorting to inhumane extremes to stay alive.

The situation is grim, all hope is ebbing away as the enemy know it’s just a matter of time before something has to give.

Into this scenario we are introduced to a group of lepers. You can imagine it’s bad enough being social outcasts but at a time of extreme lows in society even their lot is pitiable among others. A remarkable conversation takes place at the city gates.

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.” (2 Kings 7:3-4)

Every time I read these verses something in me relates with their reasoning process. It makes all the sense in the world. What’s the point going into a hopeless situation? What’s the point staying in a hopeless situation? If it takes going to the enemy to get a chance of reprieve, some hope of having the hunger relieved, then it makes sense giving it a go, even if there is a real likelihood of death.

When situations get desperate, you might as well explore the unconventional, the seemingly insane or the plain ludicrous – without committing the ungodly or immoral. Who is to say that in doing so we might come across blessings of a kind we were never expecting. Who is to say in doing so it deepens and enriches our desire for God and we know Him in ways we hadn’t previously.

It’s not just in the Old Testament we see the unusual methods of seeing God’s provision. Jesus’ ways of healing were not always straightforward, such as putting dirt in your eyes and telling you to go to a place called Sent to get your sight back.

In these cases there was the element of ‘I might as well’. It’s a close relative of the sentiment ‘there’s nothing to lose’.

I could almost get the impression that some situations are so orchestrated to bring us to a level of dependency on God that when we see no way through, there’s still a nudge that shows a different way and as we view it we end up saying we might as well.

The old way obviously wasn’t helping us make disciples and if we stay where we are no disciples are likely to emerge. Even though that crazy alternative of doing church where its mutual edification and we’re brothers and sisters not about hierarchy seems weird, we might as well give it a go.

Maybe that bizarre idea of every member working in their gifting to benefit others is a bit scary, but we might as well give it a go. The ministry to the homeless and prostitutes may bring some controversy in the community, but we might as well give it a go.

The idea of using a coffee shop to engage our community and develop a loving, serving dialogue may disrupt the way we do things at the parish, but we might as well give it a go. Postponing the gathering to spend time serving in the hospitals and old people’s homes may upset the stalwarts, but we might as well give it a go.

Praying for our enemies then serving them with love may be a drastic step for some, but we might as well give it a go. Quitting your great paying job to do volunteer work in the roughest estate in the city might have tongues wagging, but we might as well give it a go.

Going into the siege of the unbending traditions that stifle evidently isn’t doing us good, however we dress it up. Staying as we are doesn’t change things either. We might as well follow the Spirit as it’s from the old we travel to the new.

After all – we might as well give it a go.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden