Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Elisha Purifies the Pot of Stew

³⁸ And Eli′sha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.” ³⁹ One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of pottage, not knowing what they were. ⁴⁰ And they poured out for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the pottage, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. ⁴¹ He said, “Then bring meal.” And he threw it into the pot, and said, “Pour out for the men, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has any one brought him food?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest. ³⁶ He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”