And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?” 2 Kings 9:22
When we applied for our last home loan, our name must have ended up on some database where every mortgage broker on the planet could see it. Maybe you’ve experienced this, but up to that point, I’d never seen that level of salesman harassment. I was getting 10-15 calls an hour. I grew to despise those loan officers as they just wouldn’t leave me alone. Honestly though, it was easy to avoid them. I just didn’t answer. They had nothing I wanted and so, I could simply dodge them.
What if, however, they had something that tempted me? In my drug use, I didn’t have a drug dealer who made his living off my addiction. For some though, this is a painful reality. For them, when they try to get sober, their dealer/salesman has a vested interest in their failure. I can’t imagine trying to get sober while there were those who were cheering for my relapse. For some, this is far more subtle than a salesman/dealer. For some, this is using friends who can’t stop, so they don’t want anyone else to get sober either.
As Christians, we’re supposed to love everyone, right? There are those in our lives however, who would lead us astray. They aren’t following God and they don’t want us to follow God either. So they try to sell us on the old life. Don’t you miss it? Aren’t we friends? Come on. Just one taste. As salesman for sin, they desperately want us to buy.
There will be those in this life with whom we simply cannot maintain any relationship. That’s the lesson of today’s passage, which tells of King Jehu’s mission to rid Israel of those who led the people to worship idols. In the story, as the newly anointed king approached the old king, the old king – who worshipped false gods – asked Jehu if he came in peace. Jehu declared there could be no peace as long as Joram kept leading the people to worship idols.
As Christians, we are to love our neighbors. There will be those, however, who would lead us back to the old life. Slaves to sin, they don’t want us to be free and so, they try to sell us into slavery as well. The problem is, there will always be a part of us that wants what they’re selling. So, for our own good, we must treat some people as our enemies. As painful as it may be to block a phone number, it’s far more painful to answer that call, getting sucked back into the old life. As uncomfortable as it may be, there are those whom we must cut out of our lives.