Every person knows that someday he will die. Death is a unique phenomenon: it is completely obvious and completely closed to those who have not yet experienced it. God speaks with a person, and that person remains alive. On the basis of this Gospel passage, one can say that a person who speaks with God, not somehow but face to face, receives both life and death: life full of His presence, the light of revelation for all, and death as the fulfillment of the promise, as the possibility of a full and final encounter.

Sometimes one wants to declare with complete certainty that no one likes to obey. The reasons for this are described in the book of Genesis: God created the human person free, and the human person used this freedom by carrying out his desire to be in charge, to determine good and evil independently, to be "like gods" (Gen. 3:5), and therefore to obey no one.

How often everything boils inside us when we understand that we need to submit, even though there is sense in it and we must do it because of our position. And what happens inside when we disagree, and we are not even very obligated to submit? How we want to do everything the other way around, and if that does not work, to give ourselves over to irritation and indignation!

But our Teacher gives us an entirely different example. By the way, it is worth paying attention to His age: despite the fact that in Israel a child of twelve ceased to be considered such, before us is still a twelve-year-old boy... And in a situation where He is undoubtedly right, for the Savior simply could not act wrongly, Jesus submits to His parents, and not only on the day when they found Him in the Temple, but also afterward. And He does this because the Lord commanded us to honor father and mother (Deut. 5:16), and the word of God, the will of God, is most important for Him.

What an astonishing example Elisha gives us! What do we see? A man working in the field, and working with his own cattle, which means he is rather well off. And then he commits a "reckless" act: in a single moment he decides to follow Elijah, leaving everything he has. And how does he decide, after what? A doubting heart would hardly understand a "thrown mantle" as an unambiguous sign from God (1 Kings 19:19)... And Elijah himself then asks Elisha, "What have I done to you?" (1 Kings 19:20), thereby giving him yet another opportunity to doubt... But for Elisha yes is yes and no is no (see Matt 5:37).

The thought that appeared in his heart, that this is what God wants, immediately turns into readiness to fulfill His will, followed by action. May the Lord give us the same strength to make the right choice when there dawns in the heart even a very faint, but still real, understanding of what is better for Him...