Picking Up the Mantle

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14    Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

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Lois Lowry wrote a book called The Giver, that has been read by just about every middle-school or high school student since it was published.  It has been quite popular with adults as well.  It is a story about a future society where everything is peaceful, orderly, and pleasant.  Every family has two parents and two children – a boy and a girl.  At the age of 12, each child goes through an evaluation that determines what vocation they will be assigned to.  A boy named Jonas is found to have certain rare qualities that equip him for a very special vocation: to be the Receiver of Memory.

The elders of the society are very happy to have discovered Jonas has the gift.  Because they are lucky to see one in a generation come along.  The current Receiver is getting old – maybe older than his years, for it is a vocation that wears on the body, mind, and soul. This Receiver is due for a rest.

If you haven’t read the book, you must be wondering: why does this society need a Receiver of Memory? Because the real key to the peaceful and orderly bliss of this society is this: the people have no memory.  Well, they remember what their personal life experiences are, which are all bland and uneventful, hardly memorable, but not at all troublesome.  They have no collective memory of wars or oppression, poverty or cruelty, or joy.  The complete memory of their history is stored in the body and mind of the one individual who still has the capacity to remember. 

When Jonas is chosen to become a Receiver, he begins his tutelage with the old man.  Now the Receiver will become the Giver as he passes memory on to Jonas. 

I am reminded of The Giver as I read the story of Elijah and Elisha. 

Old Elijah.  This is the last we will see of this larger-than-life character; this Troubler of Israel, Needler of Ahab and Jezebel, prophet of the Lord.  He preached truth, he brought rain by the power of God, he brought new life to a poor widow and her son.  He has brought down enemies of Israel, and he has anointed kings and prophets – including Elisha.  It was from the mouth of the cave up on Mount Horeb that God told Elijah to anoint Elisha.  He set out and found him working in his father’s field, hand to the plow.  Elijah walked up to Elisha, took off his mantle, dropped it on Elisha’s shoulders, and continued walking.  Elisha dropped the plow and followed him.

We don’t hear anything more about Elisha and Elijah for a while.  Elijah continues his prophetic work; maybe Elisha is standing behind him all the while, watching and learning.  We don’t know.  But when it is time for Elijah’s work to come to an end, Elisha is there.

I am reminded of words from T.S. Elliot: In my beginning is my end and in my end is my beginning.  The end for Elijah but the beginning for Elisha.  Stay here, he says to Elisha.  But Elisha says I will not leave you.

At his end, Elijah goes back to the beginning.  They embark together on a journey down memory lane.  They go to Bethel, the very place where Abraham had pitched his tent so many generations ago and made an altar to the Lord.  Bethel remained for Israel a place of worship.  They go to Jericho, the city that Joshua led Israel to conquer.  They pass over the Jordan river, the place that marked the entry into the land that God had promised. Joshua and the men of Israel had carried the ark of the covenant through the river; the waters had parted and they were standing on dry ground.  These are the memories of Israel, the memories of who they are.

Each leg of the journey, Elijah gave Elisha an opportunity to stay behind.  And each time Elisha repeated, “I will not leave you.”  Each time, Elisha chose to be the receiver of the memories of the Lord’s covenant with Israel.  He has been on this journey with his master, Elijah – an old man at his end.  Elisha at his beginning.  And yet there is still a question of what will be.  Will Elisha be a great prophet also? 

When Elijah asks him, “What can I do for you before I go?”  Elisha knows what he wants. “Give me a double share of your spirit.”  He is asking for the inheritance of the first-born son; he is asking to be named heir to the titles Trouble of Israel, Needler of Kings, Prophet of the Lord.

He has passed every test so far given.  Yet there is one more essential test.  “If you see me as I am being taken from you, then you will have it.”  In other words, if Elisha has the vision of a prophet, on his own, without his master, his mentor at his side, then he is truly God’s anointed one.

He keeps his eyes of Elijah, swept up in the whirlwind, until he has disappeared from view.  Then Elisha looks down and sees the mantle of Elijah, lying on the ground.  He picks it up.  It’s his now.  The mantle has passed to him.

In a way, the story of Elijah and Elisha speaks to the timeless relationships between older and younger men in the life of faith.  We do not know if Elisha would be the prophet Elisha without Elijah as his guide and mentor.  And truthfully, we don’t know who we would be without the guides and mentors God has given to us in our lives.

There are many stories about saints who have passed through this place and left a legacy.  Today, we think particularly of the men of the church – men who have served as strong leaders, teachers and guides to others, especially to younger men coming up in the church.

And I have known a few of these saints, too, in the short time I have been here.  Men who have been taken from us too soon, and who are remembered with love and admiration.

They weren’t perfect, of course.  We don’t sacrifice our memories like the people in The Giver, exchanging truth for some rose-colored half-truth.  We know that the men who have served this church had human flaws just as we all do.  But perhaps it is because of the flaws they were able to teach us about forgiveness, humility, self-discipline, and servanthood.  We give thanks for their lives.

God has blessed this church with a company of prophets, leaders, teachers, mentors.  They have served us well, and in God’s time, passed on their mantle to another – someone who would serve, teach, guide in their place.

Who has mentored you in your life?  I have no doubt you can think of men and women who have played this role for you.  But now I ask you a harder question: who is God calling you to serve as mentor, guide, teacher?  To whom will you pass the mantle at the appropriate time?

As we say about Abraham and all his descendants, God has blessed us to be a blessing.  We are called to serve.  The church will go on serving in this community and beyond as long as we continue to teach, guide, love, and serve, passing the mantle on to a new generation.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Gifts of God

1 Kings 17:8-24          Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

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We have been hearing news of deadly floods in many places – Texas, France, Germany – and we remember how deadly water can be.  It is something that is both life-giving and life-threatening.  I talked with my daughter in Austin a few days ago and she reminded me that two years ago the lake was so low you couldn’t take boats out on it.  Now it is too high and they have needed to open the dam to let some water out.  Such is life in Texas, where it is usually either hell or high water – drought and wildfires or floods. Extreme weather. 

Weather is more extreme, more frequently, these days.  But it’s not something new – extreme weather was what Israel was experiencing during Elijah’s prophesying days.  Not floods, though – it was drought.  It was the crisis of the time, creating an intense focus among the people of the land.  Naturally, it didn’t observe national boundary lines.  Israel was suffering from the drought, and we see in today’s reading that the land of Sidon, Jezebel’s homeland, was also suffering. 

It is important for us to remember how much people do suffer from drought.  For us, a drought means our lawns might not do as well.  Drought is a threat to our grass.  But for ancient people, and for millions of poor people today, drought is a threat to their lives. 

This episode from the story of Elijah takes us right into the drought and the severe effects of it, and shows us something about the relationship of God to the world and all that is in it, and how God uses those who are willing to follow God’s call.  Let’s just look at this story.

Look:  God sends Elijah to the home of a widow and her son in Zarephath, in the land of Sidon.  He asks her for a little precious water.  Yes, it’s precious; remember, it’s a drought.

Then he asks her for something to eat, and her response is extraordinary.  She says, “I have only this little bit of meal and oil.  I am going home now to make a fire and cook these meager provisions for myself and my son.  We will eat it and then we will die.”

This is the last of her stores of food.  She has no more, and sees nothing on the horizon, so she has come to the hard, realistic conclusion that she and her son will die. 

But Elijah, who has been subsisting mostly on the word of the Lord ever since God called him, doesn’t accept what she says.  He resists the certainty of death.  “Do not be afraid,” is his reply. He invites this woman to join him in trusting the Lord, the God of Israel, and see what happens.

She doesn’t know the God of Israel, but she puts her trust in Elijah and does as he asks.  She shares generously out of the meager amount she has. 

Look:  She does the first thing we are all asked to do when we are called out by God:  let go of the notion of scarcity and believe in God’s abundance.

The results are inexplicable.  The tiny bit of meal and oil don’t run out the way they should have.  Every day there is enough.  The woman and her son don’t die.  She is able to feed herself and her son and Elijah as well. 

That would make a nice ending, but it isn’t the end.  There is more to the story.  Very abruptly we are told her son becomes ill and dies.  Her reaction is to be angry.  It is as though she feels that she has been lulled into a false sense of security.  This man of God whom she let into her home, put her dangerously close to the power and potential wrath of God.  God saw her sinfulness and now her son is dead.  How cruel, how terribly cruel.

Elijah is almost as distraught as the widow.  He lays his body over the body of this child and begs– even demands – that God return this boy’s life to him.  It is as if Elijah is trying to transfer some of the life from his own body into the body of this child. It is as though he himself is a conduit of life, from God to this child. 

And miraculously, the child breathes again.  The boy is revived.  In one more way God’s power is demonstrated.  And now this widow of Zarephath knows the God of Israel.  At first she did not know God.  Then she thought she knew God.  Now she truly knows God.

What are we, you and I, to make of stories like this one?  Hearing these kinds of miracle stories, I am no more likely to believe that the jar of peanut butter in my cupboard will be perpetually full.  I do not assume that my mother would have risen up from her deathbed if a man or woman of God had been on hand.  These are not the messages in such tales.  They are too simplistic. Let me suggest something else.  Listen:

Our transformation team has been reading a book together.  It’s called Holy Currencies[1].  I believe we chose this book primarily because of the title.  Theology can be pretty abstract, but currency is something concrete.  Currency is something we know.

But the book has challenged us to view this concrete notion of currency in new ways.  We have been stretched to expand our definition of currency beyond money – to relationships, wellness, gracious leadership, truth, time and place.  We have discussed the basic economic reality that currency is valuable as long as it’s flowing.  And we have been reminded again and again that increasing the wealth of all these currencies means keeping them flowing – which usually means putting our trust in God. 

The widow of Zarephath wouldn’t have allowed Elijah into her home if she had not been willing to trust in this man of God.  She would have gone home alone to prepare her wee bit of meal and sit down to her last supper with her son, expecting nothing other than that they would die.  But instead, she did something different.  And something different happened.

We learn from this story that trusting in God we are empowered to move beyond our instincts, our fear, our static view of reality.  We learn from this story to trust in God, taking steps in a certain direction even when we don’t know what the outcome will be, but only that this one thing is the next right thing to do.

What we learn from the story of Elijah is that every gift comes from God – everything from the ordinary to the extraordinary, including life, itself.  And following God’s call and claim on our lives opens up many joys previously unknown to us.  We set these holy currencies flowing.  All thanks are due to God, the giver and creator of all things.

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[1] Eric Law, Holy Currencies: Six Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries.