February 15, 2015
II Kings 2:1-15″Mantle Passing”
Rev. Dr. Dave Davis
Let’s just put it out there. Elijah the prophet and drama of biblical proportion seem to always go together. It was at Mt Carmel when Elijah called down the fire of the Lord; “if the Lord is God, follow God, but if Baal is god follow Baal”. It was at Mt Horeb where Elijah fled all by himself in fear for his life because of Queen Jezebel. God was not in the great wind or the earthquake or the fire, but in the still small voice. When it comes to Elijah the prophet, the biblical special effects, the symbols of divine action and presence, things like whirlwinds and fire, it all tends to grab the eye and steal the scene. Appropriately so in a biblical kind of way.
By the time one gets to II Kings 2, the symbolism of God at work in the whirlwind and chariot of fire becomes quite clear. As the narrator puts it “the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind.” Other meanings, other symbolic actions are hard not to miss as well. Elijah rolling up the mantle and parting the water in a Moses with staff kind of way. Elisha asking for a double share; meaning he is asking for nothing short of the identification, the rights and privileges of a first born son. The prophet’s spiritual son. Thus, “father, father” as Elijah goes out of sight and the now anointed prophet laments as he would for his own father, tearing his own clothes in two. And of course, the mantle passing. You can’t miss it! Elijah first tossed it on Elisha when he was behind a plow, here Elijah drops it as he heads up to heaven, and Elisha picked it up off the ground there beyond the Jordan. Leadership transition. Authority passed on. One prophet to the next: “tag you are it”. Divine succession planning. Mantle passing.
Elijah and Elisha. Symbols fraught with meaning and expected biblical imagery sort of carry the day. Part of what gets lost in all that, part of what’s left after all that, is the unimpressive trek they took along the way and the odd, repetitive conversation they shared. The road to the whirlwind, as it were; Elijah, Elisha, and the fifty prophets following them around. It’s easy to look past it and rush to the fireworks. But along that way, Elijah keeps telling Elisha to stay, stay here for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel, to Jericho, to the Jordan. Each time Elisha refuses, “As the Lord lives, as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” Stay here. No. Stay here. No. Stay here. No. The company of prophets, they kept telling Elisha that the Lord is going to take him away. You can’t stop it. “Yes, I know that” was Elisha’s response to the unhelpful band of prophets. “Can you just keep quiet?”
Elisha’s unwavering companionship. A Ruth and Naomi like devotion. You remember: “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Or perhaps a bit of test from the older prophet to the younger. Elijah seeing if Elisha’s loyalty would endure along the way, all the way. Or maybe Elijah would just like to face this last wind like he faced the one up at Mt Horeb, all alone. Like a dying patient who doesn’t want to put loved ones through anymore heartache. One blogger writing about the side by side journey took a more cynical approach suggesting that Elisha stuck with it all the way to make sure this time old Elijah toned down his own zest for all the drama. Of all that it might mean, the prophets (plural) joined at the hip journey to the whirlwind of God, the dominating parts of the story so easily cover up what is the most accessible, understandable, relatable, human element. That’s their relationship. The devotion. The commitment. The prophetic companionship. So easy to miss; God as present between them as in that whirlwind. “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
From Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan. It wasn’t that the trip was an endurance test. Even for the ancient world, it’s just not that far. It’s hardly a pedal to the metal, straight shot from here to there with a few rest stops along the way kind of trip. Bethel is closer to the river. Then some backtracking to Jericho. Then back to the river. And this isn’t Jesus in Luke when he “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” It’s a tad “wandering”, “meandering”. So it must be the places, the cities where they stop. That’s the point. Right? Bethel. Abram stopped there after God called him. He built an altar there. Jacob had a dream there. Jacob’s ladder dream, it was at Bethel. Jacob built a pillar there. Bethel is a notable, holy place. “Elisha stay here”. Jericho. A strategic place. Joshua’s battle place. A sort of gateway to the Promised Land. A notable place. “Elisha stay here”.
The whirlwind, the chariot and horses of fire, Elijah being lifted up to heaven, the mantle passing, it didn’t happen at Gilgal, or Bethel, or Jericho. It happen on the other side of the river. Not a holy place. Not a notable place. Just over there, beyond the river. It wasn’t even right at the river. After they crossed over, Elijah and Elisha kept walking and talking. They weren’t at the river, they were beyond it. One scholar points out the journey went from the familiar and known world back across to the place where mysteries happen. Another writer suggests that their encounter with God, the divinely anointed transition of leadership happened far away from any “A-list” biblical destination. A nameless place where lives are interrupted by the “glorious and disturbing” transforming presence of God. The mantle passing happened beyond the river. When Joshua trumpeted his infamous call to the people, the one that concludes, “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”, when Joshua issues the call he cries out “put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river”. That region beyond the river, full of other-god worship where the ancestors served, that’s where Elijah and Elisha ended up. That’s where the mantle was dropped and passed and picked up. That’s where Elisha encountered the always notable, strategic, holiness of God.
Of all that it might mean, the prophets (plural) meandering journey to the whirlwind of God, the dominating parts of the story so easily cover up what is the most accessible, understandable, relatable, human element. God’s glorious and disturbing presence transforms lives in the most un-notable places, the least expected of times, even and especially when surrounded by all the other god-worship the world has to offer. God as present between the prophets as in the whirlwind. God as present between us as in the whirlwind. The most sacred place for the prophets, made holy not by name or fame or even by mysterious chariots of fire; but made holy by the presence of God. The most sacred places for us made holy not by name or fame or even by mystery; but made holy by God’s transforming presence.
Early this week I was leading a retreat for a group of Presbyterian pastors serving their first call; most now about 18 months in. There were 8 of them. Three serve on staff in larger churches, the rest are solo pastors in small congregations in Pennsylvania and New York. As you could imagine the purpose of the gathering was to offer support, listen to the challenges, affirm gifts and call, seek collective wisdom, and worship and pray together. We talked about the big picture of denomination divisions and closing churches and congregations struggling to pay a living wage and wondering what the future would hold in their life in ministry. We talked about the smaller picture of congregations never trying anything new or particular members who seemed never to be pleased, or twenty something clergy finding friends.
At one point I asked the group to think about a few instances just in the last two weeks where they experience the palpable presence of God, where they witnessed the Spirit at work in someone’s life, where they walked away saying to themselves, “this is why I am doing this!” I had planned for them to go off and take 15 to 20 minutes. I had thought, given some of our conversations about their struggles that they were going to have to work at this question just a bit; affirming the glorious and disturbing transforming presence of God in their midst. I was wrong about that. We spent the next 45 minutes with these pastors telling stories; smiles, tears, joy. There wasn’t even any silence. It was like one of those dinner parties where everyone keeps interrupting to get the floor because there’s so much to share.
A pastor told of the prayer requests coming from the pre-k to 3rd grade class she leads during worship. “They really get it” she said referring to the love of God. A pastor told of a youth mission day working on a home for a family. “I looked over and one of the chatty kids in our group who wouldn’t be prone to overworking, he was sitting talking to the son his age who lived at the house. They talked for hours! Only God could bring those kids together from such different backgrounds to just sit together all day” The pastors told about a bible study where an insight about God brought someone to tears, an adult adviser sharing his faith journey with the youth group, a journey that included testimony about finding a place in that community of faith, a congregation where everyone is trying to figure out how to help their oldest member who has no family, a youth group that was growing but with all young people who would never hang together at school, a stranger thanking the pastor for giving such comfort for her family after the funeral and saying she hadn’t been in a church for 25 years. Those young pastors, they could have kept going for hours. It was only the last two weeks in their ministry.
God as present as in the whirlwind as God is here with us. The most sacred places made holy not by name or fame or even by mystery; but made holy by God’s transforming presence with us, for us. Mantle passing. Yes, it has to do with prophets and leadership succession and that strange old world of the bible so full of drama and symbol. But what if also, what if in addition, what is mantle passing, what if it was all about seeing, naming, affirming, celebrating the glorious and disturbing transforming presence of God in the ordinary relationships and least expected places?
Here, right here, surrounded by all the other-god worship the world has to over, here beyond the river. Attending to the power, the promise, the presence of the God we know in Jesus Christ.
Mantle passing.
You and me making sure our witness to the transforming presence of God, making sure our witness never gets lost!
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