What Elijah Shows Us About Things Transcendent

Sermon by Ami Hudson
February 22, 2009
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Halifax, VA
Trinity Episcopal, South Boston VA

Visit my website www.AmiHudson.com

Readings:
2 Kings 2: 1-12
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9

Supernatural occurrences permeate scripture. But I wonder if we let their possibility touch our lives today. In our time of Reason and logical explanations, do we limit ourselves by only expecting God to engage with us in rational ways?

Today’s first reading features prophets, two water-parting miracles, a fiery chariot & horses, and a whirlwind. In the Gospel we have a holy mountain, Jesus transfigured, heavenly light, visionary appearances of Moses and Elijah, terrified disciples, God’s very presence in a cloud, and God’s own voice speaking directly to them.

Two of today’s readings feature the legendary prophet Elijah. That got me thinking: Who was Elijah exactly? What do we know about him? And why on earth does he appear on that mountain with Jesus some 800 years after a fiery chariot carried him away?

Elijah’s Story

Elijah’s life and ministry are recorded in First and Second Kings.[1] Why Kings? When Israel decided to have its own kings, God raised up prophets to keep a check on kings. To make sure the kings didn’t abuse their power. To make sure they remembered their responsibility to the people, to everyone’s well-being, and to God.

When King Ahab and Jezebel ruled Israel, God needed a bold prophet. King Ahab was allowing Israel to worship Jezebel’s god Baal. As you know, that’s not good. The people started believing that maybe it was actually Baal who would bring them rain and crops and prosperity. So they prayed and made sacrifices to Baal.

But God sent a drought. If they thought it was Baal who sent rain, a drought would be a reality check. But first, God sent Elijah to prophesy to Ahab, “There will be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

God preserves Elijah through the drought, leading him to a brook that still has some water in it. Wild ravens bring the prophet bread and meat twice a day. Elijah is provided for.

Then God sends Elijah to Zerepath to find a struggling widow and her son. They have little oil or flour, but miraculously it never runs out while Elijah is there. They have food despite famine and drought.

The widow’s son becomes ill and stops breathing. Elijah prays to God and revives the boy.

After three years, God will send rain again. But first, God sends Elijah to King Ahab with an order: Have all the people of Israel, everybody, assemble at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah.

Elijah addresses all of Israel. “How long will you go limping with 2 opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” Then Elijah stages a contest. The people will call on Baal to bring down fire, and Elijah will call on God. The wayward people call on Baal from morning ‘til evening, dancing and crying out all day long. But despite their cries there was no answer from Baal. No fire.

Then Elijah rebuilds God’s altar, prepares an offering, and prays, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you O Lord are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

Immediately, the Lord sent down fire in response. The people repented. Soon God would restore the rains and Israel’s cherished relationship.

Meanwhile, Elijah runs seventeen miles at superhuman speed to tell King Ahab that long-awaited rain clouds have been spotted. Queen Jezebel wants to kill Elijah, so God sends him to the wilderness. This is where we find Elijah deeply depressed and wanting to die. He looks for God in the wind, the earthquake, the fire, and the still, small voice…the silence.

Later he’s sent back to confront Ahab again. Ahab and Jezebel had their eye on a piece of property, a vineyard. When Naboth wouldn’t sell it to them, Ahab and Jezebel had him executed as a criminal so that they could take the vineyard anyway. Other kings might do things like that. But Israel’s kings knew better, and were subject to God.

God reveals to Elijah that Elisha is to be his successor. The great prophet has an unusual way of giving his successor the news. Elijah walks by the field where this Elisha is plowing, throws his mantle on him, and keeps walking. The younger man has to chase after the great prophet to find out what this is about. Then Elisha gives up all his livestock and farm equipment, all the tools of his trade, to follow the great Elijah as his disciple.

Today’s reading (2 Kings 2:1-12)

That brings us to today’s reading, the last day of Elijah’s mortal life. Besides Elijah and Elisha we have the “company of prophets.” It wasn’t uncommon for significant prophets like Elijah to have disciples or guilds.

Everyone in the story seems to know that it’s Elijah’s last day on earth. We can imagine that knowing their master will be gone would grieve them, and make them anxious about the future of their prophetic group.

As Elijah and Elisha arrive at each town, each local company of prophets comes up to the younger Elisha, saying “Don’t you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And Elisha replies, “Yes, I know, keep silent.”

At each place Elijah gives leave to Elisha to stay behind. But Elisha always replies “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” This reminds us a bit of the commitment of Ruth to Naomi, “Where you go, I will go.”

This series of events begins at Gilgal and repeats at Bethel and at Jericho. Elijah’s next push is towards the Jordan river. The other prophets don’t come this far, but stand respectfully at a distance and watch for what will happen. And there was a lot to see.

Elijah and Elisha are standing on the banks of the Jordan. Elijah takes his mantle, rolls it up and strikes the water. The water parts so that the two can cross, on dry ground. Moses had parted the Sea in the Exodus, so that his people could flee Egypt. This is an important miracle.

Elijah asks his successor, “Last chance,” “Anything I can do for you, before I’m taken away?”

Elisha comes right out and asks to inherit “a double share of your spirit.” Maybe this sounds a little greedy to us. But a “double share” inheritance just means the normal inheritance of the firstborn. He’s basically asking to be Elijah’s successor, to inherit his prophetic spirit.

Elijah replies that this is a hard thing. He probably means it’s not his to grant. The prophetic spirit is God’s to bestow, and Elijah leaves it to God. “If you see me as I’m being taken, it will be granted. If not, it won’t.”

Next God sends a fiery chariot and horses, a whirlwind, and whoosh! Elijah is carried off. And what about Elisha who is left behind? Did he see what happened? Will he receive the spiritual inheritance?

Apparently he does see it. He cries out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” From the shore, he keeps watching until he can’t see Elijah anymore, kind of like you might watch a balloon that slipped out of your hand as it travels further, further away, then…invisible. Elisha then grieves for his master.

Just beyond our passage, the new successor’s also got another problem on his hands. He’s not only grieving, but he’s also stranded there on the wrong side of the river, and his master’s not around to part the waters anymore! What to do? Elisha takes his master’s mantle and himself parts the river.

As for the prophets watching at a distance, if there’s any question whether Elisha is fit to lead them, the question is settled when they see him repeat their master’s miracle. Elisha goes on to have a powerful prophetic ministry, keeping people faithful to God and working miracles on their behalf. A ministry like his master’s in many ways.

Why Elijah at the Transfiguration?

This still doesn’t explain why Elijah shows up on the mountain with Jesus in our Gospel reading.[2] It helps if we understand how Jews in Jesus’ day revered Elijah. One of many remarkable things about Elijah is this: he didn’t actually die. God sent for him while he was still alive.

Since he ascended to heaven in a miraculous way, it made sense to people that Elijah became like a divine being or angel. Many believed he appeared on earth now and then to help in time of trouble.

But the belief that best explains Elijah’s prominence in the New Testament is this: At the very end of the Old Testament, in the last verses, God says through the prophet Malachi, “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great…Day of the Lord comes.”[3] Elijah was to be a forerunner of the messianic age.

This is why people are often asking Jesus if he is Elijah. Asking John the Baptist if he isn’t Elijah. They see God at work in the healing and teaching of Jesus. They hear Elijah in the boldness of John’s preaching, “Repent!” Elijah looms large in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people, and when they see and hear what God is doing in Jesus, they can’t help but wonder if God hasn’t sent someone like Elijah.

In today’s gospel passage, Peter, James and John do get to see Elijah and the great Moses in the presence of Jesus. God’s presence comes over them in the cloud, and says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!” The voice makes clear that even among Moses and Elijah, Jesus is supreme. They come down from the mountain convinced of his glory. And all too soon will they begin towards the agony of the cross.

Things Transcendent, Then & Now

Today’s readings have taken us through visions, revelations, prophecy, voices, miracles and healing, wonder-working, and clouds of presence. Actually, supernatural occurrences permeate our scripture. These were a matter of course for Jesus, his followers, and the Church for many centuries. But I wonder if we let their possibility touch our lives today.

Today we take seriously the moral teachings of Jesus, but less so his spiritual way of looking at the world. We’re pretty comfortable with reason and the five material senses. And some pretty famous theologians have proposed that while there was a time when God touched humankind directly, it doesn’t happen anymore. Yet many of us know from experience that God does break through in our lives and in our time.

Episcopal priest Morton Kelsey tried an experiment. He took the New Testament verse by verse to see how many verses had as their subject non-rational, spiritual experiences. Can you guess what he found? Nearly HALF of the almost 8000 verses did. Convinced, Kelsey mustered up the courage to preach a sermon on dreams and visions.

To his surprise, 25 people came up to him afterwards. Not an angry throng coming to argue with his interpretations, but shy souls yearning to tell someone their spiritual experiences. They’d never told anyone before. They said they were afraid of what people would think of them.[4]

I’ve been there. When I was a young Christian service worker in Kentucky, part of my responsibility was visiting a juvenile detention center. The place had a bad feeling to it. One day I was coming around a corner but stopped short. What stopped me was a sudden sense that I should pray against evil spirits, something I hadn’t thought about much before. I shrugged it off and went about my day.

Later I told a co-worker what a funny idea had come to me, laughing at myself and expecting him to enjoy the joke too. But he just looked at me earnestly and said, “I don’t understand, why would you think that’s funny?”

He was right, it shouldn’t be funny, really. I was laughing at the idea that God could speak to me in the halls of an institution. Shutting out the possibility that my prayers in the Lord’s name could affect anything. Shrugging off Christ’s commission that I watch, expect, and participate in the action of God’s Spirit. I missed an invitation that day. I still have so much to learn.

Rather than asking why Jesus and his contemporaries had such an extremely spiritual worldview, maybe we’d do well to ask ourselves why we believers today, don’t. We certainly owe a lot to reason. But what might we be missing by being so rational, so completely reasoned? Are we like those who look, but don’t see--the spiritual all around us? Who listen, but don’t hear--the full voice of God?

Is there any sense in which Paul might as well be talking about us when he says that the good news is “veiled?” Our minds blinded from seeing much glory or light?[5]

This morning we’re gathered here in a worship service. We worship, we praise, we pray. Outside church doors, we generally expect God to put us in situations where we can be of use. So, let’s face it, as ordinary people of faith we are already engaged with the supernatural, the transcendent. Yet somehow we justify being selective in the ways we expect the Transcendent to engage us.

Let’s not limit the Spirit. Let us open ourselves to fuller possibility.

Amen.

[1] Specifically, 1 Kings 17-19 & 21; 2 Kings 1-2.
[2] Mark 9:2-9
[3] Malachi 4:5
[4] My notes on Morton Kelsey’s experience were taken either from his Dreams, A Way to Listen To God (1978), or Dreams: the Dark Speech of the Spirit, A Christian Interpretation (1968).
[5] 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6.