June 27, 2010 - Proper 8, Year C (RCL)
It was a dramatic ending
to a life filled with drama.
Elijah the prophet
carried off to heaven
in a fiery chariot.
He left behind him
a follower, a successor, Elijah,
someone to carry on his work,
though what that work would look like
was uncertain.
After all, Elijah had won,
had won his lifelong battle against the King Ahab,
who died
in battle.
His successor
would have to find a new enemy
to preach against, though Ahab’s son Ahaziah
was a pretty good bet.
But back to Elijah.
He died
in glory,
one of the greatest
of all the prophets.
He’d raised from death
the widow’s son.
He had beaten all the priests of Baal
on the mountaintop
in a contest between the gods,
setting the water soaked altar of offerings
on fire
while they couldn’t get even a wisp of smoke
from their tinder dry offerings.
Time after time
God spoke to Elijah;
provided food
in times of scarcity;
proved to Elijah
that he
was God’s own.
And yet Elijah
had a troubled life.
Constantly hunted by King Ahab,
he struggled with his calling.
Remember last week’s reading,
when God spoke
not in the wind,
not in the earthquake,
not in the fire,
but in the sound
of sheer
silence.
That
was at one of the great low points
in Elijah’s life.
Elijah had just defeated the priests of Baal
on the mountaintop.
He’d defeated them in the contest
to show whose God
was stronger. And he’d defeated them
with the sword,
putting them all
to death.
And now
Jezebel,
the evil queen,
had vowed
revenge.
She’d set a price
on his head.
And Elijah had run away in the wilderness
to hide.
And there, sitting under the only tree to be seen for miles,
he asked God
to just let him die.
And instead, GOd sent him angels with food,
just as God had sent him food in the famine years,
and forty days later,
when he had regained his strength,
and walked
to the mountain of God at Horeb,
and when Jezebel and her followers
still hadn't found him to kill him,
then
God came to Elijah
in the silence.
And what God told Elijah on that mountain,
was to return to his work
as the prophet of God,
return one last time,
and anoint new kings in God’s name,
but also to go
and anoint for himself
a successor,
Elisha his name.
And Elijah went, and found Elisha son of Shaphat, of Abel-meholah, who was working a field with his team of a dozen oxen.
And Elijah threw his mantle, his official uniform as a prophet,
Elijah threw his mantle over Elisha,
and Elisha went and said goodbye to his parents,
and slaughtered his oxen for a feast for his village,
and followed Elijah.
There was no going back.
And Elijah continued his work,
and Elisha travelled with him,
not as a prophet, but as his servant,
until the end of Elijah’s life.
And so we come to today’s story.
Elijah, near death, heading off by himself yet again.
First to Bethel, and then to Jericho, and finally
to the Jordan.
And at each stage of the journey,
Elijah tried
to leave Elisha behind,
and each time,
Elisha stayed with him,
until finally
across the Jordan river,
Elisha saw Elijah carried away
by a fiery chariot and whirlwind.
And he took up Elijah’s mantle, the sign of the prophet,
and took up his work,
and God blessed him.
One of the peculiarities of our scriptures
is that the stories
of the great servants of God
are filled with contradictions.
Sometimes
the heroes of our faith
aren’t exactly
heroes.
Elijah
is one of the great prophets.
but he’s no superman.
He serves God faithfully - most of the time.
But there are times
when he’d really rather not have anything to do with God,
when he hides in the wilderness,
and begs God to let him die.
But look at God’s response.
God’s response
is to get Elijah
to find himself a helper.
Someone to work with him.
Someone for him to teach.
Someone that he can trust.
Someone
who will eventually
take over from him.
Elijah doesn’t have
to go it alone.
Of course, Elijah being Elijah,
he’s not too keen on God’s solution.
He’s used to working alone;
he’s used to being the center of attention.
Add someone else, and...
well, he’ll have to share.
But the one thing you can say for Elijah
is that he does always do
whatever God asks of him.
Even if sometimes
he’s a bit grudging about it.
Like now.
Elijah does what God asks.
He goes and finds Elisha.
Finds him in working in a field
and throws his mantle over him.
Kind of like if I came over to one of you while you were at work, or shopping, or in the middle of a cookout,
and threw my stole over you
or stuck one of these plastic collars on you.
I suspect your response
might not be exactly the same as Elisha’s.
Especially if, having done that, instead of sharing God’s work,
the preaching, and visiting, and bible studies,
I said,
“First of all, can you load the dishwasher, then change the cat litter, and after that, the basement needs sorting out. A good scrub wouldn't hurt it.
And can you pick up the dry cleaning,
and while you're out, here’s the shopping list.”
I suspect your answer would be, “Thanks, but no thanks. Here’s your collar back.”
But Elisha picks up and goes with Elijah,
whether Elijah likes it or not,
and learns the work of the prophet,
and after his death
continues with that work.
And what God has done
is not only provide support for Elijah
but ensure that his work continues
after he is gone.
Elijah
is not exactly a heroic
kind of hero.
And yet he, thanks to God,
provides a model for us.
If you’re anything like me,
you like to do things alone.
Because when we do things alone,
we get to make sure
that they’re done right.
No risk
of someone else messing up.
No risk
that something will be forgotten.
But insisting on doing things alone
isn’t always good for us.
We get tired.
We get run down.
We get sick of it.
And eventually we want
to give up.
And the problem is
that if we’ve done everything alone,
and then we give up,
that thing that was so important to us
just stops.
No one else
can take over,
because they don’t know what to do.
All the knowledge and skill and tradition
has been lost.
If God had let Isaiah give up,
that first time, out in the wilderness,
that would have been the end of it.
The end of all Elijah’s work.
Ahab and Jezebel would have won.
And God would have had to begin all over again.
Sometimes people ask me,
why don’t we still do such-and-such?
And most often the reason is
that whoever was doing it
left, or died, or simply got tired.
And there was no one to take over.
What God did in providing Elisha
was to provide support for Elijah’s ministry
and to provide for the future.
When the vestry met on retreat,
one of the things we realized
is that far too often
we try to go it alone.
Here in church
we have lots of things that happen
because one person is the driving force.
And when that person retires and moves away,
or their circumstances change,
or they simply get tired,
it’s easy for that ministry to cease,
or at best
to just limp along.
We on the vestry
remembered that Jesus himself called people to share his work,
and he insisted
that they not go it alone
but work in twos.
And what we as the vestry realized
is that we as a church
need to make that our practice.
To work in twos,
not go it alone.
To constantly invite others
to share in every part of this church,
whether it’s Grandma’s Attic,
or ushering
or teaching Sunday School.
When we share with someone else,
yes, we have to let go a little. Because that person
may not do things
exactly as we do.
But they will work with us, and support us,
and we’ll get to mentor them and strengthen them,
and over time, they will take over,
and the ministry
will continue.
An example of that
is when Carol Maybee moved south.
For more than twenty years
she had been the driving force behind the food pantry.
But when she was leaving
she talked to Pat Westlake, and persuaded her to join in the work.
Pat may sometimes curse her for that,
but what Carol did
was to ensure that the ministry continued.
And Pat in turn
will have to find someone else,
and invite them to work with her,
to support her,
and to carry on
when her time is done.
Elijah
may not be the greatest of heroes.
We may not want to do
everything he did.
But through him
God has shown us
a healthy model
of faithful service.
So think about the ways you serve God in this community.
Who will you pass you mantle to?
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2010