|
|
|
Sunday February 22, 2009 "The Mantle Passes" 2 Kings 2:1-14 |
 |
|
Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 2/24/2009 3:52 PM | Today is traditionally celebrated as “Tranfiguration Sunday” in the more liturgical churches. It celebrates the episode in Jesus’ ministry when he took his disciples Peter James and John with him up to a high mountain top. While on the mountain top, Jesus was transfigured, his clothes becoming a dazzling white. And suddenly appearing at Jesus side, in conversation with him, are Moses and Elijah! As the terrified disciples looked on, a voice came from the heavens saying, “This is my Son, the beloved, listen to him!”
And just as suddenly as the transfiguration came, it was over, leaving Peter, James, John and Jesus alone on the top of the mountain.
It is not entirely clear where this high mountain is, but tradition points to Mt. Tabor, not far from Nazareth as the site of the Transfiguration. During my pilgrimage to Palestine and Israel, several of us hiked up to the top of Mt. Tabor to experience some small part of what the disciples experienced. As we read from this gospel account at the top, I was struck by one thing: the walk back down must have been incredibly confusing for the disciples.
I mean, here they had this incredible mountain top experience, and now they had a long walk home, and they had to be full of questions. God had spoken. God had spoken to them, specifically. And God’s voice had instructed them to listen to Jesus. Well, what had they been doing up to that point? It dawned on me that the questions they asked after the transfiguration would have been a little more pointed, a little more urgent. In the same way, their listening must have been a little more intense. This would have been all the more important to the disciples since, according to the Mark account, is that Jesus told them not to tell anyone of what they saw until after “the Son of Man had risen from the dead.”
It must have been a long, strange walk down that mountain road. We, on the other hand, decided to forego that particular experience and took a cab back to our retreat center.
Over the years I have heard many sermons on the transfiguration. Some had to do with the idea that this episode was Jesus’ final preparation for his push toward Jerusalem, death and resurrection. That may very well be true, but I think that the main goal of this episode was to prepare the disciples for what was to come. To get them to accept, once and for all, just who this man Jesus was and to embolden them to move into the future. It was preparation for the disciples receiving the mantle of leadership that would come their way very soon.
For me that point is hammered home by the appearance of Moses and Elijah, the founder and prophetic restorer of Israel, respectively. In their appearance we have reminders of two of the most important stories of the passing of the leadership mantle in our Hebrew Bible. In this story, we connect with our past, and have pause to contemplate our future. And the contemplation of that future and our role in it is not only important, but critical to the future of Christ’s church.
When Moses shows up on Mt. Tabor, the disciples would have instantly understood his importance. He was, in a very real way, the founder of the Israelite nation as they knew it. The same is true of Elijah, the prophet who revived the Israelite nation and whose return was awaited by every faithful Hebrew person.
If Moses alone had shown up that day, or if only Elijah had appeared on that mountain top, the experience would have been overwhelming, but the message of the day might not have been so clear. But since they both showed up, the message is undeniable: Jesus is connected to a long history of prophets of God and leaders of God’s people. And by implication, the disciples are part of that lineage, too.
The disciples would have known about Moses and his leadership of the Hebrew people out of Egypt, into the wilderness, and into the promised land. They would have also known about the passing of the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua, this ensuring the continued journey of God’s chosen people and signaling clearly that the continuation of God’s plan did not reside in a single person. Joshua’s acceptance of the leadership of the Hebrew people showed them that God would not leave them just because Moses was no longer with them. It also showed that if the faith journey of the Hebrew people was going continue, other leaders must rise up, other voices must be heard, other people could step in and with God’s help, move forward.
This would have been made even clearer because of the appearance of Elijah on Mt. Tabor.
Elijah is the greatest prophet the Hebrew people had ever known. He lived about 1000 years before Jesus and his prophetic activities emphasized the unconditional loyalty to God required of the nation of Israel. His activities included prophecies of drought, doing battle with the prophets of Baal and his ministry and prophetic activities shaped history and dominated Israelite thinking for centuries.
Elijah emphasized Israel’s total commitment to their God, and the covenant responsibilities that God and his people had sworn to each other. Central to that was the leadership of faithful people of all stripes, over all times. He understood that each succeeding generation must live up to those covenant promises if God’s presence and grace were to continue to be felt.
The scripture lesson we heard read this morning focuses on the end of Elijah’s prophetic ministry on earth, and the physical and figurative passing of the mantle of leadership to his apprentice Elisha.
The scene opens with the reader being told up front what was about to happen. No surprises here: Elijah was about to be “taken up” to heaven by God. Maybe on first reading we would think that this is an oblique reference to death, as in someone “went home” or “passed on.” But as we reach the conclusion of this story, we see that “taken up” means just that! But we’ll get to that in a minute.
The exact purpose of the travel for city to city in this narrative is unclear, but Elijah was with Elisha and three different times, Elijah tells Elisha that God wanted him to go somewhere, but Elisha need not travel with him. And three times, Elisha said something along the lines of “as long as you live, I will never leave you.” And so off they went.
To Bethel, to Jericho, to the Jordan River.
At each stop, other prophets, followers of Elijah say to Elisha, “you know that your master is about to be taken up to heaven, don’t you?” And Elisha’s response is a bit curious: “Yes I know. And keep quiet about it.”
I am sympathetic with what Elisha was experiencing. He was clearly devoted to Elijah, and his perseverance at following his master is clear. He was given every opportunity to continue on his own way, but rejected all those opportunities to stay with his beloved Elijah. He understood that Elijah’s time on earth was drawing to a close, but did not want to talk about it. His friend and mentor was dying. How would he go on? Much has been written about his refusal to talk about it with the other prophets. I don’t think there is any great mystery: he didn’t want to talk about the fact that his friend was dying and he was uncertain to what would happen next.
Then came the pivotal point in this story: as they stood at the edge of the Jordan River, Elijah removed his mantle, a sash or a shawl, probably not unlike the stoles that ministers and priests wear. He rolled it up, touched it to the surface of the Jordan and the waters parted, leaving dry land upon which they walked to the other side.
Once on the other side, Elijah turned to Elisha and asked. “Before I go, what can I do for you?”
Put yourself in that position. You are with someone you admire, respect, love and honor. And just as they are about at the end of their life, they ask, “So what can I do for you?” Elisha responded, “I would like double your spirit.”
As strange as that might seem, I understand where he was coming from. He was anxious. He was scared. He didn’t know if he was strong enough to go on. He needed all the help he could get if he was to continue on.
Elijah thought for a minute and said, “You ask a lot, but if you see the scene of my being taken up unfold before you, know then God has granted your request.”
And suddenly Elisha witnesses one of the most amazing scenes recorded in our Holy Bible: amidst a great whirlwind, a chariot of fire being pulled by horses of fired, came between them, and as Elijah climbed aboard, they thundered away, taking Elijah up to heaven and out of sight. Overcome with emotion, Elisha tore his clothes in a traditional sign of grief.
We need to really pay attention to what comes in the next couple of verses, verses that were not part of our reading this morning. Elisha saw Elijah’s mantle lying on the ground. He picked it up, and tentatively tested whether his request had been granted. He rolled it up, touched it to the surface of the Jordan and cried out “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” As he did these things, the water parted, allowing Elisha to pass through, questions answered.
We have much to learn from the examples of our faith. Just as Moses passed the mantle of leadership on to Joshua, just as Elijah passed the mantle of leadership on to Elisha, just as Jesus passed the mantle of leadership on to the disciples, we too have been the recipients of the mantle.
We may not be operating in exactly the same situation; we may not be prophets of great distinction; we may not know exactly where the next step will lead us; but this much we do know: we are part of a sacred line of God’s people, called upon to witness to the world about God’s goodness and grace, called upon to pave the way for the next generation, called upon to faithfully touch the waters of the future and step out in faith.
We here at Brookhaven stand at a place where we understand in some small way what Elisha must have felt. We have been blessed by the leadership of those who founded this congregation some 60 years ago. We have heard the stories of how they stepped out in faith to start a small congregation on Colonial Drive with the hope and faith that it would grow. We have heard the stories of those who put up their insurance policies as collateral to buy the property upon which we sit today. We have witnessed firsthand the miracle of a small congregation reaching out in faith and doubling the size of this building. One thread runs through all those stories: people of faith, unsure of the future, but very sure of the power and the presence of the God they served.
The founders of this congregation are no longer with us. We have mourned their passing over the years, and we have done our best to honor what they started.
Think about this for just a moment: in 1948, 46 people gathered for the very first worship service of the Brookhaven Christian Church. It was in a small house not far from here, and many of those 46 were visitors from Peachtree Christian Church or First Christian Church of Atlanta or First Christian Church of Decatur, helping to plant the seeds of a new congregation. They were there to offer up the mantle to these folks who were stepping out in faith that something new and wonderful could begin in north Atlanta.
On that May afternoon, 19 people signed on as charter members of the Brookhaven Christian Church, and $56.16 was collected in offering.
Look around. We have come a long way. And we have a long way to go. It is the legacy we have been left. It is a legacy that we will continue, so that our children and grandchildren and their children and grandchildren will one day know the story and feel called to what we are called to: faithful service to God and God’s people.
Peter, James and John did not fully understand what they had witnessed up on Mt. Tabor, but their subsequent ministries showed that they understood that they were called to pick up the mantle and move forward.
Joshua did not fully understand what awaited the Hebrew people when they entered the promised land, but he took up the mantle of leadership from Moses and did his best to move forward.
Elisha witnessed the most amazing sight he could imagine, and wondered whether he was up to the task in front of him. He too, moved forward in faith, picked up Elijah’s mantle and stepped firmly into the future.
Every one of these examples looked to the examples of the past for strength, but then struck out on their own, having confidence that God’s wisdom would guide them and God’s grace would be with them.
We at Brookhaven Christian Church are in a similar time. We continually seek ways to move forward, to witness the power of Jesus Christ to all who need to here. We deal with important decisions on how to best do that, including a decision in front of us now concerning renovations to our property. These decisions center on how we can best move forward as faithful stewards of what we have been given and as faithful Christians seeking to reach even more people with the good news of Jesus Christ.
We find strength in the example of those who have come before us, yet it is up to us to step forward in faith, confident that God’s wisdom will guide us, and God’s grace will be with us. We cannot get away from it: the mantle has been placed in our hands. We are not sure exactly what the future will hold, but we hold fast to the examples of our past as we chart our course into the future.
We need to follow Elisha’s example. It is time to stand on the banks of the river and touch the mantle to the water. But be aware, the most important thing Elisha did, the thing that we must learn from him, is that when the water parted, he did not hesitate.
He stepped into the river and moved forward.
May it be so, for you and for me, and for Christ’s church, now and always.
Let us pray: Thank you Lord for the example of those who have gone before us. We humbly request a double portion of their spirit, a double portion of their strength, a double portion of their wisdom, so that you might be doubly glorified in all we do. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen.
| | | Permalink | Trackback |
|
|
 | |