St Croix Reformed Church

Elijah, Elisha, and the Chariot of Fire

a sermon for Father’s Day by Neil MacQueen

Last week I spoke on the 1st Kings 19 story of Elijah, -the Great Prophet of Israel, … how he dueled the Prophets of Baal on top of Mt. Carmel, burning up all their bull with a fireball from heaven, then “SLEWING” the prophets of Baal by the waters of Kishon, only to be chased into the desert by King Ahab and Jezebel.

Literally and figuratively Elijah went from the pinnacle of success on Mt. Carmel to the depths of despair, needing to be revived by an angel in the desert near Beersheba, only to crawl off of the holy cave of Horeb to die. It was there God found him, a beaten and demoralized man.

“Lord,” Elijah twice complained in that cave, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: but the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and now I’m the only one left; and they are trying to kill me!”

And God says, “Stand up and come here Elijah”  … And after the earthquake, wind and fire, the still small comforting voice of God comes to Elijah in that cave…. The kind of late night hush your father or mother spoke to you as you lay there sobbing in their arms. The kind of quiet voice you feel resonating in your breast from a loved embracing you at a funeral or in a hospital room.  The still small hush of prayer and hope: “Elijah, it’s ok, we’re going to get you some help. Go find Hazael and Jehu …and anoint them Kings to help you. And go find Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel- meholah …and anoint him to be the next great prophet after you’re gone.”

And then I suggested last week that the REAL miracle in the story was that Elijah actually LISTENED to God. He put aside his fears and fatigue, and got up to go find help.   ….Down the mountain of God he walked, with 40 days of crossing the Sinai desert and Negev to ponder all that had happened to him, and the solution God had whispered into his soul.

40 Days is a long time in the Bible, a test all on its own. And I’m sure one of the things on Elijah mind was this: “Can God be serious? These are all KIDS he is sending me to find! …Kids!”

And as if to confirm his worst fears, when Elijah finds young Elisha son of Shaphat, the boy was out cutting his parents lawn…with 12 of his father’s oxen.

According to 1 Kings 19: 19, Elijah walked up to Elisha and threw his mantle –his prophet’s cloak over the boy, and started walking away. No committee, no interview, no references, only God’s command: “Go find Elisha and anoint him to be the next prophet.”

A startled Elisha in verse 20, leaves the oxen behind and starts running after Elijah saying, “Can I at least kiss my father and mother good-bye? Then I will follow you!”   “Of course,” said Elijah. So Elisha took his oxen, and cooked up a feast for his family. Then he set out and followed Elijah, to become his apprentice.

…That is the end of 1 Kings, chapter 19.  And it is YEARS before we again hear of Elisha.

1st Kings Chapters 20, 21 and 22 don’t mention Elisha at all. All we can do is IMAGINE him stuck by the side of Elijah –when Elijah confronts Jezebel, in Chapter 21 over her treacherous murder of Naboth in order to take his vineyard for her palace gardens.

Chapter 22 is mostly devoted to the scurrilous rule and wars of Ahab, –who for a time allies himself with good King Jehosaphat of Judah. Eventually Ahab dies in battle unceremoniously disguised in a common soldier’s battle dress. And the Bible says that the blood from his wound filled his chariot so much, that they had to wash it off at the Pool of Samaria,  …and the writers add the mocking epitaph “where the prostitutes bathe.”

His son Ahaziah takes over and continues Ahab’s reign of evil, until he dies a couple of year’s later in SECOND KINGS CHAPTER ONE from wounds suffered in a fall at the palace.

But before Ahaziah dies in Chapter 1, Ahaziah sends 3 groups of 50 soldiers each to forcibly bring Elijah back to the palace to heal him, –and in keeping with Elijah’s reputation, the first two groups are consumed by fireballs from heaven. The smarter captain of the third group decides to HUMBLE himself before Elijah pleading for Elijah to spare his life, which apparently Elijah isn’t inclined to do because God has to INTERVENE with Elijah by sending AN ANGEL to keep Elijah from killing the guy, –which to ME only bolsters what I observed in last week’s sermon, that God and Elijah aren’t always on the same page.

This is just GREAT Old Testament stuff… and you can imagine WIDE EYED YOUNG ELISHA tagging along on every page –soaking it all up.

WE FAST FORWARD NOW to 2nd Kings Chapter 2…. To one of the most dramatic,  unparalleled, and I think touching stories in the entire Old Testament.

Many years have passed since the days of Mt Carmel. Two kings have come and gone. Elijah has grown old and it’s time, …Time for Elijah to step aside and let young Elisha step into the old man’s sandals.

God was about to take Elijah up into heaven in a whirlwind… a tornado we would call it, which in and of itself is pretty amazing considering that there is only one other person in the entire Bible who was granted such an exit, none other than Jesus Christ himself.

2 Kings 2: Verse 1 — “Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.” 2 And 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. 3 And the company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to young Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; but please, keep silent about.”

4 Then Elijah comes up to Elisha and say, “Elisha, it’s okay if you stay here; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So they came to Jericho. 5 And that company of prophets who were at Jericho also said to Elisha, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know! …be silent.”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But once again Elisha looked at the old man and said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So the two of them walked on together and came to the River Jordan.

8 And Elijah takes his mantle, rolls it up, and strikes the water; and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and the two went across to the other side on dry ground.

9 When they had crossed, Elijah turns to Elisha and says, “Tell me what I can do for you, before I am taken from you.”

Elisha says, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”  10 And the old man responds, –and all you sons and daughters LISTEN carefully: Elijah says, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, but if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you.”

11 And as they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire pulled by horses aflame came between the two of them, and Elijah ascended up into heaven in a whirlwind.

12 Far below… faithful young Elisha gazing up into the sky cries out, “My father, my father! Mighty defender of Israel! You are gone!”  And when he could no longer see him, Elisha grasped his clothes and tore them in two.

There are other translations of Elisha’s cry. In our New Revised Standard he cries out “Father, Father, The Chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But I always preferred the translation which I first read to you which came from the Good News Bible, –because that was the Bible my parents gave me when I was 12 years old.

I was just about Elisha’s age when I lost my father to a stroke. I was a young minister fresh out of seminary with one toddler at my knee and another one on the way, when we heard the news that my father had been found dead at home that morning –the very morning that he and my mother were to take the first Big Trip of their well-earned retirement.

My father has been gone since 1988, –21 years and 4 days to be exact (not that I’m keeping track). ….and I think about him everyday.

I especially think of him when I think about being a father to my own children, JUST as I’m sure young Elisha thought about Elijah his spiritual father over the years. Aware of the powerful presence and persistent image of my own father in my life, I wonder how I will live-on for better or worse in my own children after I am gone. And I’m sure Elijah had the same thoughts about his legacy in Elisha.

Among those of you here this morning, I’m sure there are as many similar stories. A man we were raised by, or perhaps not raised by, who’s legacy we still trying to figure out, –still trying to live up to –or live down. Memories we hold on to, or make us cringe.

Or perhaps you’re thinking of a child that you care about so much that you wonder how you as their parent or grandparent or mentor could have been made more of a difference. You ponder at your legacy, not only for their sake, but for yours as well.

I don’t often recommend books in sermons, but there are two I want to recommend to you today.

The first is titled “If I Were Starting My Family Again” by John Drescher, an Episcopal priest. It’s a wonderful little book which I knew spoke for God when he started his list by saying “If I were starting my family over again, I’d love the mother of my children more.”  That’s the greatest gift he says we can give our children –to show them through all the ups and downs of married and family life -what unconditional love is.

The second book is titled, “The Last Lecture,” by Randy Pausch. Randy was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon. And every year they asked a member of the faculty to imagine what they’d say if they only had one last lecture to deliver before they died. And it just so happened that several months before his was to deliver his lecture, Professor Pausch was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.  He delivered his last lecture and died the next year, coincidentally enough, on my birthday.

His Last Lecture became a youtube phenomenon and then a best selling book, NOT because he was dieing, —everyone dies, …but because Ron the computer scientist was a phenomenal teacher about life.

His book is a legacy of love and memories to his children, wife and students –that’s filled with incredibly good advice for living. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to, then give it to your sons and daughters.

The problem with legacies, however, is that my DAD was not a perfect man, any more than Randy Pausch was, any more than Elijah was perfect, –any more than you and I are perfect.

On a day like today when our impulse is to put our fathers on a pedestal, or when some here bear the silent pain of a father who failed them in some way —we would do well to remember that the secret to being the child God wants us to be is this: that as the child we must also forgive our parents for being human.

2nd Kings Chapter 2, Verse 13…   Elisha stands there straining to see the last whisp of smoke as his spiritual father is taken away from him. Then he lowers his gaze, and enters that moment where all sons and daughters feel lost.

–Choking back tears and moments of anger, you pause at the meaning of it all, -as you will the rest of your life. You remember last words, you think of things you wish you had said to him, and he to you. For that too is part of the legacy, the incomplete and unfinished lives we all leave behind.

He stares at the ground, then Elisha looks and sees Elijah’s mantle lying on the ground where it had fallen on of him. Thread-worn and faded. Stained and dusty and singed with old burn marks.  Elisha remembers the aire of authority it once brought his mentor, but also the time when Elijah used it at Horeb to try and hide from the presence of God.

And he picks it up. He picks up the mantle that fallen to him
…and in your mind’s eye you can see him running his hands over it again and again.

He picks up the mantle and walks back alone -to the edge of the River Jordan.  (Verse 14) Then he rolls it up and STRIKES the water with it shouting, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah!”

In answer, the waters begin to part –one side to the other. And Elisha crosses over –and goes back into Israel to become the next great prophet in the land. A prophet, which 2nd Kings like to remind us in subtle ways, who did even GREATER things than Elijah did.

Find what is good and true in your father’s life, -pick it up, and build on it.

…And the rest, forgive.

This would be the most wonderful gift for any father on Father’s Day. 

Amen