"Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire", Giuseppe Angeli – 1740-1755
Think back a minute to the first Sunday after the Epiphany. Every year on that Sunday we remember the baptism of Jesus and revisit our own baptismal vows.
On that Sunday we talked about the vows we take at baptism—to renounce Satan and spiritual forces of wickedness, the evil powers of this world, and the sinful desires that draw us from the love of God.
And we promise to turn to Jesus Christ, to accept him as our Savior, to put our whole trust in his grace and love, and to follow and obey him as our Lord.
During the season of Lent, which begins on Wednesday, we will be following Jesus on the dangerous path he takes to Jerusalem, a journey that will ultimately lead to his suffering, death, and finally, to his resurrection.
And today’s lectionary readings give us some instruction about how we are to walk with Jesus on this challenging journey ahead.
The key word here is loyalty.
The dictionary defines being loyal as being faithful–
Being faithful to one’s sovereign, government or state, being faithful to one’s oath or obligations, faithful to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity.
Being loyal is characterized by or showing faithfulness: such as loyal conduct.
Loyalty is what we need if we are to stay with Jesus on the journey ahead, and loyalty to Jesus helps us to move through the challenging times in our own lives.
So let’s go back and take a look at today’s readings to see what we can learn about loyalty.
Paul reminds us that as Christians, our loyalty is to God, and to Jesus Christ, who is the image of God.
“We do not proclaim ourselves,” Paul says.
“We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as slaves for Jesus’ sake.”
Now in today’s “me” culture, proclaiming ourselves is not only easy, but it’s also expected. Social media allows us to create ourselves in our own image and then to proclaim ourselves to the world.
But Paul reminds us that, as Christians, our ultimate loyalty is to God, and this loyalty to God then defines all of the other loyalties in our lives.
The Old Testament story we’ve heard today about Elisha and Elijah is all about loyalty.
Elijah is one of the great Old Testament prophets, and Elisha is his loyal follower.
And so when God gets ready to take Elijah up into heaven, Elisha refuses to leave Elijah.
“As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
All the way from Gilgal to the other side of the Jordan, with multiple chances to stay behind with his friends, the bands of prophets,
Elisha insists on continuing on with Elijah, not knowing what will happen, but knowing that he must stay by Elijah’s side.
Near the end of their journey, as they stand on the bank of the Jordan River, Elijah rolls up his mantle and the two of them cross the river on dry ground, just as the Israelites had crossed over the Jordan from the wilderness into the land that God had promised them.
After crossing the Jordan, Elijah asks Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.”
And Elisha asks Elijah for a double share of his spirit, meaning that Elisha would like to inherit the work that Elijah was doing and to continue that work in Israel.
Elijah says that he can’t promise such a thing, but if Elisha sees him being taken up into heaven, then his request will be granted.
Elisha then sees the mystical vision of the chariot of fire and horses of fire take Elijah in a whirlwind up into heaven, which means that God has granted Elisha’s request.
Now I can’t help but think—if Elisha had had a smart phone at this point, he could have quickly updated his status on FaceBook.
“Hey, I just saw chariots of fire and horses of fire take Elijah up into heaven and now I’m the head prophet!”
Or the Biblical equivalent of this—he could have shouted back to the other prophets who were standing at a distance on the other side of the Jordan.
“Hey, it’s me! I’ve been chosen! Come on over and follow me.”
Instead, Elisha tears his clothes in mourning because Elijah has been taken from him, and then he picks up Elijah’s mantle, and calls on God.
Elisha doesn’t remain in this symbolic promised land, but instead he parts the water, crosses back over the Jordan, back into the wilderness, where he gets busy with the work God gives him to do.
In today’s New Testament reading, Peter and James and John also have the privilege of seeing a mystical vision when they travel to the top of a high mountain with Jesus and see him transfigured, and they also see Elijah and Moses with him. It’s as if they’ve arrived in some visionary promised land.
And in his confusion, Peter wants to stay there—to make three dwellings, to hold on to this moment of mystical seeing and presence.
God comes in a cloud and speaks and says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.” Suddenly, when they look around they are once again alone with Jesus.
And the first thing Jesus says to the disciples is that they are not to tell anyone what they have seen until after he has risen from the dead.
Jesus knows that talking about this vision will be a temptation for the disciples.
“Hey, other disciples, guess who we saw! That means that we are awesome! Chosen! We’re the favorites.”
But Jesus doesn’t want the disciples to get sidetracked by what they’ve seen.
Instead, Jesus wants them to stay focused on him and to follow him loyally as they help him do his work, right then and there, in the present because he needs them to be with him on his way to Jerusalem.
The way to resurrection will include the hard and dirty work of passing through and dealing with the suffering and evil ways of this world, and Jesus wants and needs the disciples to go with him and help him.
Our temptation on this Sunday is to jump to Easter, to short circuit the hard work of Lent by telling ourselves that we are already the chosen ones.
We get tempted simply to rest and even brag on the fact that God has chosen us, while ignoring the challenging work God gives us to do that will inevitably test our faith and endurance.
Thanks be to God that God has chosen us to follow Jesus and to work for God’s glory .
And thanks be to God that God hopes for and expects our complete and unswerving loyalty along the way.
Amen.