Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost - The Rev. Elise A. Feyerherm - June 26th, 2022

To view a video of the Rev. Elise A. Feyerherm’s sermon, click HERE.

Our readings for today have much to say to a people in transition, wondering what God has in store for us next. A prophet nearing the end of his tenure passes on his mantle to a new prophet. A rabbi sets his face toward the place of his death and resurrection and calls people along the way to follow him, keeping their eyes focused on the road ahead of them instead of what lies behind. An inveterate letter writer reminds his readers of how easy it can be to fall prey to the impulse to grab everything for oneself and despise one’s neighbor, and calls them back to root themselves in the Spirit of love. And a Hebrew poet turns to God to find the path of life, giving thanks for the goodly heritage that is all around. Each of these has wisdom for us who are wondering what is around the corner, what we need to do to prepare for the journey, and where our guidance and sustenance will come from.

Elijah and Elisha could not be more different as men and as prophets. Elijah is, as Daniel Hawk writes, the “quintessential outsider.” He works on the periphery of Israel, scrounging for food and hanging with the poorest of the poor. He is irascible, cranky, and persistent in his critique of power and idolatry within the royal household of Israel. Elijah is also a loner, which perhaps is one of the reasons he is so exhausted at the point we meet him in the story today. 

Elisha, on the other hand, is wealthy – he owns twelve yoke of oxen, plowing acreage which only the rich could afford. Elisha is not an outsider; after Elijah is taken up by a chariot of fire, Elisha pursues the call of a prophet not on the margins but in the midst of the halls of power, even healing an army commander. These two prophets are polar opposites. 

Yet they have both been called by God to do the same work of calling Israel back to faithfulness and justice. Elisha supplies what Elijah lacks; Elijah lays groundwork that Elisha perhaps could not have laid. There’s a bit of the “bad cop, good cop” thing going on here. But taken together, they form the “perfect” prophet.

To follow Elijah, God did not choose a carbon copy; rather, God chose a prophet with his own unique personality and gifts. In part, this is because each new age requires new approaches. But mostly I think it is a reflection of the deep mystery that each person is made in the image of God, not as duplicates off of an assembly line, but as unique, precious children of God. We are both absolutely enough, just the way we are, and at the same time we know that we do not possess everything needed. What we lack will have to be supplied by others, in the present or in the future. 

This is a good reminder for us, as our rector Jeff leaves this community to shepherd the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. It will be tempting to want to replicate exactly what we have right now, because it is so, so good. We will not want Elisha to replace Elijah, or Elijah to replace Elisha, whichever way around. We will want a carbon copy – when we lose something we love, it is only natural. We’re not sure we want what is ahead, because what we have seems just right.

This, perhaps, is behind the impulse of those followers who told Jesus that first they needed to bid farewell to family before joining him. Perhaps they needed to have some closure on the past before they could embrace this new thing. I’m not sure why Jesus rebukes them; perhaps he senses that they are not really ready to let go of what they have known, thus not yet ready join him. 

Unlike Jesus’ followers in our gospel, Elisha is allowed to go back to his family first and take care of his obligations before heading out with Elijah. I’m not sure why the difference; perhaps because those following Jesus had already had time to consider the consequences of their choice; they asked to come with Jesus, whereas Elisha was caught completely by surprise.

In both cases, it is what lies ahead that key. Where we have been is important and foundational; where we are going with Jesus even more the point. Our faces are to be set on Jerusalem; that is, on where God is leading us.

Right now we’re in that in-between, what we call “liminal” place. In some ways, where we are now is with Elisha going back to the people he loves, feasting together at a fine table laden with food and, as I imagine, sharing stories about their life together before he sets out to follow Elijah and his new path as a prophet. We are remembering the joys we have shared, the sorrows borne and eased by carrying them together. We are thanking God for what we have had. 

So given all of that, here is the important thing – can we think of ourselves not as Elisha’s family, left behind, but as Elisha himself, the one who is being called forward by God into a new and transforming future? Can we see that we are not the father who needs to be buried, or the family being bade farewell, but the followers who are being invited to join Jesus in the greatest work of our lives? What would it mean for us to make this shift in perspective?

For we are, indeed, the ones on the road with Jesus. There is work for us to do. There are women who need to be supported and honored in the difficult decisions they have to make about their bodies and their lives. There are people terrorized by weapons of war that no ordinary citizen should be able to wield in the marketplace. There are people whose skin color or sexuality means that their lives still do not matter.  There are prisoners to set free, and a wounded multitude to comfort.

Every week we gather here as Jesus’ followers, to take into ourselves the real and powerful Body of Christ, not only for solace, but for strength, as it says in Eucharistic Prayer C. To receive Christ’s Body is to say yes to setting our face toward Jerusalem; that is, toward a mysterious, unsettling future. To gather here around Christ’s table is to say to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 

Look at what Christ has been doing in our midst already – would he ever abandon us as we set our hands to the plow? Let our prayer be always that of the psalmist: “You will show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”