2 Kings 2:1-12 (first published 26 February 2006)
I have on the wall by my computer a black light poster from the 1970s called "Lost Horizon." In a world of psychedelic colors it portrays six people hiking along a mountainous trail toward the setting sun. The surrealism of the poster is made much plainer when I turn off the lights and view it with a black light. Colors become more vivid, the poster takes on a 3-D feel, and hidden dangers and marvels suddenly appear. I wonder if Elisha felt like he was moving through a surreal world on his final journey with his mentor, the prophet Elijah. At every stop along the way--at Bethel, at Jericho, and at the banks of the Jordan--the two travelers met groups of prophets, "the sons of the prophets," who warned Elisha that God was about to remove Elijah from his presence. "Yeah, I know," Elisha replied. "Shut up about it!" The words of the prophetic guilds, perhaps meant as a warning for Elisha to prepare himself for a great personal loss, had the opposite effect. Rather than preparing Elisha for his impending loss, the warnings seem to have agitated him. How weird is it to take a journey that you know will be your last with another person on this earth? Many who have experienced the death of a loved one know something about a trip of this sort. It begins with a doctor's warning that time is short. Well-meaning friends try to prepare you for what's to come, but their words don't always help. Finally as you walk the final leg of the journey with your friend or family member, memories become confused, and the world become an exotic, terrifying, or perhaps even oddly comforting place in which to spend the last few hours of life. The fact that Elijah went to heaven in a fiery chariot didn't lessen Elisha's loss. What did help was the promise that he would receive a double portion of Elijah's spirit. We can often claim the same blessing, though we're usually not able to recognize it at the moment of parting, because the pain is just too great. Those who have gone before us do not leave us empty-handed. In time, their memory in our hearts will remind us of the friendship and love we shared, will encourage us when we feel down, and will inspire us to greater things. The loss of a loved one is difficult, but it is a path almost all of us will have to take over the course of our lives, perhaps several times, until eventually we play the role of the one who departs, and we begin a new journey. When we're on one or the other of these tracks, the story of Elijah and Elisha offers comfort, for we see that all such journeys are encompassed within the mind of God, and we see that neither the one who leaves nor the one who stays behind is alone.
Jerusalem and the regions of Israel and Palestine are often referred
to as the Holy Land. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim pilgrims from all
over the world flock to its holy sites to celebrate the lives and deeds
of prophets and kings. Many people, Jews especially, but at least a few
Christians as well, immigrate to the Holy Land every year, believing
that somehow life will be better for them in the shadow of the walls of
Jerusalem. But while tourists and immigrants flock to Jerusalem, the
political situation there seems to go from bad to worse. Right-wing
extremists are in control of Gaza, and the right-wing Likud party is
poised to recycle Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister in a matter of
weeks. While it is not impossible that pragmatic heads will prevail in
both governments, the history of Hamas and Likud doesn't offer a lot of
hope for peace and a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. The
psalmist speaks of God as a righteous judge who summons all those who
are part of the covenant community to God's side. Although the psalmist
portrays that location as Zion, it is dangerous to think of
Zion-Jerusalem as the literal place where people should look for God.
Yes, God can be found in Jerusalem, but God can be found equally well in
Mumbai, Harare, Caracas, Karachi, or New Orleans. Identifying God too
closely with a particular geographic location can be hazardous, even
deadly, as inhabitants of Jerusalem, Mecca, and Karbala can attest.
Rather than looking for God in all the wrong places (i.e., in any
specific place), people of faith should look for God within themselves
and in the world surrounding them, wherever they happen to be. God is a
God of justice, and God is at work wherever people are working in God's
name to right the wrongs of the world. Where justice prevails is the
place where God reigns, not some arbitrary spot on the globe.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 (first published 26 February 2006)
From at least the time of Constantine, and perhaps before in certain
locales, some people have seen Christianity as a power trip, a chance to
gain influence over others and exercise authority. To be sure this hasn't
been the predominant view of Christianity, but over the centuries many
Christians have accepted without question their leaders' claims to power.
The situation continues unabated today. Ordinary, intelligent people who
wouldn't for a minute allow a king or dictator to tell them what to
believe or how to live surrender themselves to often self-appointed rulers
in the church. Sometimes these autocrats of the mind and conscience
operate at the level of the local church, priests or pastors who enjoy
their position of authority more than they should. At other times these
rulers lord it over larger numbers of people, over whom they hold sway
either by means of a hierarchical church structure or through persuasive
rhetoric. Of course, the phenomenon is not limited to the Christian
church, for it applies to other faiths as well. I would like to think
that the number of modern religious leaders who are on this divine power
trip is relatively small, but I'm not so sure about that. I still
remember the seminary student who told me several years ago that he
wouldn't allow the people of his church to read a particular book. "What
kind of a leader are you," I wondered, "who exercises power over his
congregation's reading habits?" On another occasion, I had a young lady
who was about to get married tell me that her pastor wouldn't allow her to
have a particular love song played in her wedding, because he didn't
approve of it. Here was a young couple that was old enough to take on the
responsibility of marriage, but they couldn't be trusted to choose
appropriate wedding music? Then there are those who exercise their power
over the minds of others by threatening them with hellfire if they adopt
the wrong set of beliefs. How much more effective the church would be if
all Christian leaders would follow the example of Paul, who said, "We do
not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as
your slaves for Jesus' sake." Note that Paul did not say that he was
merely Jesus' slave (he makes this claim on many other occasions); he said
that he was also the voluntary slave of the Corinthian church. In other
words, he saw it as his duty to the church to serve them in whatever way
he could. What a refreshing view of ministry! Christians need to get
away from the perspective that pastors are there to rule over them and
tell them what to believe. Pastors who abuse their authority by
exercising it in arbitrary ways need to repent, but so do Christian
laypeople who are too lazy to exert their own God-given right to use their
brains. God calls us all to be servants, and if we find ourselves in
positions of authority, that too is an opportunity to serve other people
in the name of Christ.
Mark 9:2-9 (first published 26 February 2006)
Have you ever wondered why it was that Jesus chose to take only Peter, James, and John with him when he climbed the Mount of Transfiguration? Maybe if he had chosen to be transfigured before all the disciples, Judas Iscariot would never have betrayed him. Maybe if he had been transfigured before not only the disciples but also the many other people who traveled with him, the message that he was the unique Son of God would have spread more rapidly. Maybe if he had picked the temple in Jerusalem as the place to be transfigured, a mass conversion of the Jewish leadership to his cause would have transpired, and he would have been acclaimed as Messiah not only by his followers but by his former opponents as well. Why did Jesus choose only Peter, James, and John? I don't know the answer for sure, but I suspect it's similar to the reason why God chose to be revealed to Elijah in a gentle breeze (or a still, small voice, or perhaps even silence) rather than in a windstorm, a blazing fire, or an earthquake. God doesn't proclaim the divine will on billboards along the highway, nor does God take out an ad in the New York Times when God wants to do something. God only reveals God's own person and will to people who are ready to listen and, after they've heard, are willing to act. The good news is that God, like the Marines, is always looking for a few good women and men, people who are listening intently to hear God's voice, people who have the courage to act on what they understand God wants them to do. Are we the kind of people that Jesus would choose to invite to climb a mountain with him so that we could witness the glory of God being revealed?