“Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water: it divided, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Request whatever I might do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.”* He replied, “You have asked something that is not easy. Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.” As they walked on still conversing, a fiery chariot and fiery horses came between the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, and Elisha saw it happen. He cried out, “My father! my father!* Israel’s chariot and steeds!” Then he saw him no longer” (2 Kings 2: 8-12)
In this dramatic account, the great prophet Elijah is passing on his Spirit to his successor, Elisha. Elisha recognizes how deeply the Spirit of God moves within the life of Elijah and realizes that only this indwelling Spirit will empower and enable him to carry out all that his life may require from him. As the fiery chariot “comes between them,” Elijah is carried away in a whirlwind out of the sight of Elisha. Elisha cries out in perhaps both ecstasy and grief, “My father! My father…”
Although the above scripture passage from the Second Book of Kings is not today’s selection, it seems to truly resound with the same symbols and themes as the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 8:26-40). We are in the third week of the Easter season and today we hear in the Acts of the Apostles one of my favorite Easter stories. The apostle Philip is intimately being led by the Spirit of the Lord to an encounter with an Ethiopian, who is traveling from Jerusalem back to his homeland.
The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join up with that chariot.”
The encounter takes place in a chariot. The Ethiopian person is reading from the Prophet Isaiah and asks Philip to explain the scripture to him. Just as in the Emmaus story, Philip recounts the story of Jesus and apparently draws up the correlation between the Isaiah passage and the Christ story….
Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth.
After the Ethiopian grasps the ‘good news’ told to him by Philip, a scene occurs similar to that passage through water that Elijah and Elisha experienced…
As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more.
Similar to the Elijah/Elisha encounter, the Ethiopian/Philip encounter has the markings of engagement in the life/death/resurrection pattern in baptism, but perhaps moreso hints to the deeper context for this sacrament that is taking place. It appears that it is the engagement and willingness to listen and share that opens up the Spirit for both the Ethiopian and Philip. Perhaps this is telling us that we are called to share that particular piece of the Good News that we have with each other in such a way that it passes through us. Just as the chariot “came between” Elijah and Elisha, God’s very own Spirit comes between us in a way that drives us toward each other and then out to others. This movement of flowing in and outward can seem like a disappearance because when we allow the Spirit to move in this way, our ego self has to get out of the way so to speak. The Spirit is in full engagement and motion!
Isn’t it a wonder how many times the disappearing act occurs in these scriptures. Just as Jesus after breaking bread with the disciples in Emmaus disappears, Elijah is taken away from Elisha’s sight in the 2nd Book of Kings, and now Philip is taken away from the eyesight of the Ethiopian. Note though that this seeming disappearance is not abandonment. It occurs within the receiving and giving of the Spirit in each circumstance. It’s the mysterious constant movement of the Holy Spirit that, should we allow it, touches us so deeply that we are compelled to share It by giving it away to others and in the process disappearing or more accurately transforming! Perhaps this is another image of the Paschal mystery. We give ourselves away to and in each other, but this is not death, but Life – New Life!
The Gospel passage (JN 6:44-51) speaks about this constantly moving Life of God that instructs us in a holistic way and always involves relating to others. It’s all about interaction and relationship.
Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
It seems that Jesus is saying that inasmuch as he himself is caught up in the Life of God in the Trinity, so it is with us. We live the life of God when we share our lives with each other. God instructs us through each other. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,” could be translated as “the very relationships that you have with one another in Love and Faith is your participation in the Life of God.” This participation is the Holy Spirit of God alive in our lives and relationships. And when we see this, we are snatched or taken away like Jesus, Elijah, and Philip, so that our lives can become more than what we ever imagined them to be.
How awesome is it that we have a God who IS Love pouring itself out, disappearing in the transparency of self-giving, only to re-appear in the New Life that constantly flows forward and through the waters of our lives, baptizing us over and over again in inflaming Love!
When we allow ourselves to get snatched up or taken up in this Life in God, we live what Isaiah is describing in the passage read by the Ethiopian, “…his life is taken from the earth.”
When we “join up with that chariot” – that space where Spirit is shared, we are living in God and each of our unique Easter stories can powerfully proclaim God’s posterity – the Holy Spirit – here and now!
Peace
Thomas
(originally published May 4, 2017)