1 Kings 19:19-21; 2 Kings 2:1-15, 23-25
Bullies, bears, and a baldy. Did I capture your attention when I read the Old Testament lesson this morning? It was a longer than usual reading, but if your mind started to wander, I bet you sat up when you heard how two bears mauled 42 young men for making fun of the prophet Elisha. What’s that all about? Who exactly was this Elisha that God would send bears as his bodyguard? Well that’s what we hope to find out over the coming weeks as we start a new sermon series on the prophet Elisha. I’ve entitled the series: “Bald ‘n’ Bold” because this describes Elisha. He may have looked unimpressive, but he was bold in word and deed because God had commissioned him to serve the Israelites with his message of salvation. Today we’ll look at the beginning of Elisha’s ministry and learn how we went from plough-hand to prophet.
Elisha lived about 850 years before the time of Christ in what was known as the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This kingdom was ruled by the wicked King Ahab whose wife Jezebel had done her best to stamp out worship of the true God. Fighting this menace was the prophet Elijah. But things were so bad that for a time Elijah was convinced that he was the only believer left in Israel. That was not the case, however, and to prove it, God sent Elijah to anoint Elisha to be his successor as prophet.
Elisha worked as a plough-hand for his father. In fact that’s where Elijah found him – out plowing his father’s fields with eleven servants – each driving their own yoke of oxen. In today’s terms Elisha’s father would have been wealthy enough to own and operate twelve tractors! Therefore Elisha was no lowly farmhand just trying to eke out a living; he came from a family that lacked for nothing. When you remember that fact, what happened next seems all the more striking. Elijah took his mantle, which I suppose looked something like a cape, and put it around Elisha. Not a word passed between the two men, but Elisha knew exactly what the gesture meant. It meant that God had called him to be a prophet – someone who would serve as his spokesmen.
What kind of thoughts and questions would run through your mind if God made it known that you were to leave your current place of employment to serve on a mission field? Wouldn’t you like to know where you were going and for how long? Wouldn’t you wonder what kind of benefits you were going to receive and how much vacation time? But Elisha did not ask any of those questions even though he was about to take a huge pay cut and enter into a calling that the king and queen were trying to stamp out. Instead Elisha simply asked permission to say farewell to his parents. And this was no delay tactic because the next thing that Elisha did was to butcher the oxen he had been using to plough and then cooked the meat over his farming equipment which he had chopped up into firewood. There was no going back for Elisha. He made a clean and complete break with his past.
While God has not directed me to put my stole around you and call you into the public ministry, he did wrap Christ’s robe of righteousness around you in baptism and called you to make a clean break with every kind of sin. So if having too much to drink is a problem, then stop hanging out with those friends who keep dragging you to the bar. If you’re having a hard time keeping your patience, make changes in your life so that you’re not so busy and therefore don’t become irritated so quickly with others. A complete break with sin is what God calls for, not compromise. By thinking of your baptism you will be reminded that you have the power to make that kind of break with sin. For in baptism the power of your sinful nature and its mastery over you was broken, just as surely as a surging tsunami will break any barrier that stands in its way.
Elisha began his ministry by following Elijah around and learning from him. And what a great mentor Elijah was! Elijah demonstrated how to confront wickedness when he boldly spoke to King Ahab about his sin of stealing Naboth’s vineyard and allowing that neighbor of his to be murdered in the process. Elisha would also see how Elijah eagerly served right up until the day God called him to heaven. That true event served as the second part of our Old Testament reading. We heard how God made it known to Elijah that his time on earth was coming to an end. What did Elijah do when he learned that? Did he scurry around trying to knock off all the items on his bucket list? No. Instead he travelled to the towns where there were schools to train men to serve as prophets. He must have gone there to give encouragement.
God hasn’t of course told you when your time on earth is going to come to an end, but he has made it clear that it will. So how are you using that time? Are you busy ticking off everything on your bucket list? That isn’t why God has put you here. He has put you here to be his hands to show love when you act in helpful ways to others. He has put you here to be his mouth to speak words of encouragement. And he wants you to do this to the very end just as Elijah did.
Elijah’s end came in dramatic fashion. As he and Elisha were walking together, there suddenly appeared a set of fiery horses and a chariot which separated the two men. A whirlwind then materialized and swept Elijah into heaven making him one of two people in the history of the world to make it to heaven without first dying. As this was happening Elisha cried: “My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha wasn’t talking about the fiery horses and chariot he had seen; he was talking about Elijah. That prophet, and not the king’s cavalry, had been the real strength of Israel. But now Elijah was gone. What would become of God’s people? Wicked King Ahab was dead but his son Joram was in power and he had no love for the true God or his prophets. God had taken Elijah to heaven but he had not left his people without a spiritual leader. Elisha would now become that leader. To assure Elisha of his abiding presence, God caused Elijah’s mantle to fall to the ground as that man was taken up into heaven. It was with this mantle that Elijah had struck the Jordan River causing it to split in two so the Elijah and Elisha could cross over on dry ground shortly before his ascent into heaven. With that mantle in hand now, Elisha struck the Jordan River on his return and it parted again. The other prophets who witnessed this were assured that God had left them with a new leader so they came and showed Elisha their respect by bowing before him.
This reception was a lot different than the one Elisha would receive as he later walked into the town of Bethel. From there came a gang of juveniles to taunt Elisha. They said: “Go on up, you baldhead!” (2 Kings 2:23) From Elisha’s reaction and from the way the Lord responded it’s clear that this was more than some playground fun these boys were having. It seems that these young men were mocking Elisha’s claim that Elijah had been taken up into heaven in a whirlwind. If he had, well, then these thugs were telling Elisha that he could go too. They had no need for him and his message from God.
But didn’t Elisha overreact when he called down a curse on these guys so that two bears came out of the woods mauling 42 of them? First of all we need to be clear that these weren’t a bunch of grade school kids. They were young men anywhere from the ages of 12-30. And there weren’t just a few of them. 42 of them were mauled meaning there must have been more who got away. If half of them managed to escape, there would have been close to 85 people in this gang. And remember, this gang came out of the city to confront Elisha. This had been a premeditated verbal assault on one of God’s prophets. The other thing to keep in mind is that Elisha didn’t call for God to send in the bears, he left the matter in God’s hands. But the way in which God responded should cause us to pause whenever we are tempted to mock God’s servants. No, your called workers are not perfect - not in looks or in the way that we serve - and yet God has sent us to you. Don’t let our imperfections get in the way of the message God has called us to share with you. Don’t let your frustrations with us boil over to the point where you end up thumbing your nose at God’s gift: his Word in your midst! That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t point out when we stray whether from God’s Word or from faithfully using our time and our talents. But you will always want to do this in a gentle and loving matter.
This opening sermon about Elisha may seem to end on a sour note but it doesn’t. After the incident at Bethel, Elisha went to Mt. Carmel and then returned to Samaria, the capital city of Israel. That was a testimony of God’s grace. God could have said: “I’ve tried so many times with these people to call them to repentance but they just don’t want anything to do with me. Well forget it.” It’s the same thing God could say to us today isn’t it? He’s spoken to us so often about our greed, our lack of patience, or hypocrisy and yet we keep falling into those sins and often do so without even a fight. And still God sends us his Word of rebuke followed by forgiveness. He’s doing that for you again today. Just as Elisha had been able to pick up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from the heavens and be assured of God’s abiding presence, many of you will get to pick up in your hands the bread of life when you come to Holy Communion. Through this sacrament you will receive the body and blood of Jesus – tangible proofs of God’s abiding love and patience.
What then should our response be? Well today’s text reminds us what a gift the ministry is. I may be bald like Elisha, but I have been put here by God himself to serve you with his Word just as Staff Minister Stuht has been. We are not your hired hands; we are your partners. May God make every one of us as bold as Elisha in faithfully carrying out his work – the work of making a clean break with sin and encouraging others to do the same as we point them to Jesus and his forgiveness. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
Fill in the blanks.
The prophet Elisha lived ___________ years before Christ during the time of wicked King ______________. The prophet ___________ was Elisha’s mentor. Before Elisha became a prophet he had been a ________________.
Elisha made a clean break with his past when he was called to serve as a prophet. When God calls us to be his children through holy baptism, he wants us to make a clean break with our sinful past. In which area of your life can you make a better break with your sinful past? What will you do THIS week to make that happen?
God made it known to Elijah that his time on earth was coming to an end. How did Elijah use his remaining time? How is that a good example for us?
Elijah’s mantle served as a visible reminder of God’s abiding presence. What visible reminder(s) of his presence does God give to Christians today?
Our sermon text illustrated two different attitudes towards God’s called messengers. What were they?
Respond: God sends two bears to maul 42 kids for some harmless playground ribbing? That’s why I don’t like the God of the Bible.
