Episode 1401: Crossing Over

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1, 401 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:08] Gemma Bailey: I'm Gemma Bailey. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world. You can do this by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to succeed no matter what circumstances you find yourself in is key.

[00:00:27] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

[00:00:45] Scott Maderer: Get to work, not tell people, not talk about it, but do it. Get back to work. There's growing pains, there's anger, there's fear, there's all of these things. But if we keep [00:01:00] our eyes on doing. The loving serving of Christ that it becomes easier. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:12] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence.

[00:01:40] In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about 2 Kings 2 1 12 and Mark 9 2 9. I talk about how this is a time between times in the church calendar, and I also share how this in between time seems to remind us to respond [00:02:00] positively with ministry. Two Kings, chapter two verses one through 12 says Now, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Eisha were on their way from Gilgal.

[00:02:15] Elijah said to Elisha, stay here for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel, but Elijah said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Beth El. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?

[00:02:36] And he said, Yes, I know. Keep silent. Elisha said to him, Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?

[00:02:57] And he answered, Yes, I know. [00:03:00] Be silent. Then Elisha said to him, Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on. 50 men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.

[00:03:19] Then Elijah took his mantle, and rolled it up, and struck the water. The water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Tell me what I may do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.

[00:03:39] And he responded. You have asked a hard thing, yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you. If not, it will not. As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out[00:04:00] Father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.

[00:04:03] But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. Mark, chapter 9, verses 2 through 9 says, Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.

[00:04:29] And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice.

[00:04:51] This is my son, the beloved. Listen to him. Suddenly, when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus. As [00:05:00] they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. These are, these sort of big, magnificent stories from the Bible.

[00:05:15] The transfiguration of Jesus, the departure of Elijah. In one way, they feel very familiar, and in another, they feel completely unrelatable, completely different from anything that we ever really experience. They're inspiring, and they're familiar, but these sorts of images can't possibly convey the splendor of the moment.

[00:05:41] And how do we move from telling this massive transformational story into an invitation to action? One way is to think about the fact that this this time of the calendar [00:06:00] where in the church year when this is coming, there's this period after Christmas and after these seasons where we have what is called ordinary time.

[00:06:09] And a lot of times people think of ordinary time as sort of half time, or that time between the boring time, but the ordinary is not about being plain. Ordinary there is about counting, ordinal. It's about the count down between things, or the count up to something. And this is a transitional time that we go from Epiphany after Christmas to Ash Wednesday.

[00:06:35] And Then on to Lent and other there's these different events, but right now we're at the end of a period of counting, an ordinary time, a point of transition, a liminal time between one thing and another. And in some ways, this sort of event that we're talking about here, both of these. [00:07:00] Are these sorts of transitional times they're things that seem to be there to capture our attention and let us see them as a preparation rather than an ending, a beginning, not an end.

[00:07:17] These are big events, but they're events of crossing over from one thing to another. Just like in the church calendar year, we're crossing over from one season to the next. We're leaving that rhythm of ordinary time. With those sorts of stories that we share in that time to the pain and perseverance of the Lenten journey and the countdown to the cross.

[00:07:47] These sorts of things begin to be periods of transition for us. In Kings, the lesson there is it seems to be preparing us to transition from hearing the [00:08:00] stories of Elijah. to Elisha and his work as a prophet. But to do that, we have to transition from one to the other. And this story seems to allow us to see that transitioning.

[00:08:14] Time to take up the mantle that we've been called to take up. Time to do the thing that we've been called to do, even when it is a hard thing. Elijah says, I want to receive a double portion of your spirit. Did he receive? That double portion, it's not really made clear, but it does seem that he took on prophecy and power comparable to that of his teacher.

[00:08:43] In fact, he literally, in the next passages, picks up the mantle that was left behind and uses it to cross over the Jordan in exactly the same way, by parting the waters. So it seems to be clear that he's at least got some measure of that same sort of [00:09:00] power. And now he must defend the honor and glory of God.

[00:09:04] against other prophets of other gods. And in the gospel lesson, it seems to be offering us a explicit story of revelation. Before we move on towards the cross, this transfiguration of Jesus and the story and the voice coming out of the cloud and then the connection to the Hebrew prophets like Joshua and Elisha, choosing Elijah, Moses being there who chose Joshua, the these connections to previous prophets who seem to choose their successors.

[00:09:45] It's an invitation from Jesus, maybe, to think about the invitation to leadership and service that Jesus is maybe issuing to these disciples that are up there with him. And notice the [00:10:00] disciples seem to miss it and not accept that responsibility. Instead, they're like, let's stay here. But Jesus is telling them, no, we've got to come down from the mountain.

[00:10:11] We've got to get to work. Yes, there's some hard stuff coming. But we've still got to get to work and that's the invitation that we're issued to that idea of stepping out into ministry, not gatekeeping and telling others what they should do, but instead going out and doing what Jesus calls us to do.

[00:10:36] We have that authority that we've been given. Get to work. Not tell people, not talk about it, but do it. Get back to work. There's growing pains. There's anger. There's fear. There's all of these things. If we keep our eyes on doing the loving serving of [00:11:00] Christ, then it becomes easier. Thanks for listening.

[00:11:10] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook. com slash inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and mark it.

[00:11:39] that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there. Until next time, invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence [00:12:00] and impact the world.

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