St. John’s Lutheran Church
29 June 2025 + Third Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 8 / Lectionary 13c
1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21; 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
The Rev. Josh Evans
Remember last week?
Elijah was afraid, fleeing for his life.
Elijah was tired, taking refuge in a cave in the wilderness by himself.
Elijah was burnt out, asking that he might die.
Elijah was done.
And in the midst of Elijah’s done-ness,
there is God,
who meets him where he is –
in his fear,
in his exhaustion,
in his weariness –
and who reminds Elijah:
He is not alone.
God is with Elijah in his done-ness,
and indeed, there are seven thousand faithful Israelites
who have not given in to worshipping false gods.
Nor is Elijah’s job as a prophet done:
He will anoint two new kings,
and his successor as prophet –
which is where today’s story picks up.
If Elijah’s story teaches us that God is with us in our done-ness,
Elisha’s story reminds us
that the work continues
and is not up to any of us alone.
Elijah’s story sets the scene for Elisha’s story,
which unfolds in two parts,
first introduced towards the end of last week’s reading
and continuing with today’s dramatic scene
of fiery chariots and horses.
Personally, I’m more interested in that first part.
In contrast to Elijah’s brief and rather unremarkable call story,
in which he just seems to appear out of nowhere,
Elisha’s own initial call, while still brief, offers us a bit more.
On the heels of God’s charge to Elijah last week,
Elijah immediately, and without much narrative commentary,
sets out from the cave where he had been hiding
and “finds Elisha, who is plowing” with his twelve yoke of oxen,
and “throws his mantle over him”
as a sign of Elisha’s soon-to-be succession as prophet.
It’s an admittedly bizarre detail –
but for Elisha’s part,
it’s an almost immediate recognition and acceptance of his new call.
Just as importantly, though,
is what Elisha does in between –
after Elijah’s mantle falls on him
and before he sets out to follow his new mentor.
“Let me kiss my father and my mother,”
Elisha says,
“and then I will follow you.”
No harsh rebuttal from Jesus here (that’s a different story)…
but instead a tender moment with his family,
taking time to say goodbye and to thank them,
“perhaps,” as one commentary suggests,
“for the fertile spiritual ground they have cultivated in him.” [1]
More than a mere succession story between prophets,
Elisha’s story places this prophet
squarely within the context of the community who formed him –
a community as integral to God’s mission
as the one who is being sent.
In the midst of a life-changing call,
Elisha doesn’t abandon the community who has shaped him,
but he takes time to honor their place in the mission we share,
as the baptismal liturgy puts it,
of bearing God’s creative, redeeming, and justice-seeking word to all the world.
Quite simply,
there would be no Elisha
without the community who formed him –
and Elisha pauses, if only for a moment, to acknowledge that,
and to remind us:
There is room for everyone in the work of justice –
not only for those who are sent,
but also for those who have formed them,
for those who will come after,
and for those who have come before.
***
This week, as Pride Month comes to a close,
I’ve been thinking a lot
about those who have come before.
Fifty-six years (and one day) ago,
in the early morning hours of June 28,
the NYPD raided the Stonewall Inn.
It wasn’t the first time the police would raid a gay bar,
but it was the first time the patrons fought back –
resulting in a five-day gathering of resistance
and protest among community members.
The protest at Stonewall would quickly inspire activism around the country,
and by the next year, would also result in the first gay pride parades
in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.
Were it not for the early protestors at Stonewall,
Pride as we know it, fifty-six years later, would not exist.
Closer to home,
I remember the stories of Ruth Frost, Phyllis Zillhart, and Jeff Johnson,
ordained as pastors “extraordinarily” in 1990
when the ELCA didn’t yet permit the ordination of openly gay and lesbian clergy.
Ruth, Phyllis, and Jeff’s ordinations would go on
to spark a movement so much bigger than themselves,
a movement that ultimately became Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries,
today accompanying openly LGBTQIA+ candidates for ministry
through an often tumultuous ordination process –
myself included –
despite the 2009 Churchwide Assembly decision
that formally allowed us to be ordained.
***
Elisha’s story reminds us
of the importance of those who have come before us:
the communities who have formed us
and the communities who have paved the way.
Elisha’s story also reminds us
that the work we have is not ours to do alone.
It might not even be completed in our lifetime.
This past week,
even as many celebrate the tenth anniversary
of the Supreme Court ruling that made marriage equality the law of the land,
we have seen more recent Supreme Court decisions
banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth,
and allowing parents to have their kids removed from classes
that read books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters.
It can feel like the progress we’ve made is being stalled,
even pulled back.
It can feel deflating
and discouraging.
And even while we have to acknowledge the movement ebbs and flows,
and has its victories as well as its setbacks,
we also know:
The work to be done –
the work of the gospel,
of bearing God’s creative, redeeming, and justice-seeking word to all the world –
is not done.
The work continues –
from Elijah to Elisha,
from Jesus to his disciples,
from our ancestors in faith to those of us here today.
Because of one thing I am certain:
We have the opportunity to be for others
what those who came before us have been for us,
and we will be for others
what those who came before us have been for us –
each of picking up the mantle of our ancestors,
to ultimately hand it on to the next generation,
entrusting our church and our world
to God who is faithful,
who continues to raise up faithful witnesses and prophets
in every time and place.
[1] C. Melissa Snarr, in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, Year C, Volume 3, Season after Pentecost, ed. Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, and Cynthia L. Rigby (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), 110.
