This is the story of Elijah’s passion
Gilgal is where Elijah’s passion with Elisha begins. Elijah told Elisha that it was not necessary for Elisha, the student to continue with Elijah his teacher. But Elisha wanted to stay faithfully with his teacher. That is why she went with him. But before we go to the two prophets, why don’t we consider the significance of this location: Gilgal?
Gilgal is the place where the people of Israel camped after crossing the Jordan River. They crossed over after forty years living in the desert under the human leadership of Moses. They have received the law during this time and learned how to live obedient to God’s commandments. But Moses died before crossing the Jordan River. The people were under the new leadership of Joshua. Immediately after crossing the river, Josué told the people something very important. You have to decide who they are going to serve. Will they serve the gods beyond the Euphrates River, the gods of Egypt, or the God of Israel? Joshua and the other leaders placed huge standing stones, an “Ebenezer,” as symbols of their faithfulness to God.
We can reflect on this question. Who do we worship? To the gods of our pasts or to the only God who is present with us today? Each of us has a past. We have had people and things in life that we loved. Although they were slaves in Egypt, the Hebrews had many good years with abundance and connection to the most impressive empire in all of history. Don’t you think there were people who missed the Egyptian way of life?
Very soon Elías is going to leave the world in a whirlwind and leave Elisha alone. That’s what the sons of the prophets at Bethel said when Elijah and Elisha arrived. The sons of the prophets were mocking Elisha as a faithful disciple. Remind yourself that Elijah was not popular with all the prophets. Several of them always made beards to the king and didn’t really care much about the true word of the Lord.
Do you know that recently “Christian prophets” have been very fashionable? These people make a lot of money selling their books and appearing as special preachers. But many of his predictions have had false results. His false predictions were things that people wanted to hear, but they were not based on any reality. Elijah was not like that. He told the truth that sometimes he was against the king and against false prophets. That’s why their sons were mocking Elisha as a threat, and all of this happened at Bethel, stop two of Elijah’s passion.
Bethel is quite an interesting location. “Bethel” means “the house of God.” It is where Abraham praised the Lord and built a holy site. Abraham is the godfather of every believer because God chose him to be a blessing to the whole world. Abraham was great but he was not perfect. He made very big mistakes. Abraham pretended that his wife Sarah was his sister in Egypt to avoid persecution. All of this happened after God promised that Sarah was going to have a baby! God removed and saved them from Egypt. Again with God’s promise and protection Abraham praised God at … Bethel a second time.
Finally Abraham and Sarah did have a son named Isaac, which name means to laugh. Isaac’s youngest son was James. Jacobo was a tremendous child, some called him “scoundrel” because he had a tremendous capacity to hide. There was a time when he was running out of his troubles and stopped at night precisely at Bethel to sleep. During the night he had a dream of a ladder that extended from earth to heaven with angels going up and down. And in the dream he received the same promise from God that his grandfather Abraham received: to have land and children, and to be a blessing to the whole world.
Remembering all this Elisha the disciple of Elijah knew that God’s blessings are very great and more important than the threats of others. We too must remember God’s unconditional promises. We are saved by the grace of God. That is why we say with Elisha to people who always criticize and mock: be quiet. They do not throw dirt or lies on me: I am a son of Abraham, a son of God, although I deserve or not, God has chosen me and I am saved by his grace. But neither the path nor the passion ends there in Bethel, but continues to Jericho.
In Jericho everything happened the same. There were more sons of corrupt prophets mocking and criticizing Elijah and Elisha. But Jericho brings its own history and symbolism. It was in Jericho a great and prosperous city that God showed his power and choice really rare and strange. God chose a prostitute named Rahab. She is named and remembered in the New Testament as a woman of great faith. When Joshua led the conquest of Jericho it was Rahab who hid the Hebrew spies. And then Rahab gave birth to Boaz who married Ruth and they had Obed who had Jesse who had David the great king. The point of all this is not only that God’s love is unconditional and for everyone, but God has the custom and way of choosing people on the margins of society, people rejected by the world for having essential purposes for God.
Now who are these people today? Who is the person in your life who is on the sidelines that God is going to lift up to a tremendous purpose and position? You have to meet this person! This is what Elisha did with Elijah, be faithful and present with the rejected.
There was only one more stop on earth for the passion and way of Elijah, the Jordan River. When Elijah and Elisha arrived by the river, a group of fifty men approached, sons of the prophets, it was a crowd. We imagine that they were there to ensure that this was Elijah’s last day on earth. But when they were closing in, Elijah folded his mantle, touched the water of the Jordan and parted the waters of the river. The two true prophets crossed on dry land exactly as the people crossed generations before in the opposite direction and another generation before did through the Red Sea of Egypt. This same God who parted the waters at the dawn of creation.
The other night my family and I watched the movie “Aquaman.” I said to my wife, or this is the movie they made for women. She scolded me, saying, no, with such violence this movie is surely for men. In the movie there are supposedly billions and billions of human types who live in the waters far more than on land. The point is that the seas and oceans are vast compared to land. The space we have to live is light and fragile. The planet, the oceans, and the climate God holds like a miracle in front of “gazillions” years of light in all directions. This opportunity to physically live may be the greatest miracle of all! After the Aquaman movie he asked Sheri, Did you like the Aquaman movie? She couldn’t hide her smile and said, yes. We are the same. There is a joy in living in this miracle on earth. Elijah is like the Aquaman controlling the water of the Jordan reminding us of the miracle of creation and escaping the threats of evil people.
But this is not the end. Elías and Eliseo do not hold hands and jump to a paradise without problems. No. Elijah cannot escape his destiny. Just as Jesus could not escape his way to the cross. Although today on the Sunday of the transfiguration we remember the sublime joy of being up on the mountain with Moses and Elijah and feeling energy in the presence of God. No. God said, “Listen to my son.” The son Jesus said, “come down the mountain and come with me to the cross.” And for Elisha the poor disciple in an instant passed the chariots of fire separating him from his beloved teacher and Elijah went in a whirlwind to heaven but not without promising to give his spirit. Jesus also promised us his spirit. Jesus also ascended into heaven. We have the spirit. We have the way. We are the pilgrims. We have the promises. No one disturbs us, no one scares us. We go on the road. Let’s go to the cross. Amen. Amen. Amen.
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