Yes, I Know! Quit Talking about It!

Transfiguration Sunday, Year B

Lectionary Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-12 (NRSV)

I've always felt sorry for Elisha in this passage.  He knows that his time with his master, Elijah, is short.  He remains with him even after Elijah tries to give him an excuse not to go along.

The other prophets come to them and try to let Elisha know that Elijah is about to leave him.

Elisha responds, "Yes, I know; be silent."

Of course, punctuation was added later and I wonder if the original author would have used an exclamation mark instead of a period at the end of that sentence.  I imagine Elisha being a little snippy with them because he has to later repeat himself.

Elijah seems to be going to two locations to visit with the local guild of prophets in Bethel and Jericho.

Elisha responds in the same way both times.

When we know our end with someone is coming, sometimes we prefer not to talk about it.  This has somewhat to do with denial as a stage of grief.  

If I don't talk about it...

If I don't acknowledge it...

Sometimes avoidance is a coping mechanism.  I've seen people clam up about serious illnesses.  They prefer not to think about it.  We all use avoidance once in a while.

You can only avoid some things
for so long before they pile up!

But Elisha doesn't stay away from Elijah's final ascension into heaven.  The thought in that day was that if you approached God too closely - if you gazed upon the face of God - you would die.  Elijah may have been trying to protect his protégé when he told him to stay put in Gilgal and again in Jericho.  

In fact, when Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, we see that Elijah's answer depended on whether or not Elisha would see him taken up.  What may have been unspoken here, is that if it kills you Elisha, you won't receive a double portion!

So even as Elisha doesn't want to talk about his mentor's departure, he stays connected to him.  He avoids it and yet he confronts it.  

Could it be that remaining in the faith helps us to stay connected?  That it helps us to confront those things that trouble us like grief and loss?

We'll continue to look at this passage on Sunday as we worship online together.  I hope you'll join us!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by bandita via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.