Sunday next before Lent – evening
Sunday 23rd February 2020
1 before Lent – evening
2 Kings 2. 1-12
Matthew 17. 9-23
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
A Roman Catholic Priest, a Vicar and a Rabbit walked into a bar – and the third one said, “I think I may be a typo!” that was a ‘joke’ circulating on Social Media this week – so apologies for inflicting it on you, but it goes to prove the Rule of Three.
It is a device often used in jokes and fairy stories and literature of all kinds that help something to be more memorable. Because for some reason, our attention is grabbed when we are given three characters to remember or things are repeated three times. Think of Goldilocks and the three bears, or the Norwegian story of the three Billy Goats gruff, or the three little pigs – or even Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley; or for those a little older, Just William, Ginger and Violet Elizabeth Bott!
This evening’s reading from the 2nd book of Kings also employs a similar device. Three times the memorable phrase occurs in the dialogue between Elisha and Elijah. Elisha says: “as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” – We might also remember the scene on the beach after the crucifixion when the risen Christ asks Peter three times to Feed or tend his Sheep and Lambs.
But the story of Elisha and Elijah has another element that links it to fantasy and fairy stories: an apparently ordinary object which actually has magical powers. In this story it is the mantle or cloak. Elijah uses it to clear a path through the River Jordan – perhaps thinking also back to Moses and his staff.
But this story has a yet more fantastical element – a chariot of fire and horses of fire that appear suddenly and whisk Elijah off to heaven, leaving Elisha literally to pick up his cloak. Will it work for him? Well, it does, because he comes to the banks of the River, strikes it with his cloak and the waters obediently divide to left and right, so that he may pass through.
It is a story that remains embedded in everyday speech – although you may not have thought of it! How often have you heard a pundit on the TV talk about the new manager of a football team having to take on the mantle of a previously successful manager? Putting on that mantle has implications about exercising leadership in such a way that the great traditions of the club will be respected and even enhanced. But putting on the mantle also conveys something of the weight of responsibility that it may carry too. Suddenly the magic of the mantle has disappeared (there is no further mention of it in any of the further stories of Elisha and his ministry) and a new leader has to search his or her own resources in order to cope and thrive.
So, what cloak has ever been put around your shoulders? By whom? For what purpose? Such questions are easier to pose than to answer, but for sure, as disciples of Christ in our generation, we might expect that the mantle of discipleship has indeed been placed on our shoulders. If we became his disciples at our own baptism, and from then on it is likely we have been nurtured and challenged in our discipleship by older people who themselves were wearing the cloak of faith that had been passed on to them by their forebears. And now it is our turn….
We may often feel quite inadequate to the task – that is just as normal for me as it may be for you. Sometimes we jib at putting on the cloak. We might be very reluctant to do so. We might not want the responsibility. But if not us, who? If not now, when? – as has become a popular catchphrase.
No one is suggesting that the cloak is easy to wear and we may feel that it does not fit us perfectly. But it has been handed to us, and so we need to pray for grace and strength that we may have the courage and resilience to wear the cloak with confidence, and with the assurance that our risen Lord walks with us, sharing the task with us, holding us up, when the responsibility feels altogether too much to bear and knowing that nothing, not even our failures, can separate us from his love and compassion.
To wear that kind of cloak is certainly a responsibility, but it is also a very beautiful and life-enriching gift. Amen.