A Few Thoughts on Obedience and Discipleship

One of the many things I love about the Revised Common Lectionary is the way the chosen pericopes of Scripture speak to one another, illuminating the texts with insights and “aha!”s we may not have previously seen or focused on. This week early in the season of Pentecost (Year C 2022) is a prime example, where we find insights into obedience and discipleship from Elijah and Elisha, Paul, Jesus’ teaching, and David’s poetic prayers.

Note: This blog entry is expanded from my sidebar annotations for the liturgy for Proper 8C (Pentecost 3C 2022). If you regularly access and use the posted liturgies in the Liturgy Folio, you’ll know that I always include similar comments and observations for each week. If not, I encourage you to check it out! And if you are reading this post during the season of Pentecost, Year C, you can find the sample liturgy for Proper 8C here, in the Liturgy Folio.

This week the lectionary invites us to consider the ways in which God teaches us and, once we have learned the lessons He has for us, what He then requires of us.

The Old Testament narrative in 1 Kings takes up the story where it left off last week: Elijah has fled for safety to Mt. Horeb, where after his encounter with God, he is instructed to “Go, return on your way…” Not only encouraged and rested, but recharged, Elijah is given tasks, including to call and anoint Elisha as prophet in his place. In the remaining chapters of 1 Kings we see the context for Elisha’s training. Then, in 2 Kings 2, we read the dramatic account of Elijah being taken up in a chariot of fire and horses, and in a whirlwind, into heaven. But Elisha’s training is not yet complete: In order to receive the “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit that he has requested, he must see Elijah as he is taken up—really see, continuing to watch and not shrinking away from the sight of the chariots and horses of fire, and perceive the moment the space between earth and the heavenly places thins to nothing. At this point, Elisha is ready to assume the mantle of Elijah.

We may view the passage in Galatians in a similar light: Paul exhorts us that Christ has called us to freedom, but that freedom is not merely for our own benefit: it is an opportunity, an enabling, and a responsibility to serve one another. Therefore we must turn away from the works of the flesh and allow the fruit of the Spirit to flourish in us (individually and communally). And in Luke’s gospel, we read of Christ teaching His disciples about the costs and responsibilities of discipleship. These include this requirement, seemingly simple but surprisingly difficult in practice: As tempting, perhaps even natural, as it is for us to expect God to accommodate His call on our lives to our assumptions of what following Christ should look like, the inverse is actually more beneficial and blessed. Jesus tells us we must give up our expectations about a life of discipleship, and conform our desires to His call, allowing Him to unfold His plan for our lives and trustingly follow in the steps He lays out and models for us.

In each of these examples and lessons, all these protagonists—and we along with them—can say with the psalmist, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a beautiful inheritance. . . . In Your presence is fullness of joy!”

One additional note about the wonderful painting, the title of which may be rendered in English as "Elijah carried up into Heaven" (or more literally, "the Ascension of Elijah"), by the Dutch artist David Colijns (1627):  Most depictions of the prophet being taken up into heaven by the chariots and horses of fire show Elijah turning back and downwards toward Elisha, as his mantle falls from the sky into the arms of the waiting disciple. What is especially arresting about this painting is the posture of Elijah. He is completely focused on his destination, arms stretched out in a gesture resembling worship, eager to be face to face with his Lord.  What an amazing final mentoring lesson this image leaves for the one who now inherits a double portion of Elijah's spirit, and for Elisha to continue to contemplate as he walks out his calling! And what a sweet resonnance with the psalmist's declaration, "In Your presence is fullness of joy!"
 

     Revised Common Lectionary, Proper 8C:
        2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
        Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
        1 Kings 19:15-16
        Psalm 16
        Galatians 5:1, 13-25
        Luke 9:51-62

Image credit: David Colijns, De hemelvaart van Elia (Detail) Rihksmuseum, 1627. Wikimedia Commons.

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