Simply put whether you’re telling a story or singing a song or coining a phrase
—it will be more memorable if it contains groupings of three.
Three things or events or people
are enough to establish a pattern, or break it, or just surprise you in general!
Think of the stereotypical Baptist sermon—Three Points and a Poem.
Or popular slogans:
-Stop, Drop, and Roll,
-Government of the people, by the people, for the people,
-See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Or children’s stories like:
-The Three Little Pigs,
-The Three Bears,
-The Billygoats Gruff
Today’s story of
-Elijah, Elisha, and the Band of Prophets,
-traveling to Bethel, Jericho and then the Jordon
-Elisha refusing to leave Elisha three time
is one of those stories that can stick with us if we let it.
It lulls us into a pattern,
bursts that pattern open at the end,
and leaves us mourning, and blessed, and called
—just like Elisha.
Prayer
--
Dear dreadful despairing Elijah has suffered much,
miraculously survived the ongoing persecution of the faithful in Israel by pagan royalty,
has been a fiery righteous, perhaps even self-righteous, Prophet of the LORD our God.
By the end, he believes himself to be completely alone,
none are faithful save him…
so lonely he could die!
And God responds by saying, “You’re done! Well done! There are others who are faithful, so you are done!”
Elijah then announces to his disciple Elisha, “Stay here, I’m going to a place where God acted on behalf of his people.”
Stay here. You don’t want this life—it is so hard that death seems soft.
Stay here. This path is a guarantee of loneliness.
Stay here. I am the last faithful one.
“I will not leave you!” Elisha responds.
Fine! If he goes he will at least be clear eyed about the challenges
and the hard things that God has asked of the Prophets,
and will surely ask of him, my successor.
So, they go to the place, and there
—a posse of prophets await,
they wait for the only remaining prophet of God.
The many wait for the One.
--
Eager Elisha, Loyal Elisha, Elisha—Elijah’s Shadow.
Plucked from plowing by the old Prophet,
he slaughtered his cattle and made a feast out of ‘em.
He didn’t need them anymore,
not a farmer anymore,
he would devote himself to ministering to Elijah instead.
And Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha, I’m going to a place where God acted on behalf of his people.”
Elisha responded, “I will not leave you!”
I will not, because in your despair, you’ve become curved in on yourself, and I can not leave you alone!
I will not, because you need to make it there, and see these saints, they’re all waiting for you!
I will not, because I need to see that place, know our story, I need to make it my own. Our story is instructive, inspirational, inspiring.
So they go to the place, and there is the cluster of prophets, a crowd waiting for him, the many faithful waiting for the one faithful.
--
They had been gathering,
a host following him by the last trek,
those who had stayed faithful in the face of much resistance and persecution and violence.
“Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the other side, the ultimate example of God acting on behalf of God’s people!”
“As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live yet, I will not leave you!”
And the two of them went, the gathering, now numbering fifty,
stood at a distance as Elijah’s mantle
dissected the water and revealed
dry ground.
On the other side, the two men, had a heart to heart.
“What can I do for you,
before the inevitable happens,
I am taken from you.”
“Give me a double share of your spirit.
What has made you great, may it make me greater still.
Make me faithful
like you were faithful,
like all those prophets of the past were faithful!”
“If you see me as I am taken, you shall receive such faith, if not, you will not.”
And they walked on the way, until horse and chariot and so much flame, separated them.
And Elijah was plucked up to heaven.
And Elisha, eyes peeled wide, watching and shouting said, “Father! Father! Father! Chariots! Horsemen! Of Israel!
And yes, he mourned,
and yes he took up his master’s mantle
and yes he melted the sea before him like Moses back before them all.
He did indeed fit into the flow of the history of those places they visited.
Elijah performed 8 miracles, Elisha 16—truly a double portion.
The best is yet to come, the kid was alright, accompanied by the company of prophets God’s works continued.
--
Stay here. I will not leave you. Look a whole company of prophets!
