Over the summer we’ve been thinking about encounters with Jesus, the places that those encounters happened, and why the place was important to the encounter. We’ve met Jesus at the pool, on the beach, in a graveyard and at the Temple. Do catch up on the podcast, Youtube or Facebook if you missed any of them. This week, though, is a bit different. This week we meet Jesus on the road. He’s on a journey, and that is significant for the encounter that he has. In our Old Testament reading we met someone else who was on a journey, one of God’s messengers to God’s people, the prophet Elijah.
So, let’s think about journeys. This morning we’re going to explore different aspects of journeys, and see what insights these journeys of Elijah and Jesus might give us into our own journey.
These are: Where we’ve come from, who we travel with, who we meet on the way, where we are now, where we are going.
So, firstly. Where we’ve come from:
Where had Elijah come from? We first meet Elijah in 1 Kings 17, when we are told that he is “Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead.” At that point he is bringing a message from God to King Ahab that there would be a drought in the land because of the evil he was doing. As we go through 1 Kings, we find Elijah in conflict with the royal family again and again because he insists on challenging their idolatry and evil practices. He had made many enemies, and had his life threatened. In the chapter before the one we just read, we read of his final conflict with a King, before God calls him to begin this journey towards the end of his life on earth.
What about Jesus, where had he come from? We know a lot more about his origins, and something about his early childhood. He was born in Bethlehem, in fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies, but grow up in Nazareth, and so was known as a Nazarene. Since the age of 30, he has been travelling around, teaching and showing signs of the Kingdom of God. He, too, had provoked conflict with his challenges to the religious rulers of the time, prompting some to seek his life. This particular journey, through Jericho, however, began in Mark chapter 8. Here we find Jesus asking the question “who do the people say I am” – and some say Elijah, or John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. But Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” It is at this point that Jesus starts teaching them about his coming death on the cross, and begins his journey towards Jerusalem, the way of the cross.
Who we travel with:
Elijah was travelling with his young disciple, Elisha. In 1 Kings 19, we read that God had sent Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor. Since then Elisha had been travelling with Elijah, learning from him, seeing how he did things. In what we read today we discover that Elisha wasn’t easy to shake off, was committed to his master, and kept going with him, even after Elijah told him to wait. His reward for this was to see Elijah carried up into heaven, and to receive a double portion of his spirit.
Jesus was travelling with his disciples as well. He had chosen and called them to follow him and learn from him, which they had done. However, as we follow the journey through Mark from chapter 9, we find time and time again that his disciples don’t get it. They don’t understand what he means about the cross, they try and send the little children away, they fight over who is the most important. They are not great company for Jesus.
Who we meet:
Elijah met various groups of prophets in different towns. We read about the group from Jericho, but before that there had been a group in Bethel. They had the same encouraging question for Elisha – “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?” Cheery. But no matter, neither Elisha nor Elijah are put off from the journey by these questions.
Jesus meets Bartimaeus, the blind man. Jesus has been travelling with his friends, who can’t see what’s going on, and meets a blind man who can, who calls him “Jesus, Son of David.” Bartimaeus recognises Jesus as God’s chosen one, the heir of the promise of God to David to put one of his descendents on the throne.
Bartimaeus is rewarded for his insight by being asked the same question by Jesus that Elijah asked Elisha.
“What can I do for you?”
Bartimaeus asks that he may see. He can already see spiritually, and now he wants to see physically. He receives his healing, and follows Jesus on the journey.
Where we are now?
This one doesn’t apply so much to the Elijah story, as that takes in the whole of a journey, rather than a particular stage in it, so I’m not going to try and shoe horn it in, but move straight on to Jesus.
Jesus paid attention to where he was on the journey. He wasn’t looking back over his shoulder to where he’d come from. He wasn’t so focussed on where he was going that he couldn’t notice what has happening where he was. He heard Bartimaeus call over the noise of the crowd. He wasn’t so intent on getting where he was going that he couldn’t take time to stop and help someone who needed it.
Where we are going.
Elijah knew where he was going. At the beginning of chapter 2, in verse 1 we read:
“When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind….”
Elijah knew what the end point of his journey was – he was going to be taken up to heaven by God. He doesn’t seem to have been afraid of this destination – and he kept it in mind as he travelled this final journey with his friend, refusing to be distracted by the questions of others. He had the end in mind. It was this mode of departure that contributed to the idea that one day Elijah would return to rescue God’s people – it was one of the reasons people thought Jesus might be Elijah returned.
Elisha knew that his master’s journey had come to an end, and it was his turn to carry the baton. The prophets insisted on going to look for Elijah, but Elisha knew it was pointless. God had taken Elijah up to heaven, and now it was his turn.
Jesus knew where he was going. He was going to Jerusalem, to his death on the cross. He’d been trying to explain this to his disciples, but they hadn’t got it. Jesus knew that this wouldn’t be the end of the journey, that the cross itself was only another step on it. He knew he would return again, and commissioned his disciples to carry on his work when he returned to heaven. When he ascended, no chariot this time, it was his disciples, still confused, who had to told by the angels to stop looking for him, but to return to Jerusalem to wait for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit.
So, what about us?
Where we’ve come from. Looking back to where we’ve come from can bring a variety of emotions- some glad, some painful, some of regret. Our past can be a source of stories of what God has done for us, or be made up of memories that need healing. It is part of us, but doesn’t need to define us, by God’s grace we can journey on.
Who we travel with. It is good to travel with others, friends we can share with, mentors we can learn from, others we might be able to teach and encourage.
Who we meet on the way. Some people we meet on the way might discourage us. Others will teach us things about ourselves we never knew, and will become people we travel with. Let’s be open and wise in our meetings with others.
Where we are now. Let’s be attentive to the place we are now, not overshadowed by the past or hastening towards the future, but choosing each day to be present to ourselves, to God, and to each other in the present moment.
Where we are going. In the end our journeys through this life will end. Where are we going to end up? Elijah and Jesus both knew that there destination was heaven, with God in all eternity. Jesus walked a painful path there, for us, so that the path could be opened up for us, so that we could have the same confidence that Elijah and Jesus had. Will we choose to follow Jesus way, so that we end up at Jesus’ destination?
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