Good Morning Friends,
Today’s Gospel passage is about the old way of religion and the new. It is about giving up pride and claiming a dependent faith that makes a way for God’s generosity and a double helping of miracles. The Old Testament passages are each about the parting of waters and help us understand the nature of transitions and how to finish well. You may want to think about them as the opening and closing of a door. The New Testament reading shares the key reality that we must give God the glory. More specifically, when we fast, pray and give we need to be actively engaged in a spiritual discipline. We need to risk and focus and believe God will make a way for the work to be a blessing that honors God. Our prayers, fasting and giving lay the track down on which God’s power can come. So, What Can We Learn About Faith And Leadership In The Parting Of Waters In The Bible?
Scripture: Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
2 Kings 2:1, 6-14 (NRSV)
And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.
Genesis 1:6-7 (NRSV)
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.’ The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
Exodus 14:15-22 (NRSV)
Then Joshua said to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.’ To the priests Joshua said, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on in front of the people.’ So they took up the ark of the covenant and went in front of the people. The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, “When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.” ‘ Joshua then said to the Israelites, ‘Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.’ Joshua said, ‘By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.’ When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing towards the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.
Joshua 3:5-17 (NRSV)
When the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua: ‘Select twelve men from the people, one from each tribe, and command them, “Take twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you camp tonight.” ‘ Then Joshua summoned the twelve men from the Israelites, whom he had appointed, one from each tribe. Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites, so that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, “What do those stones mean to you?” then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial for ever.’
The Israelites did as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there. (Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.)
The priests who bore the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed over in haste. As soon as all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of the Lord, and the priests, crossed over in front of the people. The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the Israelites, as Moses had ordered them. About forty thousand armed for war crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle. On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life. The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant to come up out of the Jordan.’ Joshua therefore commanded the priests, ‘Come up out of the Jordan.’ When the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.
Joshua 4:1-18 (NRSV)
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 (NRSV)
Message: We all go through times of change that tend to humble us. The reality is that in a hundred years what we have accomplished in our lives will have been forgotten by people. Even today we confuse Elisha and Elijah and they are in the Bible. The reality is that most of us could not list three accomplishments of James Polk and he was a President of the United States. Regardless, transition of leadership is typically hard, but in God’s timing it is less important than our egos might lead us to believe. Thankfully we can face it bravely and powerfully with God’s help. So, this morning, as we explore the answer to today’s question about the parting of waters, in the Bible, I am also asking you to pay attention to the transitions occurring in our lives and the grace God provides in them. Some of them are minor and some major. But there is a lesson here for us to learn. You see, the transition in leadership from Elijah to Elisha reminds us to pay attention to these times in our lives, to seek the Holy Spirit’s filling, and to bravely take up the task given us. So here is the countdown of the five times in Bible when waters were parted. Meditate on them. The first is God in the creation of the world
recounted in
Genesis 1:6-7 and the separation of the water and the land.
The second is the parting of the Red Sea by Moses recounted in Exodus 14:15-22. The third time was when Joshua and the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land recounted in Joshua 3:5-17 through 4:1-18. And the final two times were when Elijah and Elisha in today’s scripture share in the miracle. But even as we contemplate these miracles of passage and even chariots of fire, I for one am thinking about our parting of ways from this life to the next and the reality that this is the transition that really matters more than all the rest.
And So, we are to remember what God has done in the past to give us greater confidence in the active presence of God in our lives now making a way for us into a future. We are to use the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and giving to facilitate the miracle of our participation in Holy History of glorifying God in preparation for an eternity that begins now. We are to believe.
Pray we are not hypocrites.
Pray Lord, we ask you to help us when we face transitions in life. Pray Lord, that we acknowledge that we do not always embrace change well and need your help. Pray we are filled by you Jesus with your Holy Spirit. Pray we accept God’s grace. Pray we accept the help God provides us, and we embrace the changes and transitions of life we face. Pray we take up the assignments God give us, knowing God will honor us through our obedience. Pray we realize that Jesus, faced the greatest transition of the cross, and grave and resurrection so that he might provide a way for us to heaven. Pray we receive God’s strength to transition well. Pray we receive the reward of a relationship with God. Pray we remember God every time we walk through a door. Pray we rejoice when God parts the waters and makes a way for us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 