"The Mantle and the Question" (July 26, 2026 Sermon)

Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

Text: 2 Kings 2:1-15

Someone leaves, and the room gets quiet in a way you can feel in your chest. We start with prayer and a reading from 2 Kings 2:1–15, then step into the story of Elijah and Elisha as it becomes a mirror for real life: mentors who shaped us, loved ones who “loved us into being,” and the hard truth that goodbyes still come even when we are not ready. We pause to remember someone we miss, because grief is not a problem to solve, it’s a reality to tell the truth about. 

From there, we follow Elisha through a season of spiritual transition. He refuses to be left behind, asks for a double share of Elijah’s spirit, and then faces the moment so many of us fear: the mantle is in your hands now. The Jordan stands in front of him, and when he strikes the water the first time, nothing happens. That detail matters. It captures the doubt, frustration, and “what now?” feeling that can hit after a funeral, after a leadership change, or in any liminal season where you’re trying to carry forward what someone taught you. 

The turning point is a single question that reframes everything. Elisha doesn’t ultimately ask, “Where is Elijah?” He asks, “Where is the Lord?” We talk about why that shift moves us from the past into discernment, and how it helps a church in transition and individuals who are learning to live with both grief and gratitude. If you’re navigating change, loss, or a new responsibility, press play and walk with us. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your answer: where do you see God moving right now?

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Transcript

Prayer For Illumination

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Our prayer for our illumination. Spirit of life, we do not know how to pray as we ought. Meet us in words written, in words spoken. Intercede for us with sighs too deep for words until we shine with the hope that is hidden in our hearts. For we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Scripture Reading From 2 Kings

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Our scriptural reading today comes from 2 Kings chapter 2, verses 1 through 15. Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you? And he said, Yes, I know. Keep silent. Elijah said to him, Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you? He answered, Yes, I know, keep silent. Then Elijah said to him, Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jor to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives, and as you live 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 one side and to the other, and 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 taking 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. He said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Where is he? He struck the water again, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha crossed over. When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. Holy word, holy wisdom. Thanks be to God.

Why We’re Going Off Script

SPEAKER_00 4:20

So, friends, a few weeks ago when I was with y'all last, I had a sermon where I ditched the manuscripts and came out and talked a little bit more off the cuff. And I was a little bit surprised at the positive encouragement that I got from people asking me to do it again. I don't know if that means I'm just really bad at what I'm doing in there. I trust that's not the case, but um be careful what you ask for. I thought I would do it again uh again today. Friends, let us pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. So the last time we were together, it was towards the end of 1 Kings, and Elijah, not to be confused with Elisha today, Elijah had just had that big epic showdown with the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, and then had uh fled because fled the scene because Ahab, King Ahab and Jezebel were not very happy because of that. Uh and then we had that moment where God found Elijah. Uh there was the whirlwind, but God wasn't in the whirlwind and the fire, but not in the fire. Um, and then God came to Elijah in what? Do we remember? Came in the silence, right? Came in the silence and said, Elijah, take a nap, get a snack, go back to work, and I want you to call another prophet, Elisha, to take over once your ministry has concluded. And that's where we pick up today in the book of 2 Kings.

Remembering Those We Miss

SPEAKER_00 6:01

But before we get going, I want you all, I'm gonna invite you all to do an exercise with me. I want you to think about someone who you love and loved dearly, who is no longer with us. Someone who, as Mr. Rogers would say, loved you into being, someone who taught you a lot, someone who's no longer with us that maybe you you wish you could get their advice for these days. I want us to spend 30 seconds in silence together. And I want you to think about who that person is for you. You don't have to, but if you would like to raise that up with me on the count of three, let's do that. One, two, three. John. Now I would love to know if any of you would like to share just in a word what emotion you're feeling right now thinking about that person. Anyone just want to say out loud what they're feeling right now in a word? Peaceful, sadness, gratitude, light, appreciation, pride, happy. Those are some pretty different emotions right there. And I thought that would be the case because I wanted us to get into the mindset of maybe what Elisha was feeling as he was getting ready to say goodbye

Elijah’s Farewell And Elisha’s Ask

SPEAKER_00 8:27

to his mentor, Elijah. He knew that the time was coming, and Elisha and Elisha go on this bit of a tour, and all along the way, prop other prophets are kind of trailing along. We don't know what their names are, and they keep on going up to Elisha, saying, Elisha, do you know that it is time for Elijah to go? And Elisha says, Yes, I know, be quiet. That's the Stephen Fearing paraphrase of the of the passage. You can kind of hear the sadness in his voice. He's like, Yes, yes, I know that it's it's it's time to say goodbye, but I'm not ready yet. I think we all know that feeling when we know that a goodbye is is coming and we don't want it to come. And so Elisha and Elisha take this stroll and they eventually come to the banks of the Jordan River, and Elisha, I think, knows that this goodbye cannot be put off any longer. And Elisha says to Elisha, What is it that you you want from me? Kind of similar to what God asked of King Solomon back in 1 Kings. And Elisha says to Elisha, I want a double portion of your ruach, your breath, your spirits. It's the same same word that's used in the Bible for God's spirit that hovered over the waters of creation. Elisha basically says to Elijah, Whatever juice God gave you, I want some of that. And then I want even more of that. It's a bold ask, but a wise one. Kind of similar to what Solomon said to God. Remember, God said, What do you want me to do for you? And Solomon said, I want you to give me a lev shome, a listening heart. Well, Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, and Elijah doesn't give an easy yes. He kind of is like, Well, that's a good thing to ask for. God gave it to me, so it's not exactly mine to give to you, but if you see me go up into heaven, then I think it worked. It's kind of what Elijah says to Elisha. And then Elijah takes off his mantle, and then on the banks of the Jordan River, kind of slaps it like a pool, like a toddler does a pool noodle in a pool, you know? And the waters parts and they walk across, of course, envisioning, uh making us remember what other story in the Bible? The parting of the Red Sea, right? So Elijah and Elisha go across once the waters are parted, and Elijah's mantle falls as he is raised up into heaven. Now, what took Elijah up into heaven? A chariot? False! Actually, if you read the text carefully, it does not say that Elijah was in the chariot. Sorry to ruin that for everybody. Uh, but it actually says that Elijah was raised up into heaven and that a chariot and a fire stood between Elisha and Elijah. Does that really matter? No, I just wanted to ruin it for everybody. But at any rate, Elijah gets this incredible heavenly send-off that even Moses himself didn't get. And as the uh chariot disappears and as Elijah disappears up into heaven, we get this really emotional scene where Elisha cries out, uh, Father, Father, as Elijah is disappearing. Now the text is a little bit unclear whether he's referring to God as father or as Elijah, as father, to show how much he meant to him. But regardless, it's clear that in that moment of transition and change, that Elisha is is mourning the departure of somebody that meant so very much to him. And then there's silence. We all know what that silence feels like after we say goodbye to a loved one or a mentor. And

The Mantle Moment When Nothing Happens

SPEAKER_00 12:33

there's that kind of okay, what now moment. And so he picks up Elijah's mantle, which I suppose he realizes is his now. And then this is a detail in the text that I think I have overlooked in previous times that I've preached on this passage. It's very easy to overlook, but if we read it carefully, he is now on the opposite side of the Jordan River, and he needs to get back the way that he came from. And ostensibly the water has unparted itself, so he needs to do it again. So he takes the mantle that is now his, he slaps the water, and what happens? Nothing, right? Nothing. If you read it carefully, he has to do it twice. The first time he slaps the mantle down and nothing happens. How many of you know that moment when all of a sudden the mantle has been passed on to you and you step into whatever that that person has trained you to do, and you do it, and it just goes, nothing, right? You know, I I I just got back from a hymn writing conference in Princeton, New Jersey, that I go to every year, and I think often about a mentor of mine, an Elijah of mine, if you will, Michael Morgan, who taught me how to write hymns who is who died about three, four years ago. And this past week I kind of went back and looked at the hymns that I've written over the past 10 years and separating the wheat from the chaff. And some of them are good, some of them are terrible. They really, really are. And we'll never see the light of day, and it's probably for the best. But we all know what it's like when all of a sudden you realize, okay, this is now my job to carry the mantle on, and it fails that first time. So Elisha slaps the water and nothing happens. And then what does Elisha, excuse me, Elisha? I knew I was going to do that, no matter how much I tried to not get them confused. Where is God? Right? In that moment of failure. Is it failure? I don't know. I don't think he did anything wrong, but in that moment of frustration and disappointment, he says, Where is God? And then he slaps the mantle again, and then what happens? Then it parts, and he walks back down.

The Question That Guides Transition

SPEAKER_00 14:54

So, what I want to leave us with today is that question, because in that moment when somebody has departed who taught us so much about the love of God and justice and kindness, it can be tempting to ask the question well, where are they? Where is fill in the blank for whatever saint among us that we miss dearly is no longer with us? It's tempting to ask that question. And it's good to remember the people that loved us into being. That's why I started off the sermon in this way. But Elisha doesn't ask, where is Elijah? That's a past, that's a question that looks to the past. He instead asks, where is God? Where is God now? Where is God leading me now? And I think that's the question that Elijah from heaven is saying, Yes. Don't ask where I am. Ask where God is. This church is in a time of transition. We've said goodbye to some really amazing pillars of this church. We are a church that's in times of transition, and then individually, I know many of you that are in these kind of liminal moments where you've said goodbye to those that we that you have loved. And so what I want to lift up for us today is to know that it is okay to be sad. It is okay to grieve, it is okay to show gratitude for those who have left us and those people, whoever they are, are cheering us from heaven, saying, Ask the right question. Don't ask about us. Ask about how God is moving here and now. So together, as the mantle has been passed on to all of us, let us, like Elisha, ask that

Final Charge And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_00 16:38

question continually in our grief and our gratitude where is God? Because, friends, God is on both sides of the Jordan as we cross it again. In the name of God, the creator, redeemer, and sustainer, may all of us, God's beloved children, say. Amen.