Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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?’”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, November 5, 2018
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
Just recently my wife successfully interviewed for a new job. It’s with the same company she’s worked for over the past six years. She’s very much excited for the opportunities it’s going to bring for her and our family.
Still, on the last day of her old job I called her up and asked her, “How are you feeling?”
“What do you mean?” she said.
“Well it’s your last day at work, you’ll be passing on your duties to someone else and you’ll be tackling new problems at your new job.”
She sat silent on her phone for a moment, then said, “I’m mixed. I’m excited about the new, but there’s always something about passing along the mantle to the next person that makes it . . . bittersweet.”
One wonders if passing along the mantle of power was bittersweet for Elijab. Still, through it all, the promise that God would be with God’s people is valid and consistent.
Narrative Lectionary Daily Reading:
2 Kings 2:13-18
Elisha Succeeds Elijah
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.
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. They said to him, ‘See now, we have fifty strong men among your servants; please let them go and seek your master; it may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and thrown him down on some mountain or into some valley.’ He responded, ‘No, do not send them.’ But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, ‘Send them.’ So they sent fifty men who searched for three days but did not find him. When they came back to him (he had remained at Jericho), he said to them, ‘Did I not say to you, Do not go?’
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