Bible Reading 4 Kings 2:6-11 and commentary

Many in the faith have a vague recollection of the "Bible story" of the Prophet Elias, remembering him because he is the one who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. But there are some details to this miraculous historical event that also help in strengthening faith and understanding. Here they are.



And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as the Jordan. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on together, and fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and stood in sight at a distance; but they two stood by the Jordan.



Elias (Elijah), one of the greatest of prophets, knew that it was his time to be called to God. This was not an illness or old age, but Elijah knew that God was going to summon him directly to heaven. And so he is walking in that expectation with his companion Eliseus, whom he had consecrated as a priest and prophet (3 Kings 19). So Elijah is telling Eliseus that it is time for Elijah to depart, telling him that he they should split at the Jordan while Elijah continues on, but Eliseus refuses to leave him. And by the way, there fifty "sons of the prophets" (also holy men) following. Everyone knew something important was going to happen, and no one wanted to leave, and they certainly did not want Elijah to depart.



In addition to understanding the mighty devotion among all the prophets who serve God, there is another insight that can be gleaned. Once again, you see evidence that the Bible is very literal in its events. There are fifty witnesses to Elijah trying to leave them, having been summoned by God. People who just write mythologies and stories don't add details of fifty witness and THEN have the witnesses not see the actual departure! So a large group followed and stayed in visual sight of the two prophets as they talked and to the Jordan walked.



And Elias took his mantle and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over on dry ground.



Elijah therefore performs a miracle to get the two men away from the following crowd. He takes his mantle (a cloth worn as a cape) and "folded it together," meaning he took the cloth, folded it repeatedly until it was narrow and long like a staff. He uses the staff to strike the waters and the waters pulled back to allow a clear and dry path for the two men to cross the river. Thus the group of fifty men could not follow, and add their voices of concern to get Elijah to stay with them.



And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken from thee.



Elijah is now making it clear that he will be taken from Eliseus at that spot. So Elijah asks what he can do for Eliseus, who is to be his successor as prophet.



And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit.



Bible commentary usually interpret this to mean that Eliseus was asking for "double the power" that Elijah himself had. But this is not exactly accurate. Eliseus is not looking to be "better" or "more" than Elijah. He was asking that Elijah's abilities be added to his own God given abilities, and so that "in me" may be thy "double spirit," thus Elijah's prophetic ability added to Eliseus's forthcoming own prophetic ability. It's not a power thing, but rather, each prophet has a unique calling and gift/relationship with God. Eliseus in his caution wanted to ensure that he retained within him all the prophetic gifts of Elijah, lest his own gifts to be not cover all the eventualities that Elijah's would have. See, this is an important insight about how prophets are different. They are not looking for "double power." They fear not being able to do something that the Lord someday might require of them. To put it in Christian terms, Eliseus wanted to make sure he could perform all of Elijah's charisms if need be, in addition to the charisms he would be granted.



And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked; but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it.



Ah ha! Elijah immediately kicked that request "upstairs to God," since only God can grant the ability and the extent (the charisms) of prophecy. This should never be misread as a discussion of "magic." It is absolutely not. Elijah immediately understood the caution behind Eliseus' request, but nothing like that had ever been done before in the relationship of prophets to God. They certainly cannot "pass their power from one to the other," to use a "magic" concept. Basically Eliseus was asking Elijah to ask God to give him Elijah's span and capability of prophecy. And so Elijah immediately knew that Eliseus had asked for a "hard" (as in monumental responsibility, not as in difficulty for God to grant), thing, since Elijah had no way of knowing if this is what God would want, and only God could do this. So in the way of a prophet's unspoken communion with God, Elijah knew that if God granted this request, he would allow Eliseus to see the departure of Elijah as a sign that his wish for Elijah's span of prophetic capability was granted.



And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.



And so Elijah is taken up to heaven and because Eliseus sees it, he knows that God has acknowledged his request and given him the span of prophetic ability of Elijah's.



Now here is the most important lesson, besides the lesson that the prophets all carried a burden of caring for each other, but more importantly that they have all that they need in order to serve God (and thus Eliseus asked for selfless reasons for the double prophet spirit with Elijah's share). Many people read the Bible and just assume that God was going to send the horses and chariot all along. In other words, people ascribe significance to God sending a horses and a chariot for Elijah. But suppose that Eliseus had not been there, or had not made the request? God very well might have simply levitated Elijah to heaven. In other words, there is NO significance to the chariot and horses other than the fact they are visible, and they convey great status and respect for the occupant to the viewer. The chariot and horses were not so much for Elijah, who would have been in bliss with a simple levitation, or his body becoming instantly glorified so it can reside in heaven. The chariot and horses were for Eliseus, the successor to Elijah, to see as his sign that his request is answered.



See, a lot of humans apply kind of symbolism and pagan assumptions when they read scripture, and then jump to conclusions and miss really reading every word of what happens in sequence. And so modern people tend to apply symbolism to the chariot and horses, missing the whole point that there is symbolism alright: but it is the symbolism that God let Elijah know that if his leaving was "visible" that Eliseus' request was granted. So God sent a chariot and horses in the whirlwind to be the visible sign for Eliseus' answer from God. Since God was making a visible unmistakable reply to Eliseus, he sent a image (chariot and horses) that unmistakably represented honor and power, in this case, prophetic power.



I hope this helps in your seeing another example of how to not miss or misunderstand any of the subtle and important goodness and sweetness that is in the scriptures.

Spiritual director: Topic- aridity, dark night of soul

People continue to discuss the decades long, extensive spiritual aridity experienced by Mother Theresa of Calcutta as revealed in her recently published letters. I’ve blogged on this before, pointing out that prayer life and communion with God requires time and, yes, leisure, lest it be stifled by a one hundred percent absorption in the suffering of humanity. People say they want to be like Jesus, yet forget that he spent a rich amount of his time in prayer, teaching and ministry to those other than the most afflicted. Like compassion fatigue, experienced by social workers, law enforcement, rescue workers and so forth, one cannot and should not think they are able to be 100 percent immersed in the deepest suffering of humanity. A wise, loving and concerned spiritual director (as I am) would gently help such a person to explore their real motivations to relentlessly immerse in the most unmitigated suffering at the total expense of some of the spiritual compensations of the pleasure of life. It is almost like trying to “out do Jesus Christ at being Jesus Christ.” Even the great Prophets of old did not spend 100 percent of their time screaming at and cursing out the incredibly vile sinners of the day. They prophesied when ordered to by God, but also spent time being husbands, fathers and members of their community and enjoying the extent of life so much as the circumstances of the time allowed. I myself tire of what seems like the constant scolding I seem to be delivering in my blogs. While they take only a small percentage of my actual average day’s time, they take a vast amount of my spiritual resources, which could be spent teaching and preaching the love of the Lord and the attendant mysteries and joys. However, when there is exceptional risk of the direst consequences, as there are nowadays, after decades of people who should have known better who soft shoe the consequences of depravity and sin, then one finds oneself shouting quite a bit. So Mother Theresa was sucked into the quagmire of 100 percent immersion in the deepest suffering of humankind. As spiritual director to her I would have questioned why she felt that she was superhuman in that regard.

Today, though, I want to advise my readers about another reason for her spiritual aridity and indeed for the often quoted “dark nights of the soul” that certain saints documented. First, remember, that just because someone is a saint does not mean they never made a mistake and that their example is 100 percent accurate to follow. Christians who seek to be holy-and who seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ-are vulnerable to a particular temptation. They frequently fall into the temptation of not only expecting an “answer” from Jesus (a sign, dialogue, or better yet, a miracle) but they fall into the temptation of trying to force or trigger a dialogue. Now I’m saying this kindly, but with concern because people do not realize they are doing this. Temptation is always a very subtle thing, and it is often wrapped in the garb of “good intentions” and “spirituality.” Everyone knows that the devil is the master of warping and twisting good intentions. But people are quite good at doing it all on their own, and it all comes back to that problem of pride instead of humility. For example, most Muslims I know would never dream of hoping to “hear” from Allah when they pray. It has become a peculiarly Christian temptation to expect a personal relationship and dialogue with Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Catholics seem to suffer from it because of their understandable joy in reading about the lives of saints who did receive communion of communication with the Lord. Evangelicals Protestants, Pentecostals, and certain denominations suffer from it when they have an expectation of dialogue based on acceptance of Jesus (and or the Holy Spirit) into their lives. Someone who is in your life talks to you, no, especially if you have dedicated your life to Jesus? So there is an unreasonable expectation by many Christians that they will have communication interaction with the Lord. They then miss where there is the true communion with God, which does not take the form they may expect. I think the passage from the Bible I have to most frequently remind people of is this one:

The He said [to Elijah], “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind was an earthquake: but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire: but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. .. Then the Lord said to him… (1 Kings 11-12, 15).

Even to Elijah the Lord spoke to him in “a still small voice.” Conversation, in general, cannot be had with the Lord, and it certainly cannot be cajoled or forced. Focusing on expectations of the grand certainty of messages from God causes one to miss the still small voice when it does occur. One expects being slain in the spirit, or a clear sign from God, or Jesus’ voice in one’s head or a miracle (wind, earthquake, or fire) and then misses the still small voice that is the authentic communion with the Lord.

And there is a worse risk than “just” missing out on perceiving the still small voice that is the authentic communion with the Lord. When one tries to force prayer fruitfulness and communion, one opens one’s soul in an unedited and unguarded way, by straining to contact “out there” with the Lord. And this is when the dark spiritual attacks take place. God is not “sending” or “allowing” the devil to torment or “purify through suffering” the saint. The saint has allowed entry by bad spirits into his or her soul by straining to receive an entitlement feeling communication with God. Everyone knows, for example, that playing with a device like an Ouija board allows unedited communication with one’s own dark tendencies and the thoughts of others. Saints and also plain good folk who too avidly seek a verifiable and on demand communication with God, are inadvertently reaching out in the same unedited and unprotected way as the Ouija board user risks. When one prays with an expectation tinged with desperation and some forcing/testing of God one opens the channel in one’s own soul that courts temptation of thought. This is why such holy people have had some incredibly depraved visions and temptations of sacrilege and desecration and called them “satanic attack” and “dark night of the soul.” All humans have that wiring, that problem with custody of the eyes, and custody of thoughts. That is the fallen, broken, woundedness of the human spirit. That is why Jesus taught people how to pray to God. Jesus taught the “Our Father” so that one would always have a perfect way to communicate to God. Jesus did not say you would get a response. When one prays in expectation of a response, one is opening up the channels to anything that is supernatural in feeling. One’s own human wiring and base temptations take a very supernatural feeling and form with very little effort, especially if one is tremendously stressed (either through self deprivation, scruples, excessive religiosity, or tremendous secular stress, such as Mother Theresa type of vocation). The last thing God wants is for wounded people to be in “on mode” all of the time for supernatural communication.

So I hope these further thoughts on this important topic serve as helpful spiritual direction. I’m concerned that there is too much Catholic spin out of a defensive posture without discerning the points I’ve made here. I’m hearing a little too much of “well, we should not be surprised that Mother Theresa had this spiritual aridity, since the saints told us this would happen and we should offer our suffering up to God.” Well, it is true that suffering can be offered up beneficially to God, but that is not the point. The point is that like a doctor with symptoms, rather than saying, “Oh yes, these saints had the same symptoms so it is all good” people should be saying, “Uh oh. Some saints really suffered from this and what might be the problem with what they were trying to do, and what we are trying to do today.” Shared symptoms are not a confirmation of correct action. It is a great tribute to saints and laity who persevere in faith through adversity, suffering, and spiritual aridity. But that does not mean that a good spiritual director should not diagnose the cause of the spiritual attack and alleviate it. The Catholic faith is not so weak that it must never admit that saints sometimes over did it and sometimes pushed too hard. That is why we have a structured set of prayers, such as the Our Father, the Rosary, the liturgy, and a wealth of prayer by the Early Fathers and saints to draw us in communion toward God; not to try to force God in conversation. It really is as simple as it was for Elijah who recognized the still small voice.