14 th February: Transfiguration Sunday

Success and Succession—2 Kings 2.1–12, Mark 9.2–9

The record of the Kings of Israel and Judah is nothing if not a tortured series of transitions—one that Thomas Fuller, a 17^th-century English pastor, identified during his study of the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:

Lord, I find the genealogy of my Savior strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.

I see, Lord, from hence, that my father’s piety cannot be handed on; that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary; that is good news for my son. ¹

Fuller observes for us what is evident in the text—that succession is not always successful. But in the midst of a kingly narrative that can read like a litany of tragedy, we encounter the story of Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings 2. Elijah, whose powerful ministry had stood toe to toe with Ahab and confronted the priests of Baal with power, had reached the end of his life. His servant, Elisha, was close at hand, ready to follow in his teacher’s footsteps. In their exchange we are given a snapshot of the meaning of success.

Success, after all, is linked intimately to the idea of succession. In today’s world we view success in almost purely individualistic terms—a measure of my personal achievement. But as a cognate of succession its parameters change. Success is less about me, and more about what I hand on to others. Success is not, chiefly, about material gain, or reputation, or a sense of self-worth. It is about how successfully you handle the transitions of life, and it is here that Elijah and Elisha are instructive. Consider the following five ways that Elijah and Elisha illustrate success:

First, Elisha follows closely behind Elijah. Three times Elijah prompts Elisha to stay behind; each time Elisha insists on staying right on the heels of his teacher. Elisha is a good candidate for succession precisely because he is so closely linked to the ministry of his teacher. He’s not an outsider, but someone who knows the ins and outs of the prophetic office.

Second, Elisha desires to increase the effectiveness of Elijah’s ministry. We can see this in his request for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Why does he ask for this? It is possible, of course, that Elisha merely wishes to one-up his teacher. But it is more likely that in this request Elisha reveals that he understands the true source of Elijah’s power—the Spirit of God. If Elisha is going to succeed, he will need access to the same power that made Elijah succeed. In requesting a double portion of the Spirit, he is seeking an increase in prophetic power.

Third, Elisha receives a visible sign of their handoff. In the passage, he is allowed to witness, visibly, Elijah’s departure via heavenly chariot. We should be clear, in this, that the visible sign is not for a watching crowd, nor for curious kings, but for Elisha himself. The visible sign becomes a seal of transition that ensures, for him, that the ministry of Elijah has indeed passed on to him. And yet it is a sign to which Elisha will testify—the sign is given, but Elisha will speak about it. (How else would we have record of the event?)

Fourth, Elisha seeks to continue the ministry of Elijah. Elisha, of course, inherits Elijah’s mantle, a visible sign to all others that God’s work in Elijah continues in the person of Elisha.

Last, but certainly not least, Elijah actually departs, so that Elisha can continue the work. No succession is successful when its transitioning figures fail to let go of power!

Success in 2 Kings 2 is not a record of the sum of Elijah’s personal achievements. Rather, Elijah succeeds because he hands off his ministry to Elisha successfully. It is a wonderful account to read, but we should also remember that it is incomplete without recalling Elisha’s failure to ‘succeed’ with Gehazi in 2 Kings 5, whose hunger for earthly wealth destroys his own prophetic future. The pedigree of Elijah and Elisha ends, not with a new prophet continuing their ministry, but with the Spirit resting mysteriously on Elisha’s bones. This, it seems to me, is not a sign of success.

If we wanted to, I’m sure we could work up an entire theology of succession based on this passage alone—but instead, I want to attempt to show how this model of succession may be at play in the account of the Transfiguration.

In Mark 9 we read about how Jesus, Peter, James, and John ascend a high mountain, where Christ’s face and clothes are illuminated, Moses and Elijah appear, and God speaks a blessing on Jesus, His son. In light of the Elijah and Elisha story we’ve just considered, Mark 9 begins to look like an account of succession.

Before we consider the similarities, let’s set up the context for the situation. Moses is the visible symbol of the Law, while Elijah is the visible symbol of the Prophets. ‘The Law and the Prophets’, of course, had come by the time of the New Testament to represent the entirety of God’s counsel in Scripture. With ears attentive to the Old Testament, we should be immediately reminded of the commandment in Deuteronomy 19:15, where Moses established that ‘A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offence that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained.’ Two witnesses—Moses and Elijah—standing together not in condemnation but validation of the person and work of Jesus. To describe the situation as scripturally charged is an understatement.

And what do we see of succession when we look to Jesus? First, that he is a figure who follows closely behind the Law and the Prophets. Second, that Jesus strives to increase the effectiveness of God’s work on earth through an increase of the Spirit. Third, that Jesus receives a visible sign of his validation in the illumination of his robes and countenance—a sign that his disciples will later reveal to others. Fourth, that Jesus operates in perfect continuity with the ministry of the Old Covenant. Fifth, and finally, that Moses and Elijah depart to make way for the new authority of Jesus. In the Transfiguration, we appear to have an account of succession.

And yet, this is not in itself the final succession—we must recall that Christ, at the apex of His earthly ministry, turned and handed it over to the disciples. There is an unbroken line of succession to the handoff of Christ, of which we are its inheritors today. Jesus Christ has handed His ministry on to us—and this prompts self-reflection. Will we follow Him closely? Will we seek an increase of God’s Holy Spirit? Will we testify faithfully to the visible sign of Christ’s death and resurrection? Will we stand in unmoveable continuity with the ministry of Jesus? And will we honour Christ’s ascension into heaven, as the sign and symbol of His handoff of earthly ministry to us?

Christ has set His Church up for success. Only one question remains: will we receive it like Gehazi, or Elisha.