Christmas, day 5. The Mantle and the Jordan

As Elisha now turns to his life without his master, he realises the burden that has been passed to him. And he now has no buffer between himself and God. This is a pivotal moment: when Elisha leans into the pain and loss and pushed through to meet God.

Christmas day 5. The Mantle and the Jordan

2 Ki 2:13-14 He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

My fingers sense its weave is rough and coarse

And more abrasive than a cloak should feel

whose years of wear, now gentled by the sun

Should comfort and protect the one it shields.

And heavy, O Father, it is not

The faded, time-worn thing it would appear:

Its weight is like the one which burns within,

Deep this loss of father-friend does sear.

Now grasp this cloak and claim it for my own,

But is the Spirit with it as I pled?

My shoulder feels the weight and years of wait

Within and desert scents the sandy threads.

Just hours ago he parted Jordan’s flow,

We crossed a riverbed of smooth dry stone:

Will I my father’s double spirit know?

I lift the mantle high and bring it down—