"June 29 Sunday Sermon, Manuscript"

1 Kings 19:15–16, 19–21

“Turn Back and Go”

1. The path from June into July gives us the most leisurely and creative time. It allows us to plan for vacations, and those panicked shouts we made at the start of the year about how fast time is flying have already passed six months. We are now gifted with July, a fresh start, and a sense that we can recover and catch up.

2. Every June I attend the Annual Conference. Today, as I deliver this message, the Conference will be announcing and praying over my sixth-year appointment back to Yeolin Church. Starting July 1, I will begin again in ministry at Yeolin Church with a renewed heart. I too receive this most leisurely and creative season as grace.

3. This year, I plan to spend this time visiting with our church members. Not in the traditional sense of visitation, but in a new way that can strengthen the bonds between us. So please do not hesitate to join me.

4. You can invite me to your home, or I can invite you. We can simply enjoy a cup of tea together. If there's anything you want to do together, we can do it that way.

5. But please don’t feel pressured! It’s not a requirement! You can always say, "Maybe next time!"

6. Today's passage is the moment Elijah calls Elisha to be his disciple. This text is often connected to the end of Luke 9, where someone wishes to follow Jesus but says he must first bury his father. Jesus responds, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." And, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." This raises the question: does being a disciple mean forsaking even the most basic human decency for the sake of the Kingdom?

7. That may seem to be the correct interpretation at face value, but as always, the Bible contains hidden meanings that we must remember to seek out.

8. First, to understand today’s story of Elijah, we must remember what kind of situation he had just come out of in the preceding verses.

9. Elijah had followed God’s command without protest and lived his life in obedience. He passionately served God, but the chapter before today’s reading reveals his lament that all the other prophets had been killed, and he alone was left.

10. Jezebel, wife of King Ahab of Northern Israel, was a notorious Baal worshiper. Elijah had clashed head-on with her.

11. Having fought fiercely, desperately, and at the risk of his life against Jezebel, Elijah, seeing the deaths of all the other prophets, is left alone in a cave, pouring out his despair, burnout, and even resentment toward God.

12. In 1 Kings 19:11-14, Elijah waits for God, expecting Him to appear with powerful signs like splitting mountains, shaking the earth, and consuming fire. But contrary to expectation, God speaks in a "qol demamah daqqah," best translated as "the sound of sheer silence." In the stillest moment, without disturbing the silence, Elijah hears God's voice.

13. That word is what we read today in verses 15-16: "Go back..." This begins God’s command to anoint two kings and a successor.

14. The phrase "Go back" holds an implicit meaning that zeal and passion alone do not guarantee success.

15. The Hebrew word translated as "go back" is "haphak," which generally means "to turn, to change direction, to transform." It may imply that Elijah needed to change his expectations of a powerful, world-shaking God. Instead, he should recognize God's greater strength revealed quietly and transformatively.

16. Elijah's new turning point was a deeper understanding of leadership than he had previously imagined. This realization had to be passed on to Elisha—a shift from visible power to hidden transformation, the unexpected strength of God's quiet work.

17. Scripture reminds us that leadership transitions from Elijah to Elisha. It shows that all human leaders, whether good or evil, are finite. From Moses, Samson, Elijah, David, Solomon, Jeroboam, to Ahab and Jezebel—great and wicked leaders alike come and go. Verses 17-18 (skipped in our reading) illustrate this transience.

18. Nothing is eternal, so we must not act as if it is. This is the first principle for understanding leadership and discipleship.

19. When Elijah arrives at Elisha’s house, Elisha is living a quiet rural life, plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. This could imply wealth or community labor—the text isn't clear. But Elisha’s life appears peaceful and stable. Elijah, without a word, places his cloak on Elisha's shoulders and walks on. Elisha immediately responds.

20. Elisha’s sudden response suggests he already knew who Elijah was. By giving Elisha his cloak, Elijah may have been transferring everything he had. In Israel, a cloak meant more than clothing; it was also essential for warmth at night. The Hebrew word used here implies transferring one’s glory.

21. From this we understand another meaning of discipleship. To be a disciple of Jesus means to receive His glory. But that glory includes responsibility, meaning, suffering, and burdens. Discipleship is not merely learning and following, but bearing the full weight of that life.

22. The next part of the passage raises questions about Elisha’s obligation to follow Elijah.

23. For generations, interpreters have debated this story as a test of Elisha’s discipleship and Elijah’s seemingly harsh treatment.

24. Elisha’s slaughtering of the oxen and feeding the people is clearly an act of decisive commitment.

25. Yet I find interpretations of Elisha hesitating a bit strange. Elijah says nothing, simply throws the cloak and walks on.

26. The next verb describes Elisha’s action: "he left." He runs after Elijah and says, "Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will come with you." This is not hesitation, but a very human request. Elijah replies, "Lech shuv (לך שוב)" – "Go back" or simply "Go." Many read this as cold or indifferent, but it could also be Elijah permitting him to say farewell.

27. Elijah’s next words can sound more severe: "Ki meh asiti lakh (כי מה עשיתי לך)?" – "What have I done to you?" This is usually seen as a rebuke, but is that really fair, especially when we consider parent-child relationships? Elijah wasn’t an easy man to follow. His words might mean, "What I have done to you is a great thing," or even a cynical, "What do I have to do with you?"

28. Either way, Elisha responds faithfully. God does not criticize his actions, and no one tries to stop him—though many commentaries imagine they might have. In truth, Elijah himself seems ambiguous and unready to accept a successor.

29. One might wrongly draw a harsh lesson from this passage that public leaders must abandon basic decency for total devotion. But such a view is misguided. Our roles within the family must also be understood as vocations.

30. One often-overlooked point is that Elijah himself had just heard the same words from God a few verses earlier (19:15). Though he cried, "I have been very zealous for the Lord!" the people still worshiped idols, prophets were slain, and his life was in danger. Then God responded, "Lech shuv le-darkekha (לך שוב לדרכך)”—"Go back the way you came."

31. Perhaps Elijah, remembering that painful command, repeats the same words to Elisha but with different intent. Now it's not "return to your path," but "go forth." He knows the weight of this calling—

32. He cannot explain it or endure it easily. So he turns the pain he received into mercy for his young successor. A great teacher does not say, "You must suffer as I did," but rather, "Because I suffered, I will make your path a little easier."

33. To make disciples and to pass on discipleship does not mean forcing others to suffer everything we did.

34. We often mistake that the next generation must endure all our hardships to become true disciples.

35. Parents wish their children would not go through the same pains. Likewise, making disciples or preparing successors does not mean forcing them to replicate our exact struggles. That is a misunderstanding of today’s Scripture.

36. The life of faith is not about living by legalistic rules. It is about embracing the weight of our lives, even the difficult moments, and in those moments, choosing to hope in God and to live as a disciple of Christ. That is the true beginning of discipleship.

37. Every time I attend the Annual Conference, I realize that my zeal and sacrifice for ministry often exceeds that of others. Among pastors of other ethnicities, especially those long active in the U.S., some seem to treat ministry not as a calling or discipleship, but as a job.

38. Sometimes I want to say to complaining friends, "You should try doing ministry in a Korean church!" What I mean is, they need to experience the passionate dedication required in Korean churches. (Please don’t misunderstand me!)

39. As those who call ourselves disciples and Christians, we must pass on that same calling and responsibility to others. Elijah, in calling Elisha, did not demand reckless abandonment of human decency. Likewise, when Jesus calls disciples, His demand is similar.

40. We each live different lives but believe in the same Jesus Christ. Our faith is not in different versions of Jesus depending on our lives, but in the one unified and clear Christ. People have different priorities and interests—of course! But a disciple cuts through all that and holds onto one thing: to worship God in all circumstances, to proclaim His Word, and to share the Gospel. That is the leadership of a disciple. We may differ, but we walk together toward unity and God’s calling. That is the life we are meant to live.