Peter:             Jesus?

Jesus:           Yes, Peter?

Peter:             You know what you said just now? About not putting your hand to the plough and turning back?

Jesus:           Well?

Peter:             What’s so terrible about doing that? I’m a fisherman, you know. I can’t get the hang of these farming things you talk about.

Jesus:           Remember when you took me out in the boat? You gave me that thing you use for steering, and you said, You have a go!

Peter:             The tiller? I remember that day. Andrew nearly laughed himself sick when he saw what a mess you were making of it.

Jesus:           And why couldn’t I do it right?

Peter:             Because you’re a daft landsman, that’s why!

Jesus:           But what was I doing wrong?

Peter:             You kept looking back! Funniest zigzag wake I’ve ever seen, with you changing direction every time you tried to look back over your shoulder and judge where you were going by where you’d been. Looked like you’d been trying to plough the sea, but the furrow wasn’t anything a sower would be proud of… Oh.

Jesus:           Yes. That’s why someone ploughing, or someone trying to get to God’s kingdom by looking backwards all the time, isn’t fit for their purpose. You can’t do it that way! The only way you can get where you want to go is by looking forward.

Peter:             Now you mention it, there was something I wanted to ask you. Why are we going to Jerusalem? Even those Samaritans know better than to go down there. It’s a funny place, Jerusalem, with all those southerners in it. They think they’re better than us, just because they’ve got the Temple. You’re not planning to settle down south, are you?

Jesus:           You heard me just now, Peter. Foxes have their boltholes and birds have their nests, but I don’t stop long anywhere.

Peter:             You were hard on those people who wanted to join us.
I mean, the man whose father had died. Couldn’t we have hung on till after the funeral? And that girl, who only wanted to say goodbye to her family. Why couldn’t she do that first?

Jesus:           When did you last see your wife, Peter?

Peter:             Must be two or three months ago, last time we were in Capernaum. She was really worried about her mother. I wish I could do more to help, but you’ve got to make your choices. And I know my place is with you, even if I never know quite what you’re up to. It’s not easy, looking for God’s kingdom. Maybe you were right to show those others how hard it is.

Jesus:           Peter, you’re talking as if you’re walking the road alone. Time for us to stop for a break, and share some bread and wine with Mary, Levi and the others; that’ll put the heart back into you.

It’s too easy for us to think, in this individualistic age, that we’ve got to follow Jesus under our own steam. And at first glance stories like that of Elisha following on Elijah don’t really help, as one superhero drops his cape only to give way to another.

Yet even here I’m struck by the way Elisha refuses to take the hint and leave Elijah to his heavenly fate. From Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan; on they go together, with not much said between them. Only in that final exclamation do we see just how important Elijah is to him: ‘Father, father! Our defence, you’ve always kept us safe!’

But now Elijah’s gone; it’s up to him. Has the promised Spirit been given? Only one way to find out: Elisha smacks the waters with his new mantle. Obediently they part and alone, he goes on his way. Alone? No; for God’s Spirit is with him.

All’s well for Elisha, then. But what about the readers of Paul’s letter to the Galatian church? How will they cope with Paul’s call to freedom and purity? They know how not to behave; in the intervening verses that some pure-minded lectionary writer has cut out, we read of Paul’s exasperation with those who want to circumcise the Galatians in order to keep the letter of the law – and his caustic comment that those who are really keen on circumcision should go the whole way… But if it’s not a matter of ticking boxes in a list of laws, how should they behave as Christians?

Simple, Paul says, taking a leaf out of Jesus’ book. Love your neighbour as you love yourself. And he follows up with how to do it: by the Spirit’s power. No need for wonders like parting waters. When you show love, joy, peace and all the rest of the Spirit’s fruits, love will shine out of you like a beacon. And that love is not something you can will yourself into; it’s pure gift, and often most evident when we are at our weakest.

Sometimes in life we are Elijah, passing God’s strength and power on to others. Sometimes we are Elisha, needing reassurance that God’s Spirit is truly with us. But always, whether we’re freelance prophets or travelling the roads in company, we are the church, gathered around Jesus, who offers us the freedom of his presence. It’s freedom that comes at a price: not getting stuck in past glories or past sorrows, but looking ahead. Yet the goal of all our journeying, God’s kingdom, is worth every painful step.