The Double Portion
a sermon based on 2 Kings 2:1-14
Randy L Quinn
Can you imagine what it must have
been like for Elisha
as he stood by the river’s edge? He could see across the river to the small
crowd of prophets on the other side. He knew that if he went across and assumed
the role of Elijah that he would be looked upon as a leader among them. He also
knew that if he claimed that role he would inherit a long list of enemies.
I’m sure there were doubts that
flashed through his mind. Am I up to the task? Will God be with me the same
way God had been with Elijah? Maybe God doesn’t want me to carry on this work?
Maybe God has something else in mind for me or for Israel? If that is the case,
what is my role?
In that moment, as he looks across
the river, the entire story of Elijah must have raced through his mind. It’s
the same story we all know. The story of Elijah, the great prophet, who
performed mighty miracles and who carried the word of God to the people – a word
that wasn’t always welcome.
And as popular as he was with the
people, there had been numerous attempts to silence him. More than once, Elijah
had been on the lam and could not be found.
Once, while he was hiding, he
began his own little “pity party,” thinking he was the only faithful one left in
all of Israel. God corrected him by reminding him that there were no fewer than
7,000 others who had been faithful; and then God told him to go and anoint
Elisha as his successor (1 Kgs. 19).
That’s how Elisha became his
servant/follower/disciple. On the banks of the river, he must have remembered
that day, the day he gave up his livelihood and committed himself totally to his
mentor. You remember that story, don’t you? Elisha had been working in a field
with a team of oxen. In response to Elijah’s invitation, Elisha used the yoke
to build a fire and sacrificed the oxen right there in the field (1 Kgs.
19:21). He was “burning the bridges of his past” as he chose to follow Elijah.
And he wanted to learn as much as
he could before Elijah’s departure. So he made his intentions clear as they
made this final journey from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho and finally to the far
side of the Jordan.
(That day he was a lot like the
students every teacher can remember who stay behind class and ask more
questions; although in our text for today he is more like someone we might visit
who so longs for companionship that they follow us to the car and are still
talking to us as we pull out of the driveway!)
I’m one who may not read the front
page of the paper every day, but I always make time for the comics. Several
years ago I came across one that featured a mother with a young child clinging
to her – a common experience for many mothers. Her verbal description is what I
remember. She said she was having a “Velcro day.”
That day Elisha was clinging to
Elijah like Velcro, like a peanut butter sandwich stuck to the roof of his
mouth.
He was a faithful disciple who
would not let Elijah go until the last possible minute. He was too zealous to
see what it looked like.
Meanwhile, Elijah wandered from
town to town as he prepared for his final moments on earth. He may or may not
have known what his departure would look like when it happened, but he was
clearly looking for the right time and the right place as he wandered.
In that sense, Elijah was like a
dog we used to have that would circle around the house looking for a comfortable
place to sleep – a routine that always took longer when people were watching
her.
Up until the point they crossed
the river, Elijah had been telling Elisha what to do and Elisha had insisted
that he would not do as he was told. He was going to be a faithful follower
until the very end. Finally, after they cross the river, Elijah asked what it
was that Elisha wanted.
Isn’t that the way it is? Whether
it’s a student being addressed by a teacher or an employee being spoken to by an
employer or even a child in the company of a parent: those who have authority
tend to issue commands before listening.
When Elisha was finally given a
chance to speak, he asked to receive “the double portion.”
(Now, it’s easy to assume he means
he wants to have twice as much power as Elijah did. And even though the
scriptures record twice as many miracles by Elisha, that isn’t really what he
was saying. In the Law of Moses, an estate was divided into equal shares with
the oldest son receiving two shares and each of the rest receiving only one
share.)
With that background, it’s easy to
see that Elisha was only asking to receive the spiritual equivalent of the
oldest son’s share of an estate. He wanted to become the heir to Elijah’s role
in society. He wanted to have the vision and the voice of Elijah, the great
prophet. He wanted to be like his mentor in every aspect.
And Elijah was clear in his
response: that wasn’t up to him to give. It was up to God.
In some ways his response is like
the words of a modern sage, whose name I cannot find: “God has no
grandchildren”. I can’t make my children become followers of Christ. Neither
can any of you. We can only show them what it means to be one.
But having seen the chariots of
fire and watched as Elijah was taken up into heaven, Elisha is still faced with
the question: did I really receive the double portion?
And how can he tell? When will he
know? Will he have a special sense of electricity flowing through him that he
will recognize? He has been faithful up to this point, how will he know if he
has become faith-filled? Is God with him now or not?
He wonders that aloud as he
approaches the Jordan River.
And maybe this is where the truth
becomes all too clear. There are prophets on the other side in need of a
leader. There are also enemies of Elijah who will now become his own enemies.
Does he really want to go back? Even if he has received “the double portion,”
it would be understandable if he chose not to accept it.
The truth is that he will never
know if God has given him the double portion until he claims it. Being
faith-filled, he must now become faithful – as faithful to God as he had been to
his mentor Elijah. So he stretches out the mantle of Elijah – now the mantle of
Elisha – and the water parts.
God is with him. And the stories
that follow will confirm that fact.
But his story begs the question:
How many of us have received gifts from God that we are afraid to use? How
often have we been given the strength to do something we thought we couldn’t do,
so instead of doing it with God’s power, we retreated into the safety of our own
limitations? How often have we stood at the banks of our own Jordan River and
opted to remain on the safe side?
Ash Wednesday is this week. It is
the beginning of the season we call Lent. Historically this has been a season
of soul-searching, a season of study and reflection, a season of prayer and
fasting. As we enter into this season, we have the story of Elisha to challenge
us to seek and find the grace God has given to us as well as the courage to
become servants of Christ and the church.
Our decision to host an after
school program during Lent may be one of those challenges for us. It will take
work on the part of many different people. But only in taking up the challenge
will we learn that God is with us.
A challenge has also been issued
to pay off the parsonage before this time next year. It may seem like an
impossible goal to some. But I see it as a challenge of faith – one we can step
into and own like Elisha eventually did.
You know, after I had named the
sermon for this week, I remembered the numerous times I’ve eaten potluck
dinners. It’s always tempting to go back for seconds or to begin with a “double
portion.” During Lent, we take the “double portion” of fasting. It’s a
different kind of “double portion,” however, because in giving we receive. We
take on a spiritual discipline that we offer to God and at the same time God
uses those same disciplines to speak to us.
Like the chariots of fire that
Elisha saw, God invites us to see the glory of what is in store for us so we
might become faith filled as well as faithful.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
