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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[1] 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.


[1]  I am aware that the names “Elijah” and “Elisha” sound similar.  I will do my best to enunciate when I speak them so people who hear these words rather than read them will be able to keep them straight.