2 Kings 2:1-12
Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Over the epiphany season, we looked at a number of Old Testament stories that have had something to do with the prophets. A while back, we looked at the calling of Samuel, oh, God came in a vision to Samuel and gave him a message for Eli. We asked ourselves, when we talk about the Word of God, do we tell the whole story like, like Samuel asked whether he should tell the story of judgment that God gave Him to Eli. After that, we looked at the prophet Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh with a message, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And this message brought repentance to the city. And we realized that God's message of judgment, always comfort comes with an offer of forgiveness, that it's a call to turn to him. After that, we looked at Moses, when he said that God would raise up a prophet like him, who would speak the Word of God to His people. And we saw that this message, this office of Prophet was given to the people for their good. And today, we're looking at a story about Elijah, passing on his office of Prophet, both to Eli Shaw, as well as to the sons of the prophets that we see. Which is an interesting aspect of this story that is often overlooked. And we'll interpret this understanding of this office of profit in light of Christ, to help us see what it has to say about the Office of the pastor, the preaching office, in the church. So this is a fascinating story in the Old Testament. Seems kind of weird, right? Most of the action is Elijah saying to Elijah, stay here, I'm gonna go over there. And Elijah says, Nope, I'm going with you. And then they show up, and they go to this place, and you get this phrase called the sons of the prophets. They come out and they say, you know, Elijah is going away. And Elijah says, Yeah, but keep it a secret. Super weird, right? What is going on here? And then it happens again, Elijah goes to a different place. And he says, Elijah, stay there. And Elijah doesn't know, I'm going with you. And the sons of the prophets come out again. And then Elijah says, well, let's go to a third place. You stay here, Alicia. And he goes, No, I'm coming with you. The cross the Jordan River. And you see this very weird thing. Elijah asked, Elijah, what do you want from me? And the lie, Shah says, give me a double portion of your spirit. odd things. And then Elijah is separated from Elijah by this chariot of fire. And Elijah is taken up in a whirlwind. And then we're done. Weird, right. What our reading doesn't give us is what happens next. It says, And he that is Elijah took up the cloak that had fallen, a cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water saying, Where is the Lord the God of Elijah. And when he had struck the water, the water was parted from one side and to the other. And Elijah went over. Now, this helps us to understand what is going on in this story. Remember, Elijah, he smacked the water with his cloak and it split and they walk through. Then he goes up into heaven, and he lives Shaw gets the cloak, walks over smacks it, and the same thing happens right? This is an inheritance moment. The double portion of the spirit. What's going on here is the line Shah is asking Elijah For the inheritance of a firstborn son, ancient Israel, inheritance was split amongst the family and the firstborn got the double portion. So you have five kids, you split your inheritance up six ways, firstborn son gets two of them, the rest each get one. And so we're seeing inheritance. And this points us back to the sons of the prophets. That's a weird phrasing for this group of people, sons of the prophets are this order of prophets that have been building up under this new era of Elijah. Eli SHA, gets the double portion, they get the single portion. This office of Prophet has been handed down through this group of people called the sons of the prophets under this new era in Elijah. Now, we have to take a moment to recognize how crazy that is in Elijah's life. If you remember, in earlier in Elijah's life, the king has been going after him so hard, that he is the only prophet left. And he goes out into the wilderness in despair, curls up on the ground and says, God, just kill me. It's all over. And then by the end of his life, he goes from town to town, and in every place, prophets of God come out on mass to meet him. Isn't it amazing what God can do in only a short period of time? Isn't it amazing how God can raise up faithful people from desperation? What can God do? It's what we see with the sons of the prophets. It helps us to understand the office of pastor in the church, because interpreted through Christ, and after his death and resurrection, this preaching office is a whole lot like that office of Prophet that was handed down in the church, and established and trained by Elijah is the the office of Pastor like the office of Prophet is handed down. These sons of the prophets were the inheritors of Elijah. He is this new model of profit. That happens as as the Kings turn away. And so we see town after town, place after place, these new proclaimers of God's word are there and raised up. In the church, the proclaimers of God's word were handled very similar. The office is given and established. And we see that from very early on. In the book of Acts, it talks about people going from town to town, appointing elders, otherwise known as pastors in the church. Similarly, St. Paul writes to both Titus and Timothy, about appointing elders in the churches where they the God preserves this office of proclamation and preaching in his church that is handed down through his church as well. Which I think is an amazing blessing. That the church passes down this office of proclamation and preaching in clear and obvious way. Because what it means is you don't have to wonder whose job it is to proclaim God's word to write. See, we don't have any questions about that. God doesn't come down in a vision and anoint someone and say, I have chosen you like you did with Isaiah, or Samuel. You get to see it happen right in front of you. When pastors are installed and chosen, and the Holy Spirit works through the church to give them a call. It happened just over two years ago, here in this place, I kneeled right over there. And was installed.
And it's not just me, of course, this happens in any church. With the Holy Spirit calls a pastor for you, so that you can have God's word proclaimed. You don't have to wonder who God has chosen to give you this, this blessing. You don't have to go, Oh, I hope he is anointed by the Spirit. Because the church has done it. The Holy Spirit works through you to give a call to a preacher. What a blessing that is. That you know whose job it is, with the Holy Spirit has appointed you to give you God's grace, and call you to faithfulness in Christ. And pastors, just like the prophets, their job is to proclaim God's Word through the office of preaching. One of the big differences though is after Christ has died and rose, the source of that proclamation is a little different. Old Testament prophets, they received visions, right. And we've seen many stories like that stories of Samuel and Moses and Jonah, and the Bible is filled with them. Elijah himself gets all sorts of messages from God. But pastors are a little different. Hebrews starts out this way, in many in various ways, God spoke to his people of old by the prophets. But now in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. Our gospel reading emphasizes this. And one of the things that the Gospel reading is we get caught up in all the amazing things that happened, the shining face, the clothes, the Moses and Elijah, but the heart, the center of what is going on, is what the voice says, This is my beloved son. Listen to him. And so pastors, we don't receive visions for our messages. We hear from the word of Christ. Now, personally, I would love it. If I could be like, on Saturday night, sit in front of my computer and be like, okay, Jesus, give me a message. Wouldn't that be nice? All the hours of study, all of the the reading and the prayer and the outlines, and then the deleting, which often happens, and then the editing and then I would love it. If God simply said, Preach this. And then I did. But that's not where it comes from. The Word of Christ has been preserved for us through the preaching of the apostles. And then their preaching preserved for us in Holy Scripture. And so pastors, our job is to listen to him, and then proclaim, which means we have to spend a lot of time in God's word. So we can speak it to you. We listen to Christ and do our best to speak what he would want us to say, on mornings like this. So you can hear the Word of God preserved for you. And it's a temptation for every pastor in every place, to substitute to their own word for what Christ has called us to speak. Which means you have a job to do as well. Right? To hold me accountable, to ask me, Pastor, is that really what the Bible says? Is that really what God wants from us? It's your job, to make sure I know what I'm doing and to hold me accountable to the proclamation that Christ has given us. Because the word I am called to speak is not my own but Christ's, which is filled with the power of the Spirit and there for you to guide him. And I need you to keep me on track. To help me understand. Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, Wait, wait, I didn't go to seminary. How can I do that? actually really easy. When I say something you think is weird. Say to me Hey, Pastor, can you show me where why you said that? Can you explain to me from God's word, what you meant? I need you just as you need me. Because I am supposed to hear from Christ and speak to you. But I'm just as much a human being as you. It's your job to help. Lastly, the Office of Pastor much like the office of profit is here as a gift for you. Prophets were not designed to be people who were just there to be glorious. I mean, we look at Elijah, and we see the miracles. And we think, wow, wouldn't that be kind of cool, right? I think it'd be pretty amazing to be able to call fire down from heaven, which he did on a couple of occasions, right. I think it'd be pretty cool to be like Elijah, and heal the warrior of a foreign king from his leprosy, like, walk around and be all like, yeah, prophet of God over here. But that's not what they're for. The burden of preaching, and proclamation is designed to be a gift for you. Because it's a joyful, joyful gift, to be able to speak God's word to you, to help guide you and turn you back to Christ. Because we all need to hear it right. Every week, every day, our sinful nature wants to draw us away. And we need to hear God's word proclaimed to us, so that we can be pulled back again. That's what Elijah and Elijah did. Right? They were always called to go out into the world and say, return to the Lord your God, come back to him. For every person who would stray. And through most of Elijah's ministry, it was because the king was doing the opposite. And within the church, I am blessed that I do not have King Ahab's or queen Jezza bells, running around in my congregation. I have the faithful people of God, who come desiring to hear the word, who come wanting to be told of their sin, needing to be told about repentance, and craving, the forgiveness and healing that comes from Christ. And what a joy it is to be able to give it and speaking, just as you I hope, find it joy to hear it. It's a gift. Because it's through these words that God has preserved the message of Jesus Christ and calls you again and delivers the gift of salvation. What a joyful gift that is. God has preserved this office of prophet like he did with Elijah and the sons of the prophets. He continues to preserve it in this proclaiming office of Pastor which God gives you as a gift to give you the word so that we can remain faithful. In Jesus name, Amen.