Psalm 75, 76; 2 Kings 2:1-18; 1 Cor. 4:1-7; Matt. 5:17-20
It is difficult to hide anything from a true prophet. Elijah attempts to go off on his own and end his work and his days, apparently having heard from the Lord on the matter. It seems, however, that all the other prophets have heard this word as well. Elisha, the prophets of Bethel, the prophets in Jericho and the prophets of the Jordan region all know what is happening. It had to be comforting to Elisha to know that he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t the only one to whom the Lord spoke. Remember that Elijah often acted alone and indeed was mistaken in his belief that he alone remained faithful to the Lord. Here as he begins his ministry Elisha has the benefit of knowing that the Lord has prophets all over Israel who hear Him. Elisha’s request for a double portion does not mean that he wants twice the prophetic anointing as his mentor. Inheritance laws would dictate the eldest, favored son or the wife would inherit a double portion of the inheritance. For instance, if there were two sons there would then be three portions with the eldest receiving 2 of those three, twice as much, as the younger. Elisha doing the work of Elijah in rolling back the waters of the Jordan with his mentor’s cloak would have authenticated him not only to himself but also to those prophets who witnessed the event.
The entire sermon and the Gospel hinges on these few words, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The scribes and Pharisees were the definition of righteousness, at least in their own eyes, and they were the ones who enforced the law of righteousness. If the righteousness required by God exceeded their righteousness, what hope was there for anyone else? We know that the answer is first that they weren’t righteous under God’s law but their own, and second that we have an alien righteousness, Jesus’ own righteousness that is imputed to us by God on account of Jesus’ willing sacrifice to take on our sins. In Him, our righteousness far exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees and we must always plead His blood and proclaim His righteousness in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. We have no hope other than Him but the resurrection assures us that His sacrifice was acceptable to God and therefore we have confidence in His righteousness.
Paul says that we are “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” and that our only measure is whether as stewards or trustees we have been trustworthy. Have we faithfully discharged our duties by speaking only the truth about the mysteries of God? We must take care in our proclamation both in word and deed, to be trustworthy with respect to the revealed truth of God about His Son. We have a greater inheritance than Elisha, we have the truth about God’s love for mankind in the form of Jesus on the cross, and we have the truth about Him in the resurrection from the dead. We have seen what Elisha longed to see, and we have a greater mentor than Elijah. In the Holy Spirit we have received not only a double portion of the inheritance we have received all that Jesus had, not simply a portion, but we must bend our wills to His will, having our own Gethsemane moments again and again when we say, “not my will but Thine.” We have an inheritance that waits for us but until then we have work to do and an obligation to be faithful.
Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
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