Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 26 June 2022.
• First Reading: 2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14 (The assumption of Elijah – Elisha with him)
• Psalm 77: 1-2, 11-20
• Epistle: Galatians 5: 1, 13-25 (Christ has set us free for freedom – do not use this freedom to indulge the flesh)
• Gospel: Luke 9: 51-62 (Jesus going to Jerusalem, rejected by a Samaritan village. The costs of discipleship)
This is not a particularly good time for going on a journey – the uncertainties of the travel arrangements, the regime for inoculations, never mind the matter of currency stability or even peace in the streets.
Yet our lessons from the Old Testament and the gospel are about journeying. Elijah had a final journey to make and Jesus was also on His final journey, to Jerusalem and the cross.
In his final pilgrimage, Elijah was being accompanied by Elisha who was his companion, servant, disciple, and yet whom he was discouraging from being with him at the very end.
Was there a final request? Yes, Elijah wanted a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. The answer was not a rebuke or a peal of laughter but an agreement. This would be granted if Elisha saw him being taken.
That means that he would have to stay with him right to the end. It was not a promise that would enable Elisha to go off to his own destiny and leave Elijah to his devices. Elisha would have to stay the course, no matter how long or difficult.
And so it proved. The book of 2 Kings records Elisha as performing twice the number of miracles as Elijah, but his was a very different kind of ministry.
Elijah had challenged the kings of his time, especially Ahab and his wife Jezebel who promoted the idols and deities of her homeland. He lived dangerously and was never reluctant to say what had to be said, and challenge what was hateful in the eyes of God.
But Elisha’s ministry was far more pastoral – it was to the people as a whole from the palace of the king to the homes of the simplest folk.
Elisha’s wish was granted – he did receive a double portion of the spirit of Elijah, but the ministry was quite different and suited to a different time and situation.
In the gospel, Jesus spoke of the costs of discipleship. There would be personal rejection and certainly no home to call His own.
He might have to sleep under the stars – and probably did. Food and water would be received as a gift from whoever offered it. And as the first part of the passage shows there would be opposition, rejection, even the threat of violence.
This would all be part of the call to discipleship. It would be far from any sort of self-realization. It would be a life of self-giving and self-denial, in which every action and motive would be questioned, ridiculed and rejected.
Whatever He did there would always be someone to object and tell tales.
Whatever form of rejection Jesus encountered, His disciples would meet as well. They too would be despised and rejected, presented as extreme in their lives and teaching, made to look as if they were socially backward and culturally obtuse.
To follow Jesus would mean living on the edge in any and every kind of society, separate from the greed and power-broking of the times, and always unfashionable.
In writing to the Galatians, Paul is contrasting the works of the Holy Spirit with the desires of the flesh.
He did not deny the human need for food, drink, clothing or shelter. But there were also areas where the demands of the self would clash with the prompting and guidance of the spirit.
But there were also other demands of the self that only be met within a wider social context. These include sex but also other forms of personal recognition, love, status, importance. These are things that involve other people and social institutions such as the family, the law, the practices of trade and commerce. These are aspects of the life of the community but which engage us personally and even intimately.
But they also draw out the sense of self and its relation to the community.
This is the self that demands, that expects others to meet and feed it on its own terms, that demands much but offers little except as a form of social and political bargain.
And Paul says that there is the Fruit of the Flesh and the Fruit of the Spirit. These are opposed to eachother. The work of the Spirit is the work of God and the work of the flesh is that work of the self, unredeemed and insatiable.
The flesh that Jesus assumed and redeemed is the flesh that lives in the presence of God and is the same flesh that as disciples we are also called to live with, but this time filled with and inspired by the Holy Spirit.
This is what inspires and guides our relationships, actions, ambitions, hopes and priorities. It is the life that God desires us to live and which He enables us to live through His Holy Spirit.
It would be futile to say that this is all done without difficulty or challenge. Yes, there are times of trial and of temptation. There are times of failure and self-reproach.
But this is all part of that journey of discipleship. We do not have to be heroic figures like Elijah. Most of us are called to be Elisha figures – but this is no trivial thing and in the sight of God we also can be mighty in the land.
