Readings:
2 Kings 1-2
Wisdom 4
John 2

2 Kings 1-2

After Ahab’s death, his son Ahaziah is on the throne. He has an accident and is bed ridden afterwards, so he sends messengers to a Philistine town to ask the god Baalzebub if he’ll ever get out of bed again. He didn’t even pretend to pay lip service to the God of his ancestors, and cared only for the Canaanite gods.

Elijah intercepts his messengers and tells them that their master will not get better, and he will die. All because he forgot the God of his people and worshiped foreign gods. The kings is unsurprisingly not pleased to hear this so he sends three companies of soldiers to retrieve Elijah from the wilderness, but the first two companies were consumed by fire from heaven when they attempted to order Elijah to come with them, and only the third company survived because it’s commander didn’t presume to command a prophet, and instead asked nicely.

Elijah and Elisha know their time together is at an end, and Elijah keeps trying to get Elisha to stay behind while he goes on ahead, but he is persistent and keeps staying with his master. This persistence is commendable and should be emulated by all of us in our spiritual lives.

Until finally they cross the Jordan and Elijah bluntly says he’s being taken away by God, and asks Elisha what he can do for him before he leaves. Elisha requests a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. The eldest son was entitled to a double share of the father’s inheritance, so Elisha as his spiritual son was claiming an inheritance of his spirit. Meaning he wanted to carry on as a prophet who could raise the dead and do miracles to get the message across to the people he’s speaking to. Just like Solomon’s unselfish request of wisdom to rule, this request was to serve as well.

Elijah is taken up to heaven and is only one of two Old Testament figures that we know didn’t die. And when he went up his cloak fell to the earth and was picked up by Elisha, who used it to part the waters of the Jordan just as his master had done moments before, this proving he’d inherited his power to perform miracles.

John 2

On the third day. That’s how this chapter opens up, and as we all know, this is the first public miracle performed by Jesus, and it’s on the third day. John calls the miracles of Jesus “signs” and they point to his glory, this one being on the third day just like the ultimate sign of his glory, his rising from the grave on the third day.

Jesus turns water into wine as his first sign, just as Moses turned water to blood as his first sign. Jesus being the new and greater Moses, he takes it a step further at the Last supper when he then turns the wine into his Precious Blood.

John then relays the incident where Jesus goes into righteous indignation and flips tables, while swinging a whip. This takes place because of his anger over what he sees happening in the temple. Not what we usually imagine when we think “what would Jesus do?” Is it. He was angry at the money changers for their dishonest exchange rates and the animal sales all being predatory in nature and bilking the people who came from far and wide to worship God.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
2 Kings 3-4
Wisdom 5
John 3