“Powerful Presence” – Sermon on June 23, 2013
June 23, 2013
Scripture : 1 Kings 19:1-15
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.
Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. (pause) When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
Sermon: Powerful Presence
by Rev. Doreen Oughton
There’s been something of a showdown going on. Ahab was king of Israel, and his wife was Jezebel. Jezebel was the daughter of a king that served Baal, and Ahab was influenced by this, building his own little altar to Baal in the palace. Scripture tells us that “Ahab did more to anger the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him.” So God calls upon Elijah. He sends him far and wide, through lands suffering drought and famine, and God makes sure that Elijah is provided for. Ravens have brought him meat and bread, a widow shared from her meager provisions and found them instantly replenished in abundance. Finally God sends Elijah to see Ahab and bring him a message about God’s displeasure. In the meanwhile, Jezebel has been having prophets of God killed, though royal servant Obadiah is a God-worshipper and has helped 100 of God’s prophets hide in caves.
So Ahab and Elijah have a public contest to see whose God is more powerful. They each lay out an offering of a bull on wood, but do not light the fire. The test is to see which god will light the fire to accept the offering. Ahab’s cries to Baal go unheeded, but Elijah builds a little moat between the offering and the people watching to contain the blaze he is confident the Lord will send. And sure enough, when Elijah calls out to God, the fire falls and consumes every bit of the offering. Then, assured of the allegiance of the onlookers, Elijah commands them to seize and kill all the prophets of Baal, and sends Ahab back home. These are the events that lead up to today’s reading.
Perhaps Elijah thought his work was done – that Ahab would be so convinced of God’s power that he would convince Jezebel of it, and perhaps even her whole family. They would stop angering God by worshiping that weakling Baal, and all would be well. But Jezebel doesn’t give up – she vows to see Elijah killed, and he runs for his life. Its interesting that he runs for his life, but when he finally stops in the wilderness, he asks God to take his life. He has had enough. He is at the end of his rope. He looks at all he’s tried to do for God, and it has come to naught. How could Jezebel remain unconvinced? How could the rulers of Israel turn their backs so thoroughly on God? What was the point of the contest, of the killing of the Baal prophets? Why, why, why?!
Can you relate at all? Have you ever put everything you had into something you believed in – something you were confident was right and true and would bear good fruit? Perhaps a relationship, a job, a campaign, a mission or movement? You’ve researched and built your case, you’ve put your learnings into practice, made it easy for people to see the truth and rightness of it, how much better things would be if only.. And its not that hard, either. Perhaps there were real high points, when victory was so close you could taste it. Many battles won, but then comes a big loss. What’s the point, you ask yourself. Nothing’s going to change. People are so set in their ways, so blind to what you see, and sometimes it seems that you are the only one who sees. What’s the point?
That’s where Elijah is. He’d like to sleep and not wake up. But he does wake up, and he eats as God’s angels bid him to, and he makes his way to the mountain of God. There is nothing here that says God told him to go to the mountain so I believe it was Elijah’s decision to go, looking for an answer, looking for something. I don’t think he really wants to die. I think he’s just venting, no? And he wants to make sure God hears him. God again sees that he is provided for in his journey, and that he makes it safely. As he sleeps in the cave, God asks him why he is there. Elijah gives voice to his pain. He has done everything, everything asked of him, he’s believed in the ways of God, and trusted that his work would result in proper kingship in Israel. But in that moment he feels that he is the only one left who even wants that outcome. In response, God bids Elijah to go out of the cave, for God will pass by.
I wonder what God was trying to do for Elijah, what it was that (s)he hoped to communicate by passing by. I don’t think Elijah got it, whatever it was. He didn’t even leave the cave right away. He stayed in through the wind, he stayed in through the earthquake, he stayed in through the fire. Scripture says that God was not in the wind or earthquake or fire, but I wonder if those are Elijah’s thoughts – that God was not there. He’d thought the power of God to bring fire to consume the offering would be enough to change things, and it wasn’t. No, he wasn’t going to trust those big showy displays any more. What got him up and out to look for God was the silence. Perhaps the silence outside the cave enabled his mind to be silent for a minute. Maybe it was in the space of the silence that there was room for trust in God to grow. And out of that silence the question came again – what are you dong here, Elijah? I’m surprised that Elijah repeats his litany of pain – “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He doesn’t seem to have been comforted at all, he doesn’t seem to have be assured of his purpose or God’s faith in him. Isn’t that interesting!?
He reminds me a little bit of Jezebel in not seeing what seems to be so clear. He can’t see a different way of thinking about it. He can’t seem to let trust grow, to believe that God can do a new thing in a new way. And I wonder what opportunity was missed, for Elijah and for Israel. Because finally God says words Elijah can understand. God tells him that on his next journey, he will anoint new kings, and a new prophet. Elijah will get the rest he desires, and the kings, that God never wanted for Israel in the first place, will continue to battle things out. God’s faithful remnants will be spared, but there will be more bloodshed, more slaughter. I wonder if God had something else in mind when he beckoned Elijah out into the silence.
Now I don’t believe that God’s will and plan can ultimately be thwarted by anything we do, but perhaps along the journey we can block God in doing a new thing for us. Think back to that point of reaching the end of your rope, having invested yourself fully in something only to see it fall apart. Do you keep playing the heartache and sense of failure over and over? Do you dwell on it, magnify it, isolate yourself in it? Could you be missing God’s invitation into a silence in which your faith may grow? Know that even if you don’t accept that invitation, God will still be with you, making sure you are provided for, reminding you that you are not alone, no matter how alone you may feel at any moment. But if you want to try to enter that silence, if you want to try to answer that question of what are you doing in a different way, I’m guessing the possibilities will be divine. I would be glad to ponder with you any time.
