Monday, August 07, 2006

Food for Thought

1 Kings 19:1-15
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." 3 Elijah was afraid [a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. The LORD Appears to Elijah
And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.

I get the chance to preach this week while our pastor is away on vacation. I’m almost sorry I said yes. The Gospel lesson talks about Jesus, the bread of life and how we must eat his flesh to gain everlasting life. My studies have taken me from the Holiest of Holies in the Tabernacle where the showbread sits as a sign of God’s presence, to a study of cannibalism. It has all been just a little too bizarre for me.

To top it all off, there is this Old Testament lesson. At first, I thought verses 1-15 were all included in the reading. It turns out that the verses in black…those that I was hoping to use in my sermon aren’t even included in the reading… DRATS!!!! Anyway, this is a result of my thoughts today:

Here is Elijah… SO zealous to change the hearts and minds of Aram and his evil wife Jezebel that he charges in with a flaming sword and kills every single prophet of Ba’al. Now if that doesn’t get rid of this lousy Ba’al worship crap, I don’t know what will…LOL. Instead of ridding Israel of Ba’al, these killings do nothing but cause Jezebel to dig her heels in, rejecting God and Elijah all the more. And now, Jezebel is sending out her warriors to search out and kill Elijah. Elijah’s zealous actions to rid Israel of false God’s is a failure… Ba’al still reigns in the hearts of Jezebel, the King and the people. In deep depression…not only for the failure to rid Israel of this wicked god, but maybe even in his remorse for allowing his zeal to cause needless human death….Elijah seeks refuge in a cave. It is here that Elijah learned a valuable lesson. God needed Elijah to be strong in body and spirit for what was to come. Angels tended to him, offering cakes of bread and water so that Elijah could make the journey into God’s presence on Mt Horeb. Elijah is in the cave so that he can die but God has other plans….and in that plan God reveals that even though God’s power is like that of the wind and the tumult of an earthquake, God chooses to be revealed in the work of angels and in the silence that follows the tumult.

In any case, Elijah’s zealous acts in trying to rid Israel of idolatrous worship are not the answer. And we still have not learned to listen to God in the silence and to seek God in the ordinary.

May you my friends be blessed with seeing God in the ordinary things of your life. May your spirit be nourished by God’s angels and God’s purpose for your life in Christ be revealed in the silence.