1 Kings 19: 1 - 17 Sermon
Ahab told
Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with
the sword. 2Then 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." 3Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
4But 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." 5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.
Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." 6He 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. 7The 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." 8He 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. 9At 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?" 10He 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."
11The word of the LORD 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; 12and
after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the
fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When 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?" 14He 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."
15Then
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.
Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you
shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.
17Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever
escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18Yet I will leave seven
thousand in Israel,
all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed
him.”
***
Elijah
is a prophet on the run. He has said his piece, proved his point, and murdered
his opposition, well most of his opposition. Those who remain opposed to
Elijah, remain in power, and Elijah becomes a prophet on the run.
It
is not hard to come up with the Elijah’s of our time. People who have taken a
stance (right or wrong), and ended up fleeing home because of persecution from
those in power. Today the names Edward Snowden or Julian Assange come easily to
mind, as well as just this week Chen Guangcheng a protestor of China’s one
child policy. Today, the nameless women raped in the military, come to mind,
and even the many people estranged from family or friends. All are challenging
a system which they must flee for their own safety or wellbeing. Snowden left
the USA to China, Guangcheng left China to the US,
Assange is stuck in an Ecuadorian Embassy in London, our military women who came forward
after a rape were often ignored and dishonorably discharged, and for one reason
or another families are seperated indefinaetly. It is no different for Elijah.
After leaving his servant in the safety of the city of Beersheba, Elijah flees into the desert,
alone.
The
desert is a wilderness place, a place alone, and if you have ever challenged
the reigning authority, you too have felt indescribably alone, you too have wondered
if anyone was on your side. Alone, Elijah went a
day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom
tree. I imagine Elijah, like that broom tree, all alone in the vast empty
landscape. I imagine the two together, and Elijah taking what little comfort he
could in the shadow of its sparse branches, a Giving Tree, of nothing but
shade.
Sitting
down Elijah asked that he might die saying: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, I
am no better than my ancestors." 5Then
he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Perhaps you too, have felt without the strength to go on, yet remained
unwilling to give in to the opposing power. Perhaps God gave you more than you
can handle, and God had to show up to change the outcome.
Out
there in the desert, an angel touched Elijah and said
to him, "Get
up and eat." 6He 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. 7The 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." I appreciate
that the angel has to come a second time with instructions to journey on.
Simple food and drink was not enough. Elijah needed to hear encouragement from
a messenger of God. He needed to hear that his life was worth living, his
journey worth continuing, his prophesy worth telling. I think about what it must be like to be in exile and be reminded you
are not alone. I think about Snowden, and what it must be like
to hear the news, up in arms reporting on the NSA’s surveillance. I think about
the women discharged from the military, hearing the government finally
addressing the problems of a system of power and rape. I think about what
someone who has fled an oppressive family system feels hearing another’s
encouraging family story. I think about the people that I know, and the times
when I, have felt alone standing up to systems of power. In the midst of that
isolation I remember what it was like to be affirmed in that call as a prophet.
I remember what it was like to hear the reminders that there is more than the
shade of the broom tree, hearing encouragement that the journey was worth
continuing. Elijah 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.
9At 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?" Elijah was a prophet on the run, but he ran the wrong way. He went to
the place he knew he could meet the Lord, he went to Mount
Sinai, where Moses had been. All alone there with God, Elijah
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."
11The word of the LORD 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; 12and
after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the
fire a sound of sheer silence. The Lord was not where Elijah expected the Lord
to be, and the Lord did not sound like Elijah expected the Lord to sound.
Instead, after all his journey through the desert, all he heard was sheer
silence. Elijah had gone looking for God in the wrong place and was greeted
with silence. For a prophet to go looking for the Lord, and to find silence is
frighting. Yet, the Lord was speaking in the silence. The Lord was sending Elijah
away in the silence.
When Elijah
heard the silence, 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 again, "What are you doing here,
Elijah?" Elijah answered the same as before,
"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."
15Then 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.
16Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you
shall anoint Elisha son as prophet in your place. 17Whoever escapes from the
sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu,
Elisha shall kill. 18Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the
knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
The Lord sent
Elijah back. What use is a prophet alone in the desert? The Lord sent Elijah
back from the desert wilderness, to another type of wilderness, the wilderness
of Damascus, a
city. Damascus
was a wilderness of false Gods, and false prophets, and false kings. God called
Elijah to crown a new king, and anoint a new prophet. And the Lord reminded
Elijah that he was not alone, not only was the Lord with him, in the angel, and
the Word of the Lord, in the silence, and in speech, but Elijah was accompanied
by other believers, seven thousand of them!
So, I think about those prophets in our own time, who have taken a stance, right or wrong, and ended up fleeing their home
because of persecution from those in power. I think also about those prophets’
grave loneliness. “I alone and left,” they might say. But, I think about the
angels and the multitude telling the prophets they are not alone. There is
shade, and cakes, and a jar of water, and the Word of the Lord, and the Lord’s
silence, and the Lord speaking directly, telling us to journey on, perhaps to
another wilderness entirely, but that even the prophet on the run is not alone.
