June 10, 2020              (today’s lectionary)
At last, the storm
The widow’s son got sick and died. Somehow she blamed Elijah. But he “took him from her arms” and carried the boy to his own bed. He prayed, “stretched himself upon the child three times,” and the boy returned to life.
There are no exclamation marks in the Bible story, but this is a really big deal! Paul recalled the story when a boy listening to him fell out of a window at midnight and was killed. Paul stretched himself out on the boy and prayed, and he returned to life.
It had been three years with no rain no dew falling on the country of Israel. Elijah was blamed for this as well, at least in the king’s court, and he was a hunted man. But across the border in Phoenicia, at Zarephath, Elijah had been safe inside the widow’s house.
At last God told Elijah to return to Israel and “show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”
Things are coming to a head. The prophet and the king met and exchanged insults. At Elijah’s request Ahab invited 450 prophets of Baal the weather god, along with 400 prophets of Baal’s female consort Asherah, to meet with the people of Israel at Mount Carmel. Elijah, “the only surviving prophet of the Lord, would meet them there and God would do his work.
I think of Woodstock or Glastonbury, music in the air, flags flying, family picnics. And I think of Jesus preaching from the mountain to thousands, and all that bread and fish. Here we all are, Elijah. We have come for … what? Tell us.
I also think that Elijah was an introvert who had spent the last three years alone, speaking very little. He was not used to this at all. “My mouth is dry, Lord, and my heart is pounding. Please speak through me!”
Elijah called for the people to follow either Baal or Yahweh, but the people were silent.
Now what, Lord?
God heard the silence of his people. Your patience, thank God for your patience, Lord.
God gave Elijah instructions, and Elijah relayed them to the organizers. Get two young bulls, one for the Baalists, and one for the prophet of the Lord.
“Kill the bull, cut it, and lay it on the wood.” But start no fire!”
How can we smoke the meat without a fire?
How can there be a right sacrifice without a fire?
Wait for it, just wait for it. Not everything has to be so fast. Slow takes time.
Take a little time, do a little dance, get down tonight. But this party didn’t wait till dark. It was morning on the mountain. At least some of the Baal/Asherah priests pranced and danced around their dead, black, smokeless bull, waiting for their god to get fired up. I imagine the rest of the priests, with neither room to dance nor inclination, crossed their arms and looked on, hoping against hope. Nothing happened.
At last, one by one, they put their chins in their palms and considered the situation.
And then, nothing happened again. The priests grew tired, they began limping around their altar. Ahab must have been having a cow. Jezebel must have gone inside the royal tent to put on some extra makeup.
But Elijah was enjoying this. He watched alongside the people of Israel. Eyes twinkling in disgust, ears twitching, Elijah began taunting the team of helpless priests. “Is your god asleep, maybe he’s in the bathroom? Maybe he’s on a longer journey than usual with his sweetie?”
The priests cut themselves. Their shed blood made … nothing … happen. How boring is this? No one any longer paid attention.
Then Elijah had his turn. The crowd perked up. The murmuring began in earnest. Elijah spoke to the people, “Come here, come around me!” And in their company he began to build his own altar founded on twelve stones, one for each tribe of Israel.
Around the altar he dug a deep trench.
Elijah knew how to lay the foundations for a fire. He built up the wood just as the foreign priests had done. He killed his bull and cut it into pieces and laid it on the wood.
“Fill four jars with water and pour it on the bull and on the wood.”
“Now, do it again.”
“Now, do it a third time.” And they did. Twelve jars of water on the twelve stones for the twelve tribes. In case they missed the point the first time.
Now even the trench was full of water.
But wasn’t this a drought? There was water to drink, but not to waste. How much whispering, how many angry looks at this strange man none of them had ever seen? Elijah realized he was trusting God for rain as well as fire.
As he had done so often, Elijah prayed to the Lord. “Let these silent people see, O Lord, and turn their hearts toward home, toward you, toward the one true God.”
Lightning of the Lord crashed through the sudden stirred-up storm. Jezebel looked up from her makeup mirror. Ahab knew he was caught in the middle. Elijah breathed a sigh of relief. He knew exactly where that fire came from. It consumed the bull and the wood and the stones and the dust. It licked up the water in the trench.
Those watching stood no longer, but fell on their faces weeping. At last they broke their silence. At the top of their Hebrew lungs these men, women and children praised the god of their Fathers, Yahweh the Magnificent.
And what became of those 850 foreign prophets? Elijah “slaughtered them with a sword at Kishon Brook.” Elijah’s patience was not akin to God’s. Did God tell Elijah to use his sword this way? There is nothing in the story to indicate he did.
But did it rain? Oh, Lord Jesus, yes it did. Elijah said to Ahab, “Ah, I hear the sound of rushing rain.”
OK. I see nothing.
Then while Ahab had his evening meal Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel. Not sure he was not afraid to look, Elijah put his face between his knees. His servant was with him, and the servant looked toward the sea. Nothing.
But Elijah told him to look again. Then once more. The servant looked six times. Nothing. But the seventh time the servant looked and he said to his boss God’s prophet Elijah, he said to him. “Behold a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
Hurry! Prepare for the flood. Black with clouds and wind, the great rain. Dancing of course, and celebration. Can you imagine?
The hand of the Lord was on Elijah (no kidding!), and Elijah gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab straight to the palace at Jezreel (about 30 miles).
When God was lifting up those legs, Elijah’s “chariot of fire” ran faster even than the chariots of the king.
You were my only hope, O God
In you I took refuge
While others’ sorrows multiplied,
While they worshipped other gods,
You have been my cup and portion
And you’ve shown me the path to life
Guided me in your truth
Your delights, your right hand, your fullness of joys
O God you are my only hope
Jesus spoke with great power from another mountain, this one overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
He said to the people and especially to the Pharisees, “Your understanding of the law and the keeping of it is inadequate. The law refers to regulations only as they affect your character. And that law will never pass away.
When you ignore character and refer only to regulations, you are least in the kingdom of heaven. When you focus on character and make sure the regulations allow you to mature in faith, love, mercy and justice, in yourself or in the life of another, then you are greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
This is more than you have done before, and it is not simple. But I can show you how. It is not an overthrow of the law, but its fulfillment.
All these years since Moses ascended Sinai, since Elijah ascended Carmel, and look! Now we are living in the days of fulfillment. Jesus pointed his listeners to the NOW, to the present, and toward himself.
These are the days of the wedding feast. The bridegroom calls the bride to the altar, to the table, to the bed. He calls her to the party and to worship. Who will come?
Kids say yes. Even teenagers say yes. But jaded, betrayed and broken grownups can barely get the word out of their mouths. They have been lied to so many times. They have lied so many times! Jesus is telling us, the gates to the garden of Eden are NOW OPEN. Come and see! Trust me. Take the risk. Believe. It is better to love and lose, than never to love at all.
I know those could have been the words of Jesus.
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