Worship this week was at Living Hope Lutheran Church in Saukville, and at the end of the sermon, I gave everyone in attendance a wooden foot massager (the same illustration I used last summer in Greene for this sermon on Sabbath, but for a different story).
For today’s sermon, I focused on the story of Elijah fleeing for his life in 1 Kings 19:1-15a, with reference to the other readings appointed for this second Sunday after Pentecost, Galatians 3:23-29 and Luke 8:26-39.
You can watch the entire worship service video, or listen to the sermon audio here:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
At our church council meetings this week, I asked everyone to share their favorite character in the Bible. I got a few different answers, Paul, Mary, Thomas, Jesus of course, but no one said Elijah.
This morning, I want to look with you at this piece of Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 19, and I’m not trying to make him your favorite character, but maybe you’ll appreciate him a bit more. I think he’s pretty relatable.
Now, verse one is kind of a rough start. “Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.” We need some context.
This story is taking place about 860 years (source) before Jesus is born, and Ahab is the king of Israel, the 9th king after King David. The short summary of Ahab’s reign as king is in 1 Kings 16:30. “Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.”
Ahab worships idols; he doesn’t follow God’s law; and he and his foreign wife Jezebel do all kinds of wicked things.
Jezebel, the queen, worships a false god named Baal, and she starts persecuting the people who follow God, killing off as many prophets of the Lord as she can find. Pretty soon, God gets involved, and sends a drought over Israel. Elijah, the last remaining prophet of the Lord, gets the unhappy job of announcing to Ahab the king that this drought is punishment for his wickedness.
Then God sends Elijah into hiding in a little village named Zarephath. God provides for him and the widow he’s living with, giving them a jar of oil that miraculously never runs out, keeping them alive during the famine.
After three years, God commands Elijah to go tell Ahab the drought is going to end. Elijah boldly arranges for a contest—maybe you remember this story. Elijah and the priests of Baal each build an altar, and pray for fire to come down and burn a sacrifice. Elijah is so confident that he even pours water over his altar. Obviously, the idol Baal does nothing, but God hears Elijah’s prayer and sends fire from heaven to burn up his sacrifice.
When Elijah wins the contest, he kills all the prophets of Baal, which is where our story today picks up. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets of her god Baal with the sword. Jezebel sends a messenger to Elijah warning she’s going to kill him, and Elijah runs for his life.
He flees for his life to a place called Beer-sheba. An exile fleeing his home, he goes a day’s journey out into the wilderness, and exhausted, he plops down under a tree and says, “God, I give up. It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
Elijah had been so bold before, the last faithful prophet, taking a stand for his God, but now, faced with a real threat from Jezebel, he ran away.
It’s a little unclear in the story, but I think he’s feeling guilty. He’s feeling ashamed for not finishing the job. So he runs away, and he’s done. He’s tired. He’s overwhelmed. The future looks bleak.
He falls asleep, until an angel wakes him up and gives him food. Verse 6: “He ate and drank, and then lay down again.” The angel wakes him up again, feeds him again, and sends him on his way. On the strength of that food, Elijah travels forty days and forty nights to Horeb—known as God’s mountain—where he finds a cave to spend the night.
Then God speaks to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And Elijah gives this pitiful, almost whiny response: “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.”
Poor Elijah, right? It’s Everyone else has fallen away, he’s the only one left, and they’re trying to kill him too, and nothing’s working, and why doesn’t God do something to fix it?
God says, “Ok, go out on the mountain. I’m going to pass by.” And there’s wind, and an earthquake, and a fire, and then there is a sound of sheer silence. And it’s not until then that Elijah gets up and leaves his cave. In the silence, God speaks to him, asking the exact same question as before. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Why are you here, hiding in a cave when there’s work to do? Why have you run away? Why aren’t you in Israel, where you’re supposed to be? Why have you given up?
Elijah gives the exact same answer, “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.”
But this time, God gives him a mission, sends him back to anoint a new king, who will overthrow wicked Ahab. And Elijah answers the call. He leaves the cave and goes on his way.
So, with all that historical background and explanation, what does this story have to do with us? What’s the point?
A great way to read Scripture is to ask two questions: What does this story say about God? And what does this story say about us?
So first, what does Elijah’s story tell us about God? Well, the parts with the famine and the competing prophets and the fire from heaven consuming Elijah’s sacrifice tell us God is powerful. God is real, unlike the idols people come up with.
But more interestingly, this story tells us God is persistent. God doesn’t give up on God’s people. Elijah reminds me of Jonah, another prophet who shirked his duty and ran away. When Elijah is afraid, when he’s ready to give up, to lay down and die, God comes to him, and God provides for him. God doesn’t give up on us, even at our worst.
The Gospel story from Luke is another example. There’s a guy who’s clearly at a low point in his life, exiled to live naked among the tombs, possessed by demons. This is a guy whom everyone else is afraid of, whom people avoid, try to chain up, living in a constant state of crisis.
Everyone but Jesus has given up on him. But Jesus heals him, casts out his demons, and gives him a mission, a purpose in life. God doesn’t give up on God’s people.
On a spiritual level, Paul in Galatians talks about God adopting us, making us all children of God through faith. The worldly things that divided us before no longer matter. There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.
As we mark this Juneteenth holiday today, as we remember and grieve this week the racial killings of the nine people attending Bible study at the Mother Emanuel church in 2015, this is a message we need to hear.
All people of every race are made in God’s image. All people are beloved. God is not bound by the lines we draw, by the divisions we humans come up with. God looks beyond our pasts, reaches out to exiles, looks beyond what we think we can offer, and gives us what we need.
These are stories of God’s faithfulness, of God’s persistent love.
And what does Elijah’s story say about us?
So often in the Bible, God chooses to use the most unlikely people. Elijah is a prophet, but he’s overwhelmed. He’s exhausted, with nothing left to offer. And so God gives him exactly what he needs. God gives him a break, feeds him, nourishes him for the journey.
This is a story about how even the most courageous people, even the people with the strongest faith, who are willing to stand up against hundreds of enemies, even they get overwhelmed.
So in those moments when you feel tired, exhausted, overwhelmed—hopefully not by royalty trying to kill you—but overwhelmed by life and everything going on this world, you’re in good company. It’s ok to rest, to recharge. It’s ok to take a nap.
I think all of us need that reminder. It’s ok to take a break. God will still show up. God’s love for you does not depend on you getting it right all the time, or on how much you do. God provides what you need to do God’s work.
Twice, God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?” and I think that question applies to us too. What are we doing here?
What is our purpose as churches, as the people of God in this community? As individuals too, what are we doing here?
Elijah’s story is a reminder of the value of pausing to consider that question. As we move into this summer season and prepare for some big changes in our churches this fall, moving to separate weekly services, I encourage you to take time to think about what our mission as church ought to be, to pray about what God is calling us to do, to abide with God and listen for how God is calling you to be involved.
I have a tangible reminder for you today as well. On your way out after church, I’ll give you a wooden foot massager. You can ask me later for the story of where these came from, but just know your offerings did not go towards them, and receive them as a gift.
Take it home and when you use it, remember the importance of pausing and recharging, the importance of sabbath time, stopping and listening to God.
Symbolically, what I like about a foot massager is that it’s not rest for its own sake, self-indulgence. It’s a symbol of rest in preparation for getting out there and serving. It’s preparation for being the feet of Jesus at work in the world, a reminder to reflect and recharge in order to love your neighbors.
At the end of the story, after Elijah’s rested and eaten the food God provides, after he’s been reassured of God’s presence with him, the Lord says to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.” God sends him back out into the fray, and the story continues.
Elijah might not be your favorite Bible character, but he has some relatable moments.As you remember Elijah’s story, may you allow God to fill you up so that you have the energy to do God’s work in this world.
May you find encouragement in knowing God does not give up on you. May you receive the moments of holy rest God provides. And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen