Winthrop Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
No matter who you are. No matter where you are on life's journey. You are welcome here.
1 Kings 19:4-8 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 for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. Sometimes, you just need a nap and a snack. That, I think, is among the greatest lessons from today’s reading: sometimes, you just need a nap and a snack and then you can keep going. Elijah has found himself laid up under a tree in a foul mood after a tense, but ultimately victorious, run-in with the prophets of Baal. He was a prophet during the reigns of two different kings, Ahab and Ahaziah. His primary antagonist was a queen named Jezebel, who was married to Ahab. She was Phoenician and as devout to her god Baal as Elijah was to his God. In fact, as Cheryl Exum notes in a brief introduction to Jezebel, we might consider Jezebel to be a “a zealous missionary” for her God. She exerted a fair amount of influence on her husband, much to God and Elijah’s annoyance.
Ahab and Jezebel, in opting to worship Baal, set the northern kingdom of Israel, also called Samaria, on a course towards great conflict with God. There was a great famine called down upon the nation due to what scripture called Ahab and Jezebel’s sinfulness. Unfortunately, all too often, regular people suffer due to the actions of their leaders. Elijah was able to hide out and survive the famine due to God providing food for him, first by ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and evening (does that sound familiar to anyone?) then through an empowered widow who shared what she had with Elijah. When we read about the conflicts between Elijah and Jezebel, Ahab, and the priests of Baal, we are also reading about a conflict between gods. Part of Elijah’s role as prophet is to demonstrate that his God has the true authority over Israel. The conflict came to a head when God told Elijah to go see Ahab, and, once there, Elijah told Ahab to assemble four 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah at Mt. Carmel. Ahab also called up everyday Israelites to observe the showdown, hoping to entice them to following Baal. They show up but seem to ignore the king. Then, Elijah describes the competition he is going to have with all of the hundreds of other priests. Him versus all of them. If it was a Western movie, this would be the showdown in the main street of the town. Instead of a shoot-out, it’s a complex, hours long ritual involving asking the gods to set some sacrificed bulls on fire. Baal’s priests tried first, shouting for Baal to answer them while walking around their altar and even offering sacrifices of their own blood. All their effort was to no avail. Elijah, however, had great success. Inviting the Israelites to crowd around him and help him, he prepared his altar and bull, even inviting the crowd to soak the butchered animal with water. When he prayed aloud, “ O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” And, of course, God’s fire falls onto the bull that has been butchered as offering, as well as the altar, and burns it up. The fire even burns up the water that had pooled around the altar. As always, the miracles have a purpose, and this is to show that God is more powerful that Baal. The Israelites in attendance are duly awed by what they see. Then Elijah orders something harsh. He has the crowd round up his opponents and they kill all of them. As a Christian pastor who is aware of our long history of killing people of different religions specifically because they don’t follow the same one as ours, I find this mass killing disconcerting, especially as it is celebrated as a sign of God’s provision and power. I don’t think a large force killing a smaller group of people is a sign that God is standing with the people who won. But the people who compiled this story and wrote it down and passed it along as holy certainly saw this battle as a sign of God’s power. We modern readers must contend with that. For now, though, in order to get to the tree where we first encountered Elijah, I will offer that the text finds this battle of the priests to be a good thing, and a sign of how empowered Elijah is. Even though Jezebel threatened him with retribution after the massacre of her priests, you still might expect someone who had just had such a resounding win to feel optimistic about his work and his capabilities, and, frankly, God’s willingness to show up and support him. But, as Iain Provan points out in his notes on the first few verses of chapter 19, Jezebel is made of tougher stuff than her husband, and Elijah takes her threats to heart, and flees to south out of Samaria into Judah to hide. If we were going to psychologize this ancient story, which I don’t always recommend we do, we might note that lots of people describe feeling down after achieving a major goal. I’ll share an article about this phenomenon when I share the sermon later in the week. David Garber, in his commentary on this text, notes that this contest with the priests of Baal and Asherah one of the most memorable and important events in Elijah’s life as told in 1st Kings. Between the down feelings that accompany the end of a major life event and the threats from the powerful queen, it’s no wonder that Elijah ends up grumpy under a tree. That being said, if we who aren’t in the midst of the post-event crash remember the story about the ravens and the widow, we might also remember that God has always provided for Elijah, and therefore can be trusted to continue to do so. Last week I talked about the Israelites being hangry. Maybe that’s what happened to Elijah. Or maybe he’s burnt out. Or, maybe having so many deaths on his hands is weighing on him. Whatever ever the case, his grumbles of “take away my life,” seem dramatic and also familiar. Garber, in his commentary, notes other prophets shared similar sentiments. Jonah also sat under a tree wishing he might die (Jonah 4:8). Moses, after a big fight when the Israelites, asked God to end his life (Numbers 11:15). Fortunately, in all of these stories, malaise and despair are not as powerful as God’s word. An angel brings a message from God along with a poke in the arm. “Get up and eat.” Fortunately, Elijah had the sense to listen. He got up and ate and drank, but went back to sleep. Then the angel went into what one of my friend’s called mamaw mode, prodding the exhausted prophet to wake up and eat some more. “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” Who here has had the good fortune of having someone love you enough to hassle you into taking care of yourself? That’s basically what God is doing for Elijah through the angel. This thing that felt like the end isn’t and I will keep taking care of you as I always have. Having been bolstered by a nap, food, drink and divine pestering, Elijah no longer feels like he must curl up and die. And, he has enough strength to make the 40-day journey to Mount Horeb, the mount of God. Horeb is also called Sinai. It was where Moses had a great encounter with God. There, Elijah will get the next part of his mission from God. God tells him to anoint three different men to be kings of different areas, and to anoint Elisha to be the prophet who will follow in Elijah’s place. Three new kings and one new prophet. Man, it’s amazing what a nap and a snack can do! This is the third Sunday in a row where our readings are about someone being fed. Miracle stories are here to show us something about the nature of God. And, the God we encounter in this story realizes that our physical needs are not disconnected from our spiritual ones. Rather than chastise Elijah for his lament, Garber points out, God just feeds him, because that’s what he needs in that moment. If you are in Elijah’s place right now, I hope you find the rest and sustenance you need, maybe right here in this church. If you are in the place of the messenger, I hope you take seriously the call to offer food and respite to those who have been pushed to despair. May we have space to nap when we need it and sustenance for our journey. Resources consulted while writing this sermon: David Garber Jr: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-19-2/commentary-on-1-kings-194-8-7 Alexander Rofé's entry on Elijah in HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, ed. Paul Achtemeier et al (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) J. Cheryl Exum's entry on Jezebel in HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, ed. Paul Achtemeier et al (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) Iain Provan's notes on 1 Kings in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) About feeling down after a big accomplishment: https://hbr.org/2015/02/staying-motivated-after-a-major-achievement
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AuthorPastor Chrissy is a native of East Tennessee. She and her wife moved to Maine from Illinois. She is a graduate of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University and Chicago Theological Seminary. Archives
October 2024
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