There is plenty to talk about in the New Testament reading, but I want to start with the Old Testament reading we heard a few moments ago. I decided to read this particular story this week, breaking from the regular lectionary readings, because Elijah has always been a character I wanted to have a chance to study a little deeper.
Elijah is one of the most colorful characters in the Bible. His life as recounted in First Kings is full of impressive displays of a powerful faith. Elijah makes a grand entrance into the Biblical story in First Kings, chapter 17. When we first meet with Elijah, he makes the following proclamation:
As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.
And the rain does not fall for three years, except at Elijah’s word. God then sent him to another town. Elijah met with a widow and asked her for some water, and some bread. The woman replied that she had no bread, only some oil and some flour. Furthermore, she tells Elijah that she’s going home to eat what she has, and then die. Undaunted, Elijah tells her to use the flour she has to make some bread for him because
this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’
She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.
But the story took a sudden turn for the worse when the widow’s son became ill and died. The woman cried out in pain and anger against Elijah, who cried out to God, then we read:
The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.
The woman, seeing her son alive again, proclaimed that Elijah was a true man of God, and affirmed her belief in the Lord.
Elijah’s life and faith cannot help but be noticed. His deeds of faith are clear and powerful. When you were around Elijah, there was no doubt about his faith, and his God. Even when things turned bad, he was able to turn them around.
It was a life many of us might envy. After all, not only was he able to display the power of God at will, but he was also able to bring comfort to a grieving mother. His was a dramatic faith, to be sure.
Then, as we just heard, Elijah, fed up with the disbelief of the people, challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel of faith. You call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the LORD; the god who answers by fire is indeed God.
But that wasn’t enough for Elijah. In a display of bravado that would only be found today in professional sports stars, Elijah not only challenged the prophets, but when their efforts went unnoticed, he started to mock them, Yell louder! Maybe your God has fallen asleep, or maybe he’s out of town, or maybe he’s off somewhere.
Of the many qualities Elijah possessed, neither humbleness nor shyness was not high on the list.
And it wasn’t enough for Elijah that he just win the contest, he had to win big. So when Elijah’s turn came he had water poured over his sacrifice. His zeal could not be contained, and his faith would not be quenched, and neither would God’s power, demonstrated clearly when fire poured down and all the people witnessed the event. Then Elijah, in one of the worst displays of being a poor winner, rounded up all the losers and had them killed.
It was a memorable occasion, where God’s existence and unmatched position was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Did Jesus’ disciples know this story? Of course they did, and they liked it. No doubt they liked the excitement, the clarity, the power, and the display of faith right there in the middle of all the people gathered around. It was a great bit of PR for God. Jesus’ followers were always on the lookout for Jesus’ image. They wanted signs and miracles, they wanted clear and distinct messages.
Jesus continually frustrated His followers because He was more interested in the small events of faith than the grand displays. Jesus kept telling His disciples to follow the laws of God, to love one another, to serve each other and to look after those who were powerless. His disciples answered by continually fighting over who was the greatest.
So Jesus said to them: Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.
His message is clearly lost on John, who answered Jesus with this: Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.
Did you catch the connection, because it makes no sense to me. For some reason John thought that this was the time to mention to Jesus their attempt to stop someone else from casting out demons. And look again at the reason that John gave:
We saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us
Interesting choice of words, “he does not follow with us.” John’s objection was not what the man was doing, he actually says that the man was not only doing a good deed, but that he was doing it in Jesus’ name. What John objected to was that the man was not a part of what John considered to be the “in” crowd, part of the elite who followed Jesus. “We tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” John did not say “he does not follow you,” but “he does not follow with us.” John has clearly missed the lesson of the day.
And the day is not over. Next we hear that Jesus wanted to go into a Samaritan village. Now we might wonder why Jesus wanted to do that. After all, as Dr Wayne Griffin reminded us just a few weeks ago, Jews and Samaritans did not interact. But for some reason, unknown to us, Jesus wants to go to this Samaritan village. Perhaps having heard about Jesus, or about Jesus’ disciples, the Samaritan village isn’t interested in hosting them. John, fresh off his earlier remarks, comes up with another indicator that Jesus’ message has been lost on him.
When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
The Bible doesn’t tell us what Jesus said to them, only that He rebuked them.
The main problem is that Jesus’ followers are more interested in being like Elijah than like Jesus. They’re attracted to the power, to the force, to the clear display of faith which leaves no room for questioning. Instead what they have is the quiet faith of Jesus, teaching them that it is in their everyday life that they live their faith. It is in how they treat one another, and the strangers, and their enemies that they show evidence of their faith. Jesus was never about calling fire from heaven. He continually declined to perform miracles on command. He performed many in secret, many times taking only a few of His followers with him.
Following Jesus has never been easy, because too often Jesus’ followers have wanted to follow on their terms, not His. Again, because these stories are familiar to us, we can miss their original impact. Suppose a visitor came to this church some Sunday morning. At the end of the service they make their way up the Elder greeter at the door and say “Wow, this is wonderful, I want to be a part of this.” Now can you imagine that Elder turning and saying, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” But that’s exactly what happened to Jesus, a man came up and said “I will follow you wherever you go” and Jesus gave him that for a reply. It barely even qualifies as an answer. Jesus makes no attempt to explain what it means. I can imagine the disciples looking at each other and thinking “Why is He turning people away like that? Why not just say ‘Great, join in, we can always use another set of hands’?”
Following Jesus isn’t easy. Even those who literally walked with Him had problems living out his message. Jesus made no excuses and often gave no explanation. In fact there were times when Jesus seemed to be a terrible recruiter. First He has someone who wants to join Him, and Jesus discourages him. Then Jesus asked someone else to come and follow Him, and when the person responds “Let me bury my father” Jesus tells him not to worry about it. Another wants to follow Jesus, but simply wants to say goodbye before he does. Jesus says, in first century terms, “It’s now or never. Either decide to follow me, and do it, or don’t decide. You can’t look back.”
Jesus obviously never took a course on church growth.
There are many possible reasons why Jesus as He did. What is hopefully clear is the level of dedication which Jesus was looking for; nothing short of full commitment is enough. And it had to be a decision made after understanding the consequences.
Looking at the two passages, I personally prefer Elijah. He’s powerful and speaks his faith for all to hear; he calls on God for a visible sign and gets it, time after time; he even brought that boy back from the dead. I can picture Elijah and the competition. I understand why Elijah did what he did.
And Elijah got results.
Compare that with Jesus. He performs signs and even his closest followers don’t get the message. They spend their time arguing over who is the greatest, jockeying for position, and anxious to use their powers to wipe out their opponents.
That is why Christianity is a challenge. It is a challenge precisely because it calls us to live not on our terms, but on Jesus’ terms. It calls us to set aside the flash and the excitement and obsession with power and status, and calls us to a life of service. That life of service may go unknown on this earth. Jesus repeatedly reminded His followers that their reward and His kingdom were not of the world, their treasures were being stored up in heaven.
Jesus told his followers, seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will follow. This world, including and sometimes especially the Christians in it, has a fixation with control. We want to live life on our terms, we want to know what steps to take in order to reach whatever goal we have set – just look in any bookstore and you will find 12 step programs for everything from weight-loss to teaching yourself a new language to overcoming mental health problems. Give us 12 steps and we will conquer the world. Now I’m not knocking all 12 step programs, in fact there are those close to me who have changed their lives with the help of AA. But there is more to our life – and more to our life of faith – than simple programs can capture. There are people in this room who have done their best to live the Christian life for decades, and are still on the journey. It is a continual path which requires nurture, support, and renewal.
There are untold hours of Christian service sitting in this room. From Vacation Bible School to Montreat to Logos to Presbyterian Women to Interfaith Hospitality Network just to name a few. There are few times that much recognition comes for all the work which is done, and yet the people involved are not complaining about it. They know their rewards are stored up in heaven, and they know that their efforts are appreciated on earth. We may not get to call fire from the sky, we may not get to be the ones who make authoritative demonstrations of faith which shows to all people that our God lives and reigns. But that is not our calling.
At some point in our lives, we met up with Jesus and said “I will follow you wherever you lead” and we have sought out how to do that ever since, some days better than others, some days with success and some with failure. If we are fortunate there have been memorable occasions when our faith has been clear to those around us in what we have done, how we have acted, and what we have said.
The call is to continue along that path, even when the hours are long and the progress seems slow. Let us do our best to continue down the path to which we have been called, always mindful of the God who watches over us, who forgives us our sins and celebrates our victories.
Amen.
Preached on July 04, 1999
First Presbyterian Church
Gainesville, Florida
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