10/11/21

 Elijah’s Duel

            At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them.  As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.  Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me”; and all the people came closer to him...Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it a third time, so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench also with water. At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “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.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench.

1 Kings 18:27-38

             

                 Elijah and the Prophets of Ba’al were battling for the hearts and souls of the Israelites.  They set up a contest at the end of a 3 year drought: whoever was able to call fire from the sky to consume a sacrifice would prove that their god was worth following.

                Elijah won.  In fact he did not just win, he went out of his way to make Ba’al and his prophets look small and pathetic.  Elijah heckled the Prophets’ rituals, asking if their god was asleep or on a nice little trip.  Then he had huge jars of water poured over his alter so that the wood was soaked and the parched ground was saturated.  Then fire fell from heaven, consuming the sacrifice, the structure and all the water that had been poured out.  There was no doubt in anyone’s mind which god was real and should be followed.  The prophets of Ba’al were routed and the people turned back to the one, true, living God.  For a while. 

                 It did not last.  It never does.  People forget.  People are swayed by the promise of a better life.  People want a god made in their own image instead of following the One that they are made to reflect.  There is bad teaching and poor leadership and the siren song of political influence and power.  It never lasts.

                And so we end up in the modern age where the gospel is watered down or where the gospel has been perverted into a message that celebrates wealth and military might and nationalism.  We end up in a society where purity is scoffed at and the words of Jesus are ignored and your political party determines what kind of Christianity you follow.  Debates rage and people suffer and the power of the one, true, living God seems remarkably absent from the lives of most Christians.

                And do you know where I find myself?  I just don’t care.  I look out at Christendom and do not see where my family and I fit.  Our theology does not match neatly with any congregation that we have been a part of.  I do not see my tribe.

                Part of that is theological.  A large part of that is selfish.  I just don’t care about others because all my caring is wrapped up in my own household.  It is incredibly common for special needs families to simply check out of the community.  No politics.  No church involvement.  No community events or projects.  We are just trying to make it one more day.  My job, my church involvement and my weekly appointments are exclusively tied to what does my family need me to be.

                Does this need to change?  Do I need to become more involved…more invested in the rest of the world?  Should I look into re-entering the ministry?  Should I stop using my family as an excuse to avoid responsibilities or would additional work simply be a tool to avoid the hard work of parenting?  I don’t have a great answer other than to say that I have not said “No” to any invitations that I have heard from God.  If there is a call outside of writing and parenting and loving those who I encounter, it has been subtle and I have not recognized it.

                Sometimes I wonder if Elijah had a family.  Did he have to choose between God’s call and being with them?  Was that an easy decision or did he wonder every day whether he made a mistake?  How could you choose your family when the entire nation is at risk?  Bu then again, how could you choose anything other than your family when you are all they have?  Just something I wonder about.

             

A moment to reflect:

How have you withdrawn from the world?  Has that been healthy or not?