Sermon – 08-13-23 – Proper 14 – Cycle A
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 85:8-13; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon Title: “In the Quiet”

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God.

How often have we read or heard this story – the one about Elijah in a deep depression caused by the calling he received from God. It would make a great movie. Maybe it is a great movie. Elijah the prophet was commanded by God to declare that his God – our God – is the only God with true, dependable power.

The king of Israel in the time of Elijah is King Ahab with wife Queen Jezebel. A follower of God, named Obadiah, is in charge of the palace. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel are prime examples of wickedness. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel worship other gods. Queen Jezebel has many prophets of OUR Lord God killed.

There is a severe drought in this land. Three years into the drought, God tells Elijah to establish a contest between the god of Baal and our God to determine which god has the power to bring rain into this thirsty land. The contest was really about fire. Both sides were supposed to build the burning material and place the pieces of meat on top and then pray to their god to send fire. Supposedly, the side whose prayer brought fire would find that rain would follow. Elijah orders Ahab to bring all of his 450 prophets to Mount Carmel while Elijah is the only prophet of our God left. So it is 450 prophets of Baal against 1 prophet of our God. Elijah orders 2 bulls to be brought to the site. The Baal prophets shall choose one of the bulls as a sacrifice. They shall pray. To get the detailed version of this event, it is available in the first book of Kings, chapters 18 and 19.

The prophets of Baal have no success. Finally, Elijah invites everyone to come to the altar he has repaired and prepared for the meat – an altar that was built to worship our God but had been torn down. Fire came when Elijah prayed a simple prayer. The meat burned well as a sacrifice. After a while, wisps of clouds are seen in the distance. Gradually they become big, dark clouds that can hold no more moisture and down comes the rain. Our God wins. Our God has the most power. Yeah! God also took this opportunity to do away with the 450 prophets of Baal.

Does this shame Jezebel into submission? Of course, not. She is inflamed! Elijah needs to escape. He has done God’s work and he needs to flee for his life. Does this leave Elijah enjoying the winning of the contest? Absolutely not! He is devastated.

This is where our scripture starts today. Elijah flees into the wilderness and lies down under a broom tree totally exhausted in body and spirit. He begs God to let him die. An angel touches him and invites him to eat of warm bread and a jar of water. Elijah eats and promptly lies down again and sleeps. Again the angel comes to him with more food and says get up and eat. You have a long journey ahead of you.

What is the destination of this journey? Mount Sinai, also called Mount Horeb, the mountain of God! It takes 40 days and 40 nights for Elijah to complete the journey sustained only by the angel’s bread and water. He finds refuge in a cave in this mountain. God finds him there. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” God says. Elijah verbalizes his complaint to God. He has done what God required and now he is fleeing for his life. God says, “Come out of the cave, I am coming by.” Apparently, Elijah does not leave the protection of the cave very quickly. In fact, he stays there through a mighty wind that breaks rocks. Then comes an earthquake, but still Elijah is in the cave and stays unharmed. Then the fire. Still no presence of God, no voice of God in these three phenomenons of nature.

Then there is the sound of sheer silence. Is is not interesting that sheer silence has a sound? Think about a motor running or a whistle blowing or a bird singing or children playing. When that sound stops, we notice the sound of silence. That is when God makes his presence known. That is when God speaks to Elijah – in the silence. Then Elijah repeats his desperate complaint to God. What is God’s reaction to this complaint? God has mercy on Elijah. God states plans that he has for a successor for Elijah. After Elijah does a bunch of anointing of kings, Elijah is swooped up into heaven in a chariot while his successor, whose name is Elisha, runs after the chariot with extreme sadness. That story is told in 2 Kings, chapter 2. I especially am stirred by this account of the separation of Elijah and Elisha. You may be also.

Do you remember my mention of the mountain to which Elijah fled – Mount Sinai, aka Mount Horeb? That is the same mountain on which Moses saw the glory of God and came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments. There is a lot more detail about that experience in Exodus, chapters 19 and 20. Moses coming face to face with the glory of God is called a
theophany which is a visible manifestation to humankind of God or a god. This experience of Moses is “the great theophany of Sinai.” Now Elijah meeting God’s real presence on the same mountain years later is a second theophany of the same mountain.

But, listen to this: Years and years later when Jesus was transfigured on another mountain, either Mount Hermon or Mount Tabor, it was Moses and Elijah who appeared with Jesus. Moses representing the law – the Ten Commandments – and Elijah representing prophecy of the coming Messiah. It is so exciting to see how God weaves all of these happenings together to form our history. If you know me fairly well, you know that I am not much of a history person. In the two required Christian History classes in seminary, I could not separate the popes from the kings. In my own genealogy, I loose interest more than two generations back.

But to see the pciture of how occurrences in the Old Testament show up in the New Testament is awesome. Several weeks ago we focused on the idea of hope. It is easy to lose hope when things seem to be against us. Think Elijah in the cave, think the disciples out on a boat in a strong storm and a ghost comes walking on the water, think the disciples and other followers between that awful Friday and the glorious Sunday morning, think of financial distress. Fear versus hope. But God has been so faithful to us – those who believe!

Paul writes to the Romans in our scripture today, “. . . if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It is the hope to which we cling. I have this hope! Why do I have this hope? Because over and over God has shone the light to me, the light of a problem solved, the light of a relationship healed, the light of everlasting peace and safety. “Be still and know that I am God.”