At the Foot of the Master

At the foot of the master 1 Kings 18:20-39 Galatians 1:1-12 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Year C June 2, 2013 Elijah loves to party, whenever, there is a party, Elijah is there. The more wine the better. Jesus is a party person also. Afterall, Jesus said where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there. Elijah and the wedding One day Elijah was walking down the street and he heard a lot of noises coming from a backyard. That could mean nothing but a party. Elijah takes his cane and poof, changes into some drab grey robes, and knocks on the gate to the household. The father of the bride opens the gate. “May I help you” – I can hear your party from out here. Can I come in and join you? The father takes one look at him and says no – this is a private party just for my family and friends, and he slams the gate in Elijah’s face. Hmmph – says Elijah, his feelings are a little hurt from the rejection. Poof- this time he takes his cane and changes clothes again. This time he is in the finest white suit that you ever did see. White jacket, a white top hat, he even turns his cane white with a gold header on it. He takes the cane and he knocks on the door again. The father answers the door again. Elijah says “ I can hear that you are having a party, it sounds like you all are having a lot of fun. Can I join your party. The father takes one look at Elijah and says sure come on in. Elijah comes in and starts to mingle with the guest. When it is time to eat – there is a feast – all kinds of food everywhere. The guest start to line up at various tables to get their meal. Elijah gets in line at the meat table – and when it is his turn – he takes some roast beef and stuffs it in his pocket. The woman behind him sees him, but she doesn’t want to say anything. Elijah then gets in the dessert line – and he takes several pies – the first he smashes all over the front of his suit, and the chocolate cream pie, he takes and smears it on the back of him. Now this time everyone sees him – but no one wants to say anything, the don’t want to disrupt the party. So Elijah goes to the drink table, he picks up the whole punch bowl and he pours it all over himself, even on the top hat. No one can ignore this – and it disrupts the whole party. Finally the father feels that he has to do something. He walks up to Elijah and starts to yell. What is going on – I invited you to my party, I let you in my house, I let you celebrate with my family. And this is how you treat me. Elijah responds – I come to your front door dressed like a bum and ask if I can come in, and you slam the door in my face. So I come again, dressed to the nines and you immediately let me in. So the best I can tell, you didn’t invite me to the party at all. You invited my clothes, not me. So I am feeding them. I want them to have a good time at the party. Of course by this time – everyone at the party has stopped to hear Elijah Speak. They realize that it is Elijah himself who has come to their party. “ I Elijah have spoken” he says and poof – he disappears leaving only his white cane on the ground. Elijah today Elijah loves to party. Rumor as it, Since Elijah didn’t die, and he was taken up directly into heaven, he also has the power to return. Rumor has it that before the messiah returns, Elijah will return. In Jewish tradition whenever you have a gathering, you always set a place for Elijah, because you never know when he will stop by. Elijah loves to party – the more wine the better. Elijah will be our guest for communion today. Elijah is a big folk hero in the jewish tradition – there are many tales about the appearances of Elijah in the everyday lives of the faithful. For the next six weeks, we will look at the stories of Elijah in the books of 1 and 2 Kings. I love this time of the church year, because I love Elijah. I love stories about him, those in the bible and those that are not. And this one, in 1 Kings is a perfect example of the larger than life character of Elijah. This is a story between Ahab the king of Israel and the prophet who comes to him and holds him accountable for misleading his country. He marries Jezabel, no only does he take on her religion, but he encourages people to worship God and Baal. Elijah comes to him and tells him that until he changes his ways- it will not rain. And the rain stops for 3 ½ years. After 3 ½ years the king decides to solve the problem, not by repenting of his sin, but by killing Elijah. This is the story where Elijah challenges the priest of Baal to a game of my God is stronger than your God. Whichever God that shows up and consumes the offering on the altar is the real God. Elijah is pretty mean in is taunting of the priest of Baal. Elijah asks where is your God? When scripture says that perhaps he has gone away – that is just a euphemism – he is really saying Your God is not present because he went to the bathroom. Elijah challenges bystanders to douse the altar with water 4 times. In the natural world, water quenches fire. there is no way you can start a fire in the presence of water. But fire comes and consumes the altar. The fire wasn’t started by human hands it was started by God. God showed up, Baal didn’t – maybe Baal had to use the bathroom. But this is not a story about the presence of God- it is a story about the faith of Elijah. The rest of Israel were going with the flow of the day. Elijah chose to stay faithful to God. He was strong enough to stand up for what he believed in. Because he knew that he worshipped the one true God. And have you ever noticed that what is true always has to compete with a lie. A lie always spreads with speed, but the truth always endure. What is 2+2 A few years ago, a major Multinational company was looking for a new Marketing Director. After much advertising and many application, three candidates entered the final selection process. A mathematician, a statistician and a solicitor. The first to be invited in for the final interview was the mathematician and the Managing Director asked him a simple question: What is 2+2. The mathematician was surprised, thought about it for a bit, wondered if it might be a trick question and then simply answered 4. The Managing Director looked at the Board, shook his head and thanked him for coming, but he wasn’t the candidate they were looking for. The statistician was the next in and and the Managing Director asked him too the simple question: What is 2+2. He paused, thought about it for a bit and then replied that statistically it was a number between 3 and 5. The Managing Director smiled and Board were quite impressed. The candidate was thanked and ushered out. The last candidate, the solicitor was then invited in to the interview and the Managing Director asked him too the simple question: What is 2+2. Without batting an eyelid he replied: “What do you want it to be”. And was promptly hired on the spot. You might call it creative accounting – sometimes things don’t always add up. Story of battle between the same faith The thing that strikes me the most about this story- was that this is not a story about us and them. Ahab and Elijah were both jews. They both worshipped the same God. The difference was that Ahab worshipped God and Baal. Elijah stayed loyal to the one God. This was not a show for Ahab, Elijah was after the hearts of those who were listening. Before the show – Elijah addresses the people and asks how long will you continue to limp between two opinions. In other words, how long will you continue to walk on two crutches? I think that this is an important question in our faith, to the followers of Christ – us. We all believe in God, but we let other things creep into our faith. Lectionary As we hear the stories if Elijah for 6 weeks, the epistle lesson will come from Galatians. There are more holidays to prepare for, no more important events in the life of Christ. The summer is the time for us to develop our discipleship. Our ability to serve Christ. – Christ only. Paul – different gospels? Paul is also caught in the middle of the battle between the human gospel and the divine gospel. And he too is concerned about Christians making up their own rules. Creating their own gospels. There is the gospel of good works, the gospel of hard work, the gospel of being right, the gospel of what I think, there is the gospel of prosperity, the gospel of popularity. We tend to make up our own gospels according to what works in our lives. We have to be reminded that there is only one God, one savior, one gospel. The one that we find in the bible. Sometimes I think that we are the churches worst enemy. There are times when we get in God’s way when He is trying to tend to the business of His kingdom here on earth. "A man was struggling with a large box at the back edge of his truck. A passing neighbor saw his plight and came over to help him. He put his shoulder to the box. After a few tiring moments the neighbor exclaimed, "What’s in that box anyway? I don’t think we will ever get it on the truck." "Get on!" the exasperated man shouted, "I’m trying to get it off!" … Well-meaning Christians can be God’s worst enemies. When we judge and condemn others, when we set up our own standards of what it means to be saved, when we claim absolute knowledge of God’s will and of his Scriptures, we take over God’s role and attempt to run his business" (Hoefler, p. 47). That is the very reason that we sometimes fail to see that we are trying to put the box on the truck when God wants the box off the truck. The fight between Elijah and Ahab was not a fight between the Good and Evil or right and wrong. It was a fight between worshipping God and worshipping God correctly. It was a fight between the many ways to worship and the one God, with one path. It is a fight for our faith. To make sure that we serve Go with all of our hearts, minds and souls. What type of faith does the lord require? An unselfish faith, a Christ centered faith, a humble faith, a faith which trusts completely in God’s word. A faith that thinks of others, not self, looks to Christ as God, depends on God’s grace. What faith do you have? Which gospel to you live? The battle of Elijah was a battle for the hearts and souls of God’s faithful people. Who fights that battle today? Let us pray….