Retire

Pentecost 9A, 8/10/14
1 Kings 19:4-15

God, speak to us, your people. Help us turn to you in our hearts. Let us hear what you have to say. Amen.

        

Elijah was the greatest prophet in his day.

He challenged King Ahab, who allowed his wife Jezebel to bring her false gods into Israel.

When Elijah fled the king, he lived on miraculous bread made by an impoverished widow.

When the widow’s son died, he brought the boy back to life.

In a competition with prophets of the false gods Baal and Asherah, Elijah called down fire from heaven to prove that his God was the true God.

He then ordered the deaths of over 800 prophets of the false gods.

Elijah was such an incredible prophet that John the Baptist and Jesus were both compared to him when people were trying to find words to describe what great prophets they were.

But in today’s story, Elijah isn’t all that great.

He has performed all his miraculous tasks. He fled the scene after fire miraculously came down from heaven, because he was afraid of what the people would do to him.

He felt abandoned.

He thought all his work had been in vain, since the worshippers of the false gods were still in charge in Israel.

He didn’t know what else God had for him to do.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
"What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

God promises Elijah that he will speak to him and help him understand his purpose in the world.

It’s like the promise in the Psalm: the Lord will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

Elijah turns his heart to God in despair.

Then a whole bunch of powerful things happen – wind, earthquake, and fire – and Elijah doesn’t meet God in any of them.

And finally God appears in the sound of sheer silence.

OK, this tells us a few things about God and Elijah.

Elijah has learned how to listen for the voice of God.

Many people would have imagined that God was present in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire.

When natural disasters occur, we tend to blame God for them. We call them “acts of God” as if God is only present in violent times.

But in today’s story, God is clearly not speaking through these powerful signs.

God chooses to come to Elijah in the silence.

And Elijah is able to hear God in the silence.

Where do you find God?

Shortly after I began serving as your pastor here, I met with all the groups and committees at the church and asked them this question.

Where do you meet God? When do you feel close to God?

There were a few answers that kept popping up again and again.

The members of Cooksville Lutheran Church find God in music, in nature, and in other people. We feel close to God when we are in community, with our friends, our biological families, or our church family. We have seen God in the sunset and heard God in the notes from our organ or the sung words of our choir.

Once we’ve learned to recognize the voice of God, it is easier to feel God’s presence in other times and places. If we feel closest to God when we’re working in the garden, but God chooses to come to us one day in one of those cheesy poems on a greeting card – well, the only reason we can recognize God in the new place is because we’ve learned something about God from the old familiar interactions.

Does that make sense?

The only reason the disciples were able to recognize Jesus on the water was because they knew what he was like on land.

Peter is the only disciple who doubts – he makes Jesus prove his identity to him. The other disciples recognize Jesus’ voice, which they have come to know in a different context, so they believe that it’s him even when he shows up in an entirely unexpected place.

         (You can’t get more unexpected than walking on water!)

Back in the Old Testament story, Elijah is feeling burned out and is waiting to hear from God. Elijah is lucky – he gets a promise that God will come and help him understand his purpose in the world.

When we feel discouraged, God will come and do the same for us, as long as we’re willing to listen like Elijah did.

So let’s imagine that we’re with Elijah on the mountain, waiting to hear a message from God about our meaning in life.

And God speaks through the sound of sheer silence.

A voice came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

Elijah’s story hasn’t changed.

He has expressed his discouragement to God, God has responded by showing up and trying to help… and Elijah’s discouragement remains.

Elijah’s words after experiencing God’s presence on the mountaintop are identical to what they were when he retreated there out of fear and frustration.

We can be like that sometimes, can’t we? God hears all our frustrations, and we tell God what we want, but when God shows up in a new and different way, all we can say is – this isn’t what I wanted!

It’s not like it used to be!

Elijah’s frustration remains.

So God gives Elijah some instructions.

It’s time to retire, God says.

Elijah, you’ve got two jobs left: go and anoint two new kings.

You see, in order to be a king in ancient Israel, for people to believe that you had the blessing of God, you had to be anointed by a prophet – it was sort of like the divine coronation ceremony.

So Elijah, God says, get off this holy mountain and take care of these two jobs I have for you. Then get some well-deserved rest. Find Elisha, and anoint him as prophet in your place. Your work will be done.

If you’re this discouraged, God says, the best thing for you is to let someone else take over. Give the reigns to someone who still has energy for ministry. Doing so doesn’t invalidate any of the ministry you did at your prime – all kinds of great things happened in the past, and you were the one who caused them to happen.

But your discouragement isn’t helpful right now. You think you’re alone in the world?

Look! There are still 7000 faithful people in Israel, God says, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. These 7000 deserve someone with a little more energy and a little less cynicism than you have at the moment. So let Elisha be the next prophet.

Elijah goes.

Meeting God on the mountain hasn’t changed Elijah’s outlook on life – he’s still burned out from his exhausting ministry – but meeting God has given him a purpose, which is really what he was looking for.

In fact, Elijah was so excited to be done as the primary prophet in the world, that he went and anointed Elisha first. He skipped over the anointing of the kings, Elisha ended up doing that later in the book of Second Kings.

Elijah was the greatest prophet in his day.

In today’s Bible story, Elijah’s day is ending.

He was faithful to God even when life got difficult – he was a prophet at a time when it was unpopular to follow God – but everyone’s got their limits.

Today, Elijah reached his.

So God gently says, thank you. I think it’s time for us both to move on now.

God uses Elisha to continue ministry on earth – the great prophet Elijah throws his cloak, his mantle over the younger prophet, granting him all the authority that he had carried throughout his ministry.

As for Elijah, a chariot sweeps down from heaven and takes him up to be with God.

That’s why people believe that Jesus or John the Baptist could be Elijah returned to earth – Elijah never died. He was taken directly into heaven, and so the belief was born that he would return someday.

Sometimes God asks us to pass the mantle to the next person.

This is good news.

Because sometimes God also rewards us with rest.

And if we’re lucky, God even grants us an enduring reputation that becomes the paradigm of what future faithful people should be.

God can come to us in the silence – in the unexpected places.

God guides us through even the most difficult times.

And God grants us rest when we need it.

Amen.