Confidence in THE Hope

1 Kings 18:20-39

There was a couple who was having trouble disciplining their two young sons. 

The boys were mischievous and could always find a way to get themselves into trouble. 

They were the type that got in trouble so often that they took the blame for even the trouble they weren't responsible for causing. 

One day their mother went to the Pastor at the Church and asked him if he would discipline the boys. 

He had a reputation for “putting the fear of God into them” so to speak

He accepted the challenge and when they arrived the pastor called them in one at a time beginning with the youngest boy; Jake. 

Jake sat down across from the pastor who glared deeply into Jake’s eyes. 

The pastor broke the silence, asking Jake,

“Where is God, Jake?”

Jake just stared at the Pastor in fear, unable to respond.

The pastor spoke up asking slightly more forcefully,

“Where is God, Jake!?”

Jake began to shake his head, murmuring, 

“Uhm uuhhhh”

Finally the pastor grew impatient and loudly inquired, 

“Jake! Where is God!!!!?”

Jake jumped up and bolted out of the office, slamming open the pastor’s office door and fleeing into the coat closet outside. 

Jake’s brother, Tommy ran to the door and opened it to see what was wrong. 

When he opened the door Jake pulled him into the closet with him and advised him; 

“Don’t go out there Tommy! They can’t find God and now they think we took him!!!!”

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The story about Elijah we heard today is a lot like the story of Jake and Tommy.

It is one of the reason that Elijah is one of my favorite biblical characters throughout scripture. 

Religious leaders are supposed to fit a certain mold, not just today but in the days of Israel as well. 

Elijah doesn’t really fit this mold. 

Elijah

He is anything but clean cut, and he is a considered a troublemaker on the margins of society. 

Picture a much less attractive James Dean with bad hygiene. 

Rather than a Rebel without a Cause, picture a rebel with a cause. 

Elijah is addressing a king and a people that are facing famine and drought on a large scale. 

For a culture that survives on the ebb and flow of the seasons for their livelihood and daily sustenance, a drought would mean that God has gone missing. 

The people of Israel live in a land that has always lived by the natural cycle of rainy and dry seasons. 

So it is only natural that they would consider the cultures, the techniques, and the religions that occupied the lands before they arrived. 

The cultures that had occupied those lands did not worship the God of Israel, however, they worshipped Baal and other gods who were said to dictate the natural cycle of weather patterns. 

Over time, and most likely trial and error, the Israelites had developed a hybrid religion that merged the pagan practices of the previous cultures with the religious practices they had brought into the region. 

If they had a plentiful harvest they probably thought they had struck just the right balance between God and Baal. 

Baal was often depicted as a golden calf

But when things go badly we always need answers. 

The King, Ahab, being married to Jezebel -a member of the cult of Baal and an advocate for outlawing the worship of the God of Israel- certainly isn’t going to take Elijah’s side. 

Elijah is trouble and according to all accounts he looks the part just as much as he acts the part. 

He is rude, he is crude, he is odd to say the least, and far from living up to the standards most would have for a prophet or holy man. 

So if you have to pick a scapegoat Elijah is by far the most likely candidate. 

King Ahab in fact, directly accuses Elijah in his greeting essentially saying in verse 17 leading up to our reading for today; 

“Is that you Elijah, the guy who messed up the whole country?”

It reminds me of the modern claims in our own country; 

“It’s all Bush's fault” or “Thanks Obama!”

All of the troubles of the country are pinned on one man by the very ruler the country, King Ahab,

“Thanks Elijah! It’s all Elijah’s fault!”

Certainly Elijah must want to run out of the office and hide in the coat closet for fear that he is going to catch the blame for Israel’s continued misfortune. 

And there is more misfortune on its way; 

More War

More Famine

More Suffering

More Drought 

Everyone thinks God is missing and Elijah is the culprit. 

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A few weeks ago, Pastor Nickols and I attended a large gathering of pastors and rostered leaders from around the Synod at the gathering of the Ministerium in Virginia Beach. 

During this gathering, a theology Professor; Dr. Linda Mercadante spoke to this gathering of pastors and rostered leaders about a group she labeled as “SBNR’s” short for Spiritual but not religious. 

It was another lecture regarding the decrease in church attendance, the decrease in church membership, and the decrease in affiliation with any religious groups. 

Many causes were linked to the problem; mistrust for authority, increased scientific awareness, concerns that religious affiliation is linked closely with ethnic, cultural, sexual, or gendered intolerance. 

Even practical issues such as scheduling conflicts and the technological accessibility that allows people to enter into a digital congregation of sorts. 

Dr. Mercandante cited one problem that stands out to me above all others, however; authenticity. 

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In today’s story about Elijah he doesn’t promise the people anything. 

He doesn’t sell his faith to them. 

He even gives them a choice. 

“How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” 

Elijah doesn’t claim that Baal is a false god, he doesn’t even claim that Baal isn’t real in this public declaration. 

He only advocates for one thing and one thing alone; loyalty. 

Elijah on Mout Carmel

Elijah knows that the people need to put their faith in something, 

something beyond the dust of their empty fields, 

something beyond the cloudless sky that has failed to nurture those fields, 

something beyond the mighty armies waiting to invade their lands, 

something beyond the hungry mouths of the children they are unable to feed. 

He only asks them to choose, but when he asks them to choose they know what he himself has chosen.

And while they may not know why, they can hear in his voice the confidence in which he chooses God. 

It’s not the clothes on his back.

It’s not the food in his belly.

It’s not even the safety and security of his life, because if the King or Queen get the slightest chance his life will be over. 

But none-the-less a confidence rings out in his voice, in his actions, as he stands up; one lowly prophet against 450!

Sisters and Brothers, how often do we walk out of those doors with that kind of confidence!?

What is more, what does it say about the God when we walk out of the doors of our sanctuary with our heads hung low as the world outside longs to put their faith in something,

something beyond unemployment

something beyond a depleted economy 

something beyond our divided public opinions

something beyond the hurt, the pain, the suffering, the fear, the anxiety. 

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One of my wife’s favorite movies Rob Reiner’s 1995 political romantic dramady “The American President” has one scene that speaks to the need we all have. 

In the movie, the president -played by Michael Douglas- is discussing a policy he is trying to pass with one of his political advisors, Luis -played by Michael J. Fox. 

The policy in question has caused the president's numbers to dip in the polls and his advisor, Luis attempts to address why the American people have lost their faith in him. 

The President claims it is because the American people have become willing to listen to the lies of his opponents to which Luis replies, 

“People want leadership Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone, they want leadership. 

They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert towards a mirage and when they discover there’s no water they’ll drink the sand.”

To which the president responds “Luis, we have had presidents who are beloved who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight, people don’t drink the sand because they are thirsty, they drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.”

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Much like the president, Elijah cannot make the decision for the people. 

They have to choose for themselves; the God of Israel or Baal. 

But Elijah communicates the difference. 

I would disagree with Luis; people like leadership but don't confuse leadership with what people are truly thirsty for. 

In a world of suffering, hate, and fear, we all crave hope.

What Elijah exudes is not leadership but it is a quality we seek in leaders; confidence. 

Elijah portrays a confidence unparalleled by King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, 450 prophets of Baal or the people of Israel. 

They don’t have confidence in God or Baal, and they are crawling through the desert desperately drinking cups of sand with just the chance that it may just be the water of hope. 

Elijah simply allows them to decide for themselves based on the obvious confidence he has in the hope that is God. 

Do we exude that kind of confidence?

Not on Mt Carmel against 450 prophets of Baal but at work, in school, at the grocery store. 

This isn’t the kind of confidence that belittles another’s faith or religion.

It isn’t the kind of confidence that claims that our way is the only way to find hope. 

It is the kind of confidence that I pray my daughter had a few weeks ago when for the first time she reached up to receive a small piece of bread and heard the words “The Body of Christ given for you.”

It is the kind of confidence that I pray my daughter had when for the first time a small glass of wine was poured into the tiny cup in her hands and she heard the words “The blood of Christ given for you.”

That is the hope that we are called to, that is the hope that we have come here to bet it all on, with confidence laying all our chips down before the Cross of the Crucified One. 

After all, Jesus the Christ had the confidence to lay his down on us first, didn’t He?

Amen

Sources

Hayley Silas. “The American President 1995 Full Movie - Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen”, October 10, 2015. https://youtu.be/rs6FUVO6Iho.

Mercadante, Linda A. Belief without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but Not Religious. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014.