1 Kings 19:9-18At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. 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."
He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "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."
Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."
Well, there you have it –two interesting stories from today’s lectionary choices. One very familiar – one – not so much. One from the First Testament – one from the Second. One about a well known ancient prophet Elijah and the other about an even better known apostle, Peter. One takes place on the sea, the water – another in a cave. Really quite different, I suppose – so what might yoke these two pericopes, scriptures – stories?
I would suggest that it is FEAR. Poor Peter always gets a bum rap – a man of too little faith – as he begins to slip into the sea. Oh, Peter is many things – brash, headstrong, eager – Peter makes mistakes, sometimes whoppers and Peter even denies his Lord – but I don’t think this story is a faith story. I think it is a fear story.
In ancient days both the water and the sea were viewed as places of peril. They were places where the most evil of demons dwelt. And even the fishermen of the day were cautious in dealing with the rolling waters of the sea. So here is Peter the Brash getting out of the boat to walk on these primordial waters to meet his master. And he does okay for a few seconds – and then that fear of the deep rises up and snags him. Old fears and ideas die hard. So Peter is dealing not only with the real fear of drowning, but the fear of being overcome by the demons of the deep – just as real a fear if you believe it.
Now that is part of the surface of this story – but as you might have guessed, I believe there is more going on here. We’ll get back to that.
So what about Elijah hanging out in the cave? I believe there is a lot of fear here as well. Unfortunately this bit of the scripture hides part of the story – the foremost reason for Elijah being out in a cave alone. He is on the run – on the lam, so to speak, because he has taken the life of 400 or so prophets of the Baals, the competitors of the God of Israel – and Queen Jezebel, wife of the current king, Ahab, is angry for she is a worshipper of the Baals. And her minions are in pursuit. So Elijah has some heavy-duty fear going on here – fear for his very life.
Do you suppose that is all that is here? Stay tuned for part two.
Unfortunately, fear is ever present in our world, our nation and our daily lives. There are fears founded on fact and experience and there are unfounded fears that seem to creep in to catch us unawares. Since September 11, 2001 a new kind of fear has stalked our nation: the fear of terrorist attack – the fear of an enemy on our own soil, in our own backyard. And that fear has had a dramatic impact on the way we live our lives as citizens of the United States. This fear, coupled with the energy crisis. has almost brought our aviation industry to its knees – we have given up or had taken from us civil liberties that once were paramount in who we were as a nation – we have allowed this fear to dictate unprovoked attack and torture. The fear of another attack is very real, but the consequences of that fear are troubling.
We should have some fears – after all, it is an evolutionary safety factor – fears like encountering large bears – poison snakes – great white sharks. Fear can be a good thing when it triggers leaving a potentially harmful situation.
And fear can be a debilitating life style – and here I speak of phobias – those fears, seemingly unfounded in reality, that prohibit individuals from truly living out a normal (what ever that means) existence.
Perhaps you suspect by now that there is a bit of a theme going on here – and that theme is fear. We began our worship by singing an Advent hymn in which the hymnist longs for a Jesus that will release us not only from our sins but from our Fears.
And again we joined in the Psalm that speaks of a Shepherd who enables us to Fear no evil. Fear is an oft used, many-faceted concept in our Bible and as we have noted in our world.
Just like the central motif of a symphony fear seems to be played continually in our lives and in the biblical chronicle – weaving its way in and out in insidious and life-depleting ways.
I’d like to play a little word association game today if I might – I’ll give you a word and then you all say the first word that comes to mind – wrong (right) – left (right) – -new (old) – good (evil) – love (hate). The reason for this game is this:
Years ago one of my mentors preached a sermon that I have not forgotten. Well, most of it I have forgotten – but one thing that he noted was that the opposite of love is not hate, like we assume – the opposite of love is FEAR. Interesting concept!!
This week I have read a book that is on the best seller list – a book called “The Shack”. I have found it most illuminating (perhaps because I agree with it), and have underlined and written in margins as I went along. I would like to share a paragraph with you today. This is part of a conversation of a grieving father named Mack and the Holy Spirit., one of the members of the Trinity.
“So why do I have so much fear in my life?”
“Because you don’t believe. You don’t know that we love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about it, but you don’t know it.”
Fear seems to block so many things – relationships with family and friends, good intentions – -even prophetic witness. And while learning to love and trust others – and especially learning to love and trust God – is a personal journey, I believe the Bible and often the church have been stumbling blocks.
For instance – fear is a favorite word found heavily in the First Testament but also in the Second. And often it is the word used in how we are to be in relationship with God – time and again we are told to fear the Lord, we seemingly are called to be God fearers.
I found this to be troubling. Some translators are now using the more acceptable words – revering the Lord. I wish it had always been so. Take for example this text from the book of Philippians. The New International Version – a very popular translation – renders Phil. 2: 12 & 13 like this:
Paul writes: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
How often do you suppose the church has used this to instill fear in people that they might loose their salvation if they do not toe the line? I am reminded of the grandmother Susan and Richard spoke of who lived her life in fear and expectation of the coming end times. What a disservice the church has done at times not only to the scriptural text but to the very essence of God’s self.
J.B. Phillips, translator of the “New Testament in Modern English” struggled with this same Philippian text. He writes in his book, ”Ring of Truth”. “I had for some time been worried about the expression “fear and trembling.” It did not seem likely to me that Paul in writing to the Philippians could have meant literally that they were to work out their salvation in a condition of anxiety and nervousness. We all know that fear destroys love and spoils relationships, and a great deal of the New Testament is taken up with getting rid of the old ideas of fear and substituting the new ideas of love and trust. I realized that the Greek word translated ‘fear’ can equally well mean ‘reverence’ or ‘awe’ or even ‘respect,’ but I was still bothered about the ‘trembling.’ Surely the same Spirit who inspired Paul to write to Timothy that ‘God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind’ could not also have meant us to live our entire lives in a state of nervous terror. I came to the conclusion, a little reluctantly, that the expression ‘in fear and trembling’ had become a bit of a cliché’, even as it has in some circles today. As I went on translating I found this must be the case. For when Paul wrote to the Corinthians and reported that Titus had been encouraged and refreshed by their reception of him, he then went on to say that the Corinthian Christians had received him with ‘fear and trembling!’ Now this makes no sense, unless it is a purely conventional verbal form implying proper respect. For, little as we know of Titus, we cannot imagine any real Christian minister being encouraged and refreshed by a display of nervous anxiety.”
And so J.B. Phillips translates Philippians – “.so now that I am far away, be keener than ever to work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper awe and responsibility. For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and power to achieve his purpose.”
How much more life-giving when we leave out the fear. And so –speaking of fear – and we have been haven’t we – what about the fear of those two men, Peter and Elijah that we read about at the beginning of this discourse.
Yes, surely they did have legitimate fears – fear of the sea and fear of a woman who wanted to enact deadly revenge. But as I mentioned in passing I don’t think this was the only fear apparent in this passage. We know both Peter and Elijah to have been good faithful followers of God – some would say good Godfearers – but we certainly won’t. Peter had spent time with Jesus listening and learning and Elijah had been the prophet of God working out the ways of God: yet, I believe their basic gut-wrenching fear was total immersion in God – giving up their own independence to the total will of God. They were afraid to be totally who God was calling them to be – as am I – and I suspect as are you.
Perhaps we should constantly remind ourselves of the message the shepherds heard from the angels long ago – Do not be afraid – for I bring you news of great joy. Amen.
