June 5, 2016

What gets in the way of getting what we want? We think if only we had a different boss, or a different job, or a different president – everything would be better. We know that those sorts of external changes don’t really change us. So what gets in the way? We are afraid. We don’t know what might happen. We take the easy path, even though we know it will take us to the wrong destination.

We think we know what we need, and we know what has to happen. We often project our desires on the powerful people over us. Oh, how they manipulate us with promises and threats! How easily we are swayed because of our fear! We also know that we need something true and right. We need to find meaning. We need to be connected. It would be nice if someone we could trust could simply appear and show us the way.

Elijah takes on that task. Last week, he defeated the prophets of Baal in a spectacular contest on Mt. Carmel. What we didn’t hear was what happened next. He killed all 450 of the prophets of Baal. Today we have the story out of order. This is part of the story that leads to the contest on the mountaintop. Ahab marries Jezebel and builds an altar to Baal. Elijah proclaims a drought throughout the land. Everyone is suffering. God seems a very hard master. I believe that Elijah is depressed and feeling very alone.

Elijah wanders into Zarapheth. He meets a widow, who is starving. He asks for water and bread. She is planning to make a cake out of the last of her flour and oil. Elijah promises that her flour and oil will not run out. So it happens. I wonder about the neighbors. The widow’s son dies and the widow wonders why the holy man has brought this on her. She mentions her sin – not that she has done anything wrong, except lived too close to holiness. Is this is what happens when you get too close to God?

Elijah raises her son. Now she knows that he speaks God’s words. Now she also knows new words from God. God is not dangerous or distant. Perhaps, even that God is not cruel. Elijah isn’t just a messenger of an angry God. God dwells with strangers and restores them to life.

Jesus performs a similar miracle of resurrection. We can hear the story of the dead being raised to life, and we think, “That’s great! I wish we could see something like that!” I wonder how we would react in the moment? The people were amazed and they were afraid. The boy sat upright and started to talk. This sounds more like a Stephen King novel than good news.

The healing is creepy but there is more than death and life. There is also restoration. A child wasn’t just a nice blessing. People relied on children to help them in their old age. This widow had no one else. When she lost her son, she lost all hope of income and status. No one would care for her. She would be dependent on charity.

Jesus has compassion. He crosses all the barriers and taboos. He intrudes on the funeral rites. He touches the bier – the body – making himself unclean. He commands the boy to live and he restores him to his mother. The first reaction is fear – then rejoicing. But why the fear? What are they afraid of? What are we afraid of? We rejoice in any healing or restoration that comes our way. We want to feel better and to be in good relationship with those close to us. Our discomfort comes from acknowledging our dependence on God, and on our dependence on others.

The sin of Ahab is his idolatry. The deeper sin is turning away from God and raising up a God of Ahab’s own making. He wants to control God. He wants a God who will do what Ahab wants. He wants a God that is perhaps a servant of the state, to enlarge and extend the power of his kingship. We are in no danger of setting up idols, however, we often attempt to define God on our terms. We think we know what we need from God. We think we can tame God to do only what we need God to do.

Of course, it doesn’t work that way at all. We only fool ourselves. God will not live in the little square box we create for God. God continues to create and save and love the world. God crosses every barrier, every wall we create to contain God. God stubbornly refuses to live into our narrow job description. When we see this, when we know this, we often rejoice. If we consider the implications, there might be a little fear as well.

God is closer than we like to admit. Between us and God there is no private space where we can really have our way. We are always being pursued, wooed, invited by God into new life. God invites us to cross the comfortable walls we have created or accepted. There is nothing that keeps us from our neighbors except habit and fear. We are afraid of what people will think of us. We are afraid of offending. We are afraid of the implications.

If we were to offer our hands and our hearts to our neighbors, they very well might think we were a little off, or a little presumptuous. I don’t think this is our primary fear. If we were to extend ourselves to our neighbors, we would acknowledge our connection – a connection that demands accountability. We can no longer live as if we do not need one another. We cannot live as if our actions do not matter.

This is what scares us. We all construct a world that we think we can manage. We have an illusion of control. If we act as if our neighbors matter to us, then we admit we are not in control. I cannot control what my neighbor does. I cannot control what God will create in this new relationship. I cannot determine the outcome. I can only be open to what might be possible. Who knows what might happen?

God knows. This is what God asks us to do. God asks us to trust. This is the essence of faith – not a series of statements I agree might be true. Faith is acting on what we believe. Will we cross the barrier that separates us and discover what love means?