Mtthw 14:1-13;
August 10, 2008
1st Kings 19:4-8
Patrick Preheim
Heroes in Retreat
Our texts this morning talk of heroes in retreat. The riders of
Rohan barricade themselves in Helms Deep when the Orcs of Isengard march forth.
Batman holes up in the “Bat cave” when the Joker’s riddles befuddle him.
Superman has his Fortress of Solitude when he is over-wrought. Elijah, in an
extreme foot race against the hit-men of Jezebel, finds refuge at the Mountain
of God. Jesus attempts two retreats in Matthew 14: a lakeside retreat and a
mountain retreat. What are the emotions that drive these super heroes to their
various places of refuge? Grief, confusion, threats on their life top the list.
At various times we, too, face these emotions. In some ways Lex Luther, Joker,
Orcs, Jezebel, and King Herod are all personifications of the various challenges
in our lives. Before I rush into application, however, I want to give a bit more
attention to the bible stories for today. Biblical stories are similar to hero
myths of the cultures around us, and yet there is usually a twist or two that
make them unique. In today’s passages, for example, we have the sense that it is
God who enlightens and strengthens the hero. The hero is brave, mind you, but in
the end the story is about God’s provision to the hero, not the superpowers of
the hero. The presence of a sustaining God in the midst of great joy, grief,
confusion or life threatening events is truly good news we can take to heart if
we grieve or walk along side those who suffer. To the text.
Elijah had the best of weeks and the worst of weeks. For three years Elijah had
been hiding out with ravens in the desert and with a widow in the Gentile town
of Zarephath. If you have thought spending a week with family to be intense,
imagine being cooped up with large black birds or a town of gentiles. Finally,
God again calls to Elijah with an assignment. Three years earlier Yahweh, the
true God of Israel, announced a drought on Israel though the prophet Elijah on
account of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel instituting Baal worship (16:31—17:7).
Rightly frustrated by this move, the King and Queen waged war on Yahweh by
killing the prophets of the Lord (18:4). Through the good will of God-fearers
Yahweh kept Elijah and other prophets alive. Now after three years Yahweh wants
to take the clash of the gods public. The prophets of Baal and Elijah meet on
Mount Caramel for a contest. Yahweh succeeds in bringing fire to the mountain
while Baal failed. This contest thus proved Yahweh to be the true God. The
drought ends. And in a post contest and rain induced euphoria Elijah slaughtered
the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah present at Mt. Caramel. It was this last
move that raised the ire of Jezebel. Jezebel promised to be avenged on Elijah,
and Elijah runs for his life. He goes to the farthest geographic corner of the
Kingdom (Beersheba), leaves his servant there, and continues into the desert
another day. He asks God to be allowed to die, but God has other plans. In the
strength of heavenly bread and water Elijah treks another 40 days and nights to
Mt. Horeb. In the nether world of the Sinai Desert Elijah experiences wind,
earthquake and fire. But God was not in these tumultuous weather events. Elijah
finds God in stillness.
Think of what he has experienced in this six week saga. I am
sure he keenly felt the absence of God-- three years in a drought with only
visits from birds and gentiles. God had suddenly gone quiet. Worse yet, God
allowed faithful prophets to die. I bet Elijah felt anger as he heard about
Jezebel and Ahab killing his innocent colleagues. I would imagine he felt fear
at being asked to meet in person with King Ahab and compete against the 850
prophets. No doubt he felt elation when Yahweh answered his prayer on Mt.
Caramel. I bet he felt vindication as he purged the false prophets—probably
thinking that he was eradicating the evil once and for all. And then he became
afraid as he realized that you can’t just remove evil by killing bad prophets
anymore than you can eradicate God by killing good prophets. He suffers life
threatening depression. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”, comes the voice. Why
wouldn’t he be there is my question. Elijah has come to Mt. Horeb because he is
in the midst of a deep faith crisis. Mt. Horeb is where Moses encountered the
burning bush. Mt Horeb, also called Mt. Sinai, is where the Hebrews received the
commandments of God. Elijah has lost meaning and direction for his life, so he
goes back to the place where the greatest Hebrew prophet (Moses (Deuteronomy
34:10)) received his call and the Hebrews became a people. Elijah does not
encounter God in the flashy weather normally associated with meeting a god.
Instead, Yahweh comes to Elijah in silence. We too suffer intense spiritual
highs and lows in this adventure called life. Where in our lives and day do we
find the silence necessary to reclaim meaning and direction for our lives? Where
do we go when the news is bad, or when the doctor’s report is pending, or when
we are angry with God, or when family threatens us emotionally or physically?
Elijah goes back to a sacred site in the history of his people. He goes there to
find meaning and find purpose. We too are loved and called by God, even when we
struggle to remember it. Let us take a moment to locate the sacred place where
we go to reaffirm our spiritual identity and call. It might be an external site,
like Mt. Horeb, or it may be an internal touchstone. And if you struggle to find
a place I will later mention some ways to create sacred space. [pause for some
moments] Take a moment to locate Mt. Horeb.
One place Jesus likes to go is to the mountains. A quick survey of Matthew’s
gospel reveals that Jesus has really important encounters on mountains. Jesus is
offered temporal authority by Devil on a very high mountain, and on that high
mountain he is able to resist the temptation to claim power by force (4:8).
Jesus teaches multitudes on “the mountain” in a sermon we have come to call the
Sermon on the Mount (5:1). In the verses just after the execution of John the
Baptist Jesus went up “the mountain” to be alone and pray (14:23). Jesus cured
multitudes on “the mountain” in chapter 15 (15:29). It is on a high mountain in
chapter 17 that Jesus is transfigured and appears with Elijah and Moses. From
the Mount of Olives Jesus processes into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (21:1),
teaches the disciples about the end times (24:3), and celebrates a last moment
of calm with the disciples just prior to his arrest (26:30). Last, and
importantly I would say, in the post-resurrection commissioning of the disciples
from a mountain in Galilee (28:16-19). Mountains are special for Jesus. A
mountain is where he is reminded that he is God’s son, the beloved. It is where
he gets his courage up to march into Jerusalem. It is where he steels himself
before his arrest. It is where he grieves his cousin’s murder. On the mountain
Jesus finds quiet, calm, and the re-invigorating Spirit of God.
Elijah goes to Mt. Horeb and Jesus goes up a mountain, but you will not find me
taking my retreats in the mountains. I am a child of the plains who feels hemmed
in by large peaks and suffocated by trees. I have different places that I go;
maybe you as well.
There are physical and psychic locations to which we can go that
create a space in which God can appear to us in the silence. Nearly every faith
tradition recognizes holy sites which remind people of their identity and call.
These sites are a spiritual home which reground us. Camp Shekinah, for example,
is a sacred place for a number of Mennonites in this area. Returning to a sacred
site like Shekinah sometimes has the effect of reminding a person of the
promises God has given. Ancestral property (a homesteaded acreage, a cottage, a
graveside, to name a few) can serve a similar function. A Trip to Bountiful is
but one movie which explores this theme. The on-going success of the Mennonite
Heritage Tours to Ukraine also testify to the draw family property has upon us.
A church building is also a spiritual home with sacred overtones. A church
building is someplace that we regularly, if not frequently come, to reaffirm our
identity. Through song, scripture, silence and sermon we are reminded that God
loves us and wants us to love ourselves and care for our neighbour. In this
place we remember that we have done nothing to earn God’s favour-- it simply is.
In fact, God’s love is able to gloss over the failures of our lives and invites
us to start anew. It is a living force which enables us to care better for
others. It is my sincere hope that when people return to the church building
weekly, monthly, or return after a lengthier hiatus, they feel as if they are
coming home and remember their spiritual identity.
In addition to allowing physical space to remind us of our identity we can also
create psychic space to remember. What if, after all, we find ourselves in the
position of recently deceased Alexander Solzhenitsyn or Chinese pastors,
confined to the Gulag and unable to visit camp Shekinah, the home acreage, Mt.
Horeb, or a church? None of us lives with the horrifying routine of the labour
camp, and yet domestic life and work life for some is quite trying. Solzhenitsyn
was a committed Christian and I suspect his faith helped him persevere under
conditions much worse than what we experience. I do not have the details of
Solzhenitsyn’s faith life, but I am familiar with Catholic Walter Cizak who
spent extended time in the notorious Soviet prison of Lubianka. “He was kept day
and night in his cell, except for the periodic interrogation sessions that were
his only opportunity for human contact. To keep his wits intact he adopted a
daily routine of spiritual exercises, all based on what he could remember from
his Jesuit formation. The day began with morning prayers and an examination of
conscious. Then came the Mass, all enacted mentally. The noon bells of Red
Square signalled the Angelus, followed by the rosary and meditation on the
scriptures. Each day ended with another examination of conscious” (Robert
Ellsberge, All Saints, p 534). This mental escape to the mountain of God has
kept people like Cizak, Solzhenitsyn, Chinese pastors and others sane in the
face of Communist terror. The story of Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the
Rwanda genocide, is similar. “For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled
silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of
machete-wielding killers hunted for them. It was during those endless hours of
unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually
shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with
God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of
truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her
family’s killers” (Product description as found on Amazon). You can read more of
her story in the 2006 book, Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan
Holocaust.
Our scriptures and these stories tell us that when things are in
a valley we can meet God on the mountain, but how? In the case of Elijah and
Jesus less is more. Prisoners and detainees have an abundance of silence, but
our freedom and culture make finding silence a real challenge. Among the myriad
ways to create silence I offer just three short exercises. Literally give the
first 10 seconds of your morning to God. An adult education facilitator this
past spring talked about such a discipline and how it shapes an entire day.
Before we leave bed each of us has an opportunity to create a sacred space.
Phrases like, “I am loved by God” or “I am sheltered by God’s wing” or “I will
listen” can help us remember our identity and purpose. I have tried this
mediation technique and it is not as easy as you might suppose. Walking is more
my speed. I have found walking conducive to revealing God’s mountain before me.
There is something about the plodding of my feet that allows me to hear God and
speak to God more easily. I find myself in the silence of God as I walk. And
finally, consider silence or meditative music for that morning commute. I love
to listen to the news, but I have come to realize that the news will still be
there later in the day. Consider listening to God about the appointments,
concerns, and commitments which the day holds. Our faith insists that our lives
are about what God can do and less about us solving all the problems.
I want to conclude this morning with the observation that the stories of Elijah
and Jesus retreating to the mountains do not end there. On the mountain Elijah
is given three tasks. Shortly after his stay on the mountain Jesus is called to
heal a bunch of people in Gennesaret. The purpose of the mountain retreat is
rejuvenation for service in the world. The stories do not allow us to remain in
a secluded and safe place. In both accounts the person seeking refuge is sent
back to continue ministry on behalf of God. In no way does the text imply that
we will be safe (Jesus did, after all, die) or even complete the tasks set
before us (Elijah only finished 2 of his 3 assignments). Still we go forward
renewed. We take a bit of the mountain with us into the fray. We go forward
reminded of the love God has for us. We go forward empowered to share God’s love
in a demanding world.
Amen