Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost Study
11TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 08-08-2021
FIRST READING: 1 Kings 19:4-8
You wouldn’t know it from this passage, but God’s prophet Elijah has just victoriously faced a tremendous challenge, defeating the 450 false prophets who worshipped and proclaimed the Canaanite god Baal in a contest. Elijah has stood up, straight and strong, and announced God’s Word to King Ahab and to Queen Jezebel – spoken “truth to power” as we like to say in current times. In the previous chapter, Elijah is so bold and courageous… so unafraid and confident… so full of faith and trust in God and in the power of God… as he won that contest of “Which of us can light the sacrifice without using matches?” And he never wavered as he confidently and correctly announced the end of a long drought on a sunny day when there was not even the hint of a cloud in sight. I Kings, Chapter 18 had ended with the prophet Elijah racing 20 or more miles with God-given superhuman strength ahead of King Ahab’s chariot and just ahead of all that heavy rain that Elijah had prophesied would end the drought.
But is this the same Elijah? Did I skip a page in my Bible or doze off for a moment? Here, in 1 Kings, Chapter 19, the prophet is fearful, fleeing for his life, exhausted and isolated, despondent, depressed, desperate, and in despair. He has fled 90 or more miles to Beersheba plus a full additional day’s journey into the lonely and rugged desert, and he wants to die. That’s what he says. That’s what he thinks he wants. And so he’s hunched up and laying under the shade of that single, solitary broom tree – that little bush. Out there in the desert. Out there by himself. And in his heart and mind it is better that he should die at the Lord’s hand than become a victim of Queen Jezebel’s revenge.
Ever have a crisis of faith and life like Elijah? A point at which loneliness, weariness, and helplessness have overwhelmed you. And, even worse, your spirit has been shattered. Maybe you were living your life in a strong and faithful relationship with God. You were doing your best to be courageous and obedient. You put your time, energy, and future on the line. And there were some great results. But now you’re under the broom tree. Much was expected of you. You tried – OH, how you tried! – but now you’re broken. There is no more left to give, no interest in fighting on, and nothing seems to matter anymore. “O Lord, take away my life.”
Thank God that out there in the barren desert Elijah did find that broom tree – just a solitary scrubby shrub with just a little bit of shade – under which to sit. Thank God that he lay under that bush and fell asleep. That’s self-care. And it’s also God’s grace. By running, Elijah at least gave himself some time and some distance from the immediate threat from Queen Jezebel to his life… and he got a little shade and a little rest out there in the desert. Sometimes all you can do in the struggle and despair you find yourself in seems like so little. But it counts and it helps. A little distance, a little time, a little shade, a little rest.
Thank God that God listens to our pleas, listens to our prayers, but doesn’t always respond exactly as we have asked. So God didn’t snuff out Elijah’s life that moment under the broom tree out there in the desert. He allowed him to live. In fact, God wanted him to live. The Lord had other plans for Elijah, another mission.
Thank God that an angel came along with some food, some water, and some encouragement – not once but twice. That’s God’s care at work. God helped Elijah take care of his basic physical needs and rejuvenated him. The shade of that little bush, the rest and the sleep, the bread and the water all gave him the physical strength to continue the journey. They were blessings from God! And the angel of the Lord said, “Arise and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” And that’s what the prophet Elijah did. He rested, he ate, he was revived, and he continued his journey and his life. His mission would be revealed when he arrived at Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:9-18).
There are some striking parallels between today’s reading and last Sunday’s from Exodus 16:2-15: the wilderness setting, the Sinai destination, bread from heaven, strength for the journey to continue.
When we reach the end of ourselves, we find the beginning of authentic faith. When we just can’t do it by ourselves anymore… when our journey has become too difficult for us to manage… when we are burdened and beaten down to the desert floor… when we feel totally alone, abandoned, and afraid… when we are tired and hungry and helpless and hopeless… when we wish for death and ask God for death… OH, MY FRIENDS, GOD MIGHT NOT BE FINISHED WITH US YET!
SECOND READING: Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2
In his letter that is written from prison as a result of his missionary work, and probably intended for a wider geography of Gentile Christians that just the believers “in Ephesus”, Paul tries to teach, encourage, and even challenge believers to live with new relationships and new standards, with changed actions and attitudes, as a result of being “in Christ”. In today’s reading Paul speaks of what is and what isn’t part of the shared life that reflects the love and forgiveness that we have each and all received through Christ and his death. And he urges those Christians and us Christians: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children” (5:1). Children, of course, often watch others and then imitate what they have seen and heard. Paul is calling upon us to imitate God by having a childlike desire to be loving and forgiving, kind and compassionate in the way that Jesus Christ demonstrated.
This letter to Christians in Paul’s time contains some down-to-earth instructions about how to live as Christians even today. Which of your personal actions and attitudes are most likely “to grieve the Holy Spirit of God” and need to be changed?
Do you think that human beings can imitate God? What are the problems and possibilities in trying to imitate God?
Isn’t Paul suggesting that the best imitation of God is to try to imitate Christ’s love? When we forgiven ones are learning to be more forgiving, we are making progress from the old life of “before Christ” to the new life that is “in Christ”. To be and to become a Christian is to allow ourselves to be under new management, giving up our dedication to self-gratification in order to please and serve God by loving others.
God has chosen you for this special purpose: TO BE HOLY AND BLAMELESS BEFORE HIM IN LOVE. God is teaching us, leading us, guiding us, and empowering us, so that we might bring harmony and unity to all of life! It’s not just for you, this plan of God, not just for your own gain. It is all for the praise of God’s glory, to be a child of God and a servant of God. Having been given the gift of Jesus Christ, we can hope, we can live, we can love others, we can help heal the world, fixing what is broken and uniting what is fragmented.
GOSPEL READING: John 6:35, 41-51
This is the third of five Sundays in the lectionary that we are in John 6. We probably remember that we began with physical need and physical hunger. A crowd of 5,000 people was somehow fed to satisfaction beginning with a boy’s lunch of two fish and five barley loaves of bread. This chapter has continued to unfold and expand into other hungers.
Jesus makes a bold claim: he is the BREAD OF LIFE. It gets bolder. He proclaims that those who come to him will never hunger, those who believe in him will never thirst. And it gets even bolder. He insists that those who eat of this bread will live forever. Then his message becomes completely unbelievable. Not only does Jesus claim that he is the living bread from heaven, but also that the bread that he gives is his own flesh. Literal-minded people won’t easily grasp this. But the Spirit works through word and image to draw and drag others to receptive faith.
Have you learned yet what your deepest hunger really is? Do you hunger for more than daily bread? Do you hunger for things you want but don’t really need? Do you hunger for things that might be harmful to yourself and others? Do you hunger for what is just about this life and this world? Or do you have a hunger for something much deeper and greater… a longing that this world cannot satisfy… a hunger deep in your soul?
Open your eyes, mind, heart, and life to the new possibilities and stunning promises that Jesus offers!
Note that, in verses 41-47, the crowd – who thought so positively of Jesus when he gave them food to pacify their physical hunger – now become nasty and critical as he claims to be the bread of life. When have you had difficulty accepting that Jesus is who he claims to be?
When you accept that gift of life that Christ offers you, the deepest hunger of all goes away.