God in the Miracles
1 Kings 19:1-18; Matthew 14:22-33
11th Sunday After Pentecost, August 13, 2023
Pastor Ritva H Williams
In our first reading we meet the prophet Elijah hiding in a cave on Mount Horeb — the mountain of God. The same place Moses encountered God centuries before. God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?” The prophet answers:
I have been zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. 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.
God tells Elijah to stand out on the mountainside as they pass by. Elijah stays inside the cave as a violent wind, an earthquake, and fire strike the mountain. A sound of sheer silence, a still small voice softly murmuring finally draws Elijah out of the cave. Again God asks him, “What are you doing here?” Elijah responds just as he did the first time. Elijah is unchanged by his encounter with God. And so God fires him, or at the very least announces Elijah’s retirement, instructing him to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat as his successor.
The problem with Elijah’s answer is that it is a confabulation — a story consisting of half-truths and lies, honestly told. Elijah was a prophet active during the reign of King Ahab and his Phoenician wife, Jezebel. She was just as zealous for the Phoenician god Baal as Elijah was for Yahweh. Rivalry, hostility and violence erupted between two religious communities. Elijah’s answer omits the facts that he personally orchestrated the slaughter of 400 prophets of Baal, has a price on his head, and is on the run. Nor is Elijah the only Israelite prophet left alive. One of the king’s officers rescued and hid a hundred prophets of Yahweh.
Elijah’s confabulation is designed to make him look good, and avoid taking responsibility for the mess he is in. Yet, God shows up for Elijah. God has faithfully been there for Elijah throughout his ministry: through famine, in confrontations with the prophets of Baal, his wilderness journey. God now sends Elijah back into the community he has fled. When his final task of anointing his successor is done, God will carry Elijah away in a chariot of fire.
Why is God so faithfully present for Elijah? The answer is found in the location of this encounter: Mount Horeb where Moses encountered God face-to-face. This is the place where God identified themself as YAHWEH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin (Exodus 34:6-7). God’s faithfulness to Elijah is not a response to Elijah’s worthiness, but emerges from God’s essential character.
The story of Elijah’s encounter with God at Mount Horeb is paired with Peter’s encounter with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. It picks upright after feeding miracle we heard last week.
As soon as all were fed and the leftovers gathered into twelve baskets, Jesus “makes” (as in forces) the disciples to get into their boat and head out on the lake. Only then does he dismiss the crowds. Jesus could incite them to denounce Herod or take up arms in revolt, but doesn’t. I imagine Jesus blessed the crowds with words of comfort and hope from the Beatitudes. Alone at last, Jesus goes up the mountain to spend the night in prayer and contemplation.
In the meantime, the disciples are out in the boat, sailing and rowing against a heavy wind that turns a two hour trip into an all-nighter. At first light, the exhausted disciples see a person walking on the sea toward them. They are terrified and squawk, “it’s a ghost!" Jesus tells them, “Take heart. It is I. Do not fear.” Peter comes back with, “If it is you, Lord, command me to come to you on the water.” Here Peter sounds a lot like Satan in the wilderness …“If you are the Son of God command these stones …” “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down …”?Note that Jesus does not scold or judge Peter, but gives him what he asks for.
As soon as Jesus says, “come,” Peter climbs out of the boat, and walks toward Jesus on the water. But then he notices the strong wind, is frightened, and begins to sink, squawking, “Lord, save me!” Jesus pulls Peter out of the water, noting his “little faith” and “doubt.” The wind subsides as soon as Jesus and Peter climb aboard. The disciples don’t say anything to Peter. All their attention is on worshipping Jesus, affirming he is God’s Son. Yet, I wonder how much this encounter really changed them. Two chapters later, we will hear Jesus rebuke Peter, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (16:23).
As I noted last week, the miracles of Jesus are best understood as signs pointing to the character of the God made flesh in him. So what does Jesus walking on the sea tell us about God? It certainly demonstrates Christ’s power and authority over all of creation, but even more it reveals Jesus’ determination to meet the disciples compassionately where they are — frightened, exhausted, and in distress. Christ goes to the disciples, invites Peter to get out of the boat as he wishes (think prodigal son) then puts him back in. All to reveal God’s mercy, grace, love and faithfulness. To show us how to be slow to anger and quick to forgive.
The biggest miracle of all — the most amazing thing in the whole universe — is God’s love for Elijah and Peter, and for you and me. God sees Elijah as he is: a man of vision, passionately loyal, a religious zealot, prejudiced and intolerant, thinking the ends justify the means, cowering in fear in a mountain cave. Jesus sees Peter as he is: impetuous, impulsive, devoted, good-hearted, not always clear-headed, acting more like a weather vane than a solid rock. Christ knows you and me in exactly the same way. Christ also knows that buried beneath our fear, uncertainty and confusion is the true-child-of-God self each of us is called to become. All humans protect and bury our true selves by conforming to the expectations of family, culture, and society. We take on titles and roles, wear them like costumes, and mistakenly think they represent who we really are. The Good news is that God not only sees and accepts all that as part of the process of human spiritual growth, but even more wants to love us into becoming our true-child-of-God selves.
Here’s a question to ponder this week: Amid all that tugs at you or tosses you about, is there a deeper invitation, a more compelling call, an opportunity to open yourself, a leap that would draw you closer to the Christ who is making his way toward you with love, grace and mercy? Remember, that Christ works through humans to accomplish God’s will, so who is reaching out to you? Who do you need to reach out to?
“Blessing on the Waves” from Jan Richardson’s “Night Journey” (paintedprayerbook.com).
I cannot promise that this blessing will keep you afloat as if by lashing these words to your arms, your ankles, you could stop yourself from going under. The most this blessing can do, perhaps, is to stand beside you in the boat, place its hand in the small of your back, and push. Be assured that though this blessing is eager to set you in motion, it will not leave you forsaken, will not compel you to leap where it has not already stepped out. These words will go with you across the waves. These words will accompany you across the waters. And if you find yourself flailing, this blessing will breathe itself into you, will breathe itself through you until you are borne up by the hands that reach toward you, the voice that calls your name. Amen.
