Beyond the Cave -- 1 Kings 19:1-15 (3rd Sunday After Pentecost)

Scott Clark
Jun 22
11 min read

Photo credit: Daniel Lincoln, used with permission via Unsplash

To listen to the sermon, you can click here.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE:

This morning’s Scripture brings us into a part of the Biblical story that we don’t visit that often. We know the stories of Genesis and Exodus – slavery into freedom and wandering in the wilderness. We know the stories of King David... and then of exile and return. But in between King David and exile, there were a bunch of kings... who weren’t that great. And prophets who called them to account.

Elijah is one of those prophets, and he calls King Ahab and Queen Jezebel to account. It’s a time when the King – the powers - are centralizing their power – taking what they can from the poor (especially land) so that they can become rich – and establishing authoritarian rule.[1]

And Elijah does some pretty amazing things – he helps the hurting people – feeds them during famine – raises a child who had died back to life. And just before this morning’s scripture, Elijah has taken on King Ahab’s prophets – and won big – and then killed them.

And well, that’s where today’s story picks up:

A reading of 1 Kings 19:1-15

SERMON:

This morning’s Scripture finds the mighty prophet Elijah hunkered down in a cave.[2] And he has good reason to be there. He has confronted a king and crushed the king’s false prophets. He has provoked the powers. And when Queen Jezebel shows up on the scene, she is not pleased. She seethes and says: “You go tell Elijah: What you have done to my prophets, I am going to do to you. May god deal with me ever so severely if you are not dead like them within the day.” Elijah has reason to run.

And he does. Elijah hightails it out of town – as far away into the desert as he can. And he sits down under a broom tree and says to God: “Enough. All this is too much. Take my life now. I am as miserable as my ancestors before me.” And lamenting, he falls asleep.

But a messenger (an angel) comes, there in the wilderness, and wakes him, and says – “Elijah, get up and eat.” And there, in the middle of the desert, are fresh baked breads and a jug of water. Elijah gets up, eats, and drinks – lets out a loud moan, and goes back to sleep. Later, again, a messenger – with food and water – “Elijah, get up and eat. For the way will be too much for you if you don’t.” Elijah gets up and eats, and by the power of that food and drink, Elijah travels 40 days and nights – back into enemy territory – where he goes and hides in a cave. When God asks, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” Elijah names the peril he is in: “I’ve been the good prophet. The world is a mess, and I’ve told them so – kings even, prophets too – and now I alone am left, and they are seeking my life to take it away.”

The threat is real. Elijah sees the danger and has good reason to be afraid and to hunker down. But let’s also name what Elijah is not seeing. Elijah has just won the battle of the prophets. They are dead. He is alive. Elijah is forgetting all that he has been able to do with his prophetic power. Elijah has fed folks in a famine, kept them alive with nothing but a bit of flour and a few drops of oil that miraculously never runs out. He has brought a child back to life. There’s one story where Elijah races a chariot (on foot) and wins. This mighty prophet has lived all that – he has seen YHWH’s power at work – in him.

But here in this cave – Elijah can’t see that. The threats feel too overwhelmingly real. The powers are seeking my life. It’s done.

Elijah can’t imagine his way out of this.

We are talking this summer about Imagination – The Wild Hope of Imagination. We are taking imagination seriously. As we start thinking about imagination, the dictionary definition gives us a good start. Merriam-Webster says that imagination is “the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses OR never before wholly perceived in reality.”[3]

Spirit-empowered imagination – the imagination we see at work again and again in Scripture – is something even more. The Imagination that we are talking about this summer is the Spirit-given human capacity to envision and create a world better, brighter, and more beautiful than the struggle and suffering we are experiencing now. It is the power not only to envision a world not yet visible, but – with God – to make it so.

When I say that we are taking imagination seriously, that means that this understanding of imagination doesn’t ignore or deny the present struggle. It sees it plain, and then sees more. Imagination empowers us to see a world loved by God from the very beginning, right now, and ever more.

It is the power to imagine

freedom beyond slavery,

coming home after being in exile,

forgiveness and healing beyond every harm and hurt,

justice that prevails over oppression,

Resurrection beyond the Cross.

I’ve been reading this great little book – Imagination: A Manifesto by Ruha Benjamin.[4]She reminds us that imagination is something we do together – in the narratives we create and the lives we live... together.

We’ve talked some about what Walter Brueggemann calls the prophetic imagination[5]– the imagination that drives the Biblical story. Prophets show up in the midst of a troubled world and imagine and announce the new world that God is birthing even now. They do that in two steps. (1) They announce the things that God is bringing to an end – oppression of the poor and vulnerable, the violence we do to one another, the systems that grind away. Enough. And then, (2) prophets announce the new thing that God is doing – justice, freedom, healing, peace.[6] “Behold, it springs forth. Do you not see?”

Now, we should also say: The Powers – well they have an imagination too. The powers are imagining a world where they control... everything.. and trying to make that so. Brueggemann calls this the dominant – or dominating – imagination.[7] The Powers are working to create a world that hoards scarce resources for the benefit of the few, and at the expense of everyone else – systems of hierarchy and power-over – a world where violence works to keep everyone in their place... and silent about the injustice in the world.[8] The dominating imagination is on the move. We see it everywhere: masked enforcement agents terrorizing communities; authoritarian leaders waging war; cutting off support for the vulnerable so that the rich can get richer.

We are taking imagination seriously this summer. And as we bring our imagination into this hurting world – where the Powers are hard at work, we are entering a contested field.[9]Elijah names that in his lament: I’ve been doing all that prophetic work, and the powers are trying to kill me. Enough, God, enough.

We left Eljah back in that cave, lamenting. Let’s go back and see what Elijah hears back from God in response. There Elijah is holed up in the cave, and God asks, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” We hear Elijah’s lament (we hear it several times in this story), and God says, “Elijah, go to the mouth of the cave for I am about to pass by.”

And there is a great and mighty wind that rips the mountains apart and breaks rocks in pieces.

But God is not in the mighty, violent wind.

After the wind, the earth quakes.

But God is not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake, a fire.

But God is not in the fire.

And after all that. The sound of sheer silence.

[SILENCE]

Elijah hears all this. He wraps his face in his mantle (because one can’t look directly at the face of God), and goes to the mouth of the cave, and there comes a voice... again... “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

We hear Elijah’s lament again, and God says: “Enough. Get up and go. Get back on the way, and head to Damascus. Anoint Hazael King of Aram. Anoint Jehu king of Israel. And find this Elisha who will be your partner in this and your successor. Elijah, go.” Now this is no small task. Elijah go resist and replace the tyrants of this world... and find this Elisha to help you do it.

Notice: God is not revealing themself in the violent upheaval of the world. God is not showing up smashing the rocks to bits, quaking the earth, or scorching everything in sight. God is not revealing Godself in the sword or spear – or in bombs. Not in the threats of petty tyrants. Not in crazed and repressive acts of power-over. That is the way of domination, not the way of prophetic imagination. God shows up in the sounds of sheer silence.

Elijah wails that he is all alone. But notice: God has been here all the time. In this story, while Elijah collapses under that broom tree and hides in a cave – God has been on the move, the whole time.[10] Messengers bringing bread baked on stones, jugs of water in the desert – travelling alongside Elijah, cajoling – God is right there alongside Elijah, supporting Elijah, God has got Elijah’s back, and God is going on before.

God is even there in the sound of sheer silence. Think about that for a moment. Silence is something that is always present. We layer our noise on top of that silence – all our words and our wailing – our shouting – our clamor and commotion – but if you strip all that away – what is there underlying it all – what always remains is the sound of sheer silence... and God. Elijah is not alone. There are several hundred prophets hiding out in other caves somewhere. There is this Elisha whom Elijah is sent to find. And there – in the sound of sheer silence – there is God. Always.

God has been on the move, accompanying Elijah, listening to Elijah – and in due course – after Elijah is nourished and replenished enough – God invites Elijah back into the prophetic imagination. Get up, Elijah. And go: Beyond this cave, imagine with me a new world – beyond the threats and the fear – imagine with me a world where people thrive. Imagine that. Get up. And go.

This wild hope of imagination is not just some story from the dusty caves of yore.

Think of folks held in government-enforced slavery – imagining freedom, wading through the waters as they follow the stars north – and on Juneteenth, hearing they are free.

Think of Freedom Riders and folk sitting at lunch counters – knowing the realities of segregation – but seeing a world that recognizes the freedom and dignity of all people.

Imagine queer folks in the 1980s saying, “Hey, what if we could be married – just as married as everyone else.”

This wild hope of imagination isn’t just for the big movements of our day – this power to imagine and create a world never seen before.

It shows up when a kid says, “When I grow up, I wanna be....”

Or in those moments of despair and grieving, when we think life will never be the same again (and it may not), but with time – and the companionship of kindred spirits... we imagine and find some way to live.

It’s the spark that illumines every scientific discovery – when folks imagine the things that are all around us, but that we have never seen or named before.

Imagination isn’t a flight of fancy or mere wish fulfillment – it’s the human capacity to imagine and help God create a world better, brighter, and more beautiful – a world more free – than the struggle and suffering we are experiencing now.

Elijah, imagine with me life beyond this cave. Now, get up and go.

Now, we should acknowledge – sometimes there are good reasons to be there in that cave. The powers are at work in the world, and sometimes we need to shelter from danger. In times of deep grief and loss, there are times we need to sit and lament. There are times when our worthy work leaves us weary, and we need to be replenished and restored. This moment at the mouth of the cave is about the moment when it is time to get up and go, and how we do that – with God’s help – by the wild power and hope of imagination.

The invitation this week is to think on this question: What world can you imagine beyond the cave? What world are you living for, working for? We know what’s wrong with the world. Our screens are flooded with images and news of the dominant imagination – the powers at work trying to oppress and repress, the silencing, the violence, the bombs and bombast. We know and can articulate what we are against. What are you for? The invitation this week – and this summer – is to use our imagination – to build this muscle of imagination.

What world can you imagine beyond the cave? What world are you living for, working for? That is not a rhetorical question. Take some time to think, and answer it.

Write it down. What does that world look like to you?

Draw it.

Doesn’t need to be full sentences – bullet points will do:

· A world where bombs stop.

· Trucks rolling into Gaza with food and medical supplies.

· A world where our grandchildren can thrive – that nurtures the kids who lead us in worship every Sunday.

If you don’t know where to start, well, lean into Jesus: How about –

· a world full of good news for the poor;

· release for the captive;

· freedom for the oppressed;

· OR, blessed are the merciful, and the meek, and the vulnerable, and the peacemakers.

One thing I loved about last weekend’s protests is that the invitation wasn’t just to protest against what’s wrong in the world, but to say what we are for. The protest instructions were to make a sign that said:

"NO Kings, YES ____" (you fill in the blank).

For me it was – YES: Human Decency.

How do you fill in that blank?

YES _____ What?

That’s our work for this week. Imagine this better world.

Elijah stands at the mouth of the cave with God, and God says,

“Elijah, what are you doing here? Go. Imagine and make with me this better world”

Author and activist Arundhati Roy puts it like this:

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.

On a quiet day, if I listen carefully,

I can hear her breathing.”[11]

[1] See Todd, infra, pp. 3-11.

[2] For general background on the text, see For general background on this text and 1 Kings, see Choon-Leong Seow, “The First and Second Books of Kings,” New Interpreters’ Bible Commentary, vol. iii (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 199); Judith Todd “The Pre-Deuteronomistic Elijah Cycle” in Robert Coote, Elijah and Elisha in Socioliterary Perspective (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1992); Kimberly D. Russaw, Commentary on Working Preacher at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-12-3/commentary-on-1-kings-191-4-5-7-8-15a-2 ; Terence E. Fretheim, Commentary on Working Preacher at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-12-3/commentary-on-1-kings-191-45-78-15a-2.