A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Third Sunday after Pentecost (LSB Proper 8C), June 30, 2019.
Is This Really What I Signed Up For?
1 Kings 19:9b-21 and Luke 9:51-62
(Other Reading Appointed: Galatians 5:1, 13-25)
Often while scrolling through Facebook, one will often find oneself looking at all of the “inspirational” or “thought-provoking” quotes that have been left there by our digital friends. Seeing that many of my friends share the same profession, or are just more “religiously minded”, the quotes I get to read often revolve around things of faith. And I have to admit that sometimes a quote gets put into my mental file, because I think, “That might just be able to find its way into a sermon.”
Reflecting on today’s readings from the Old Testament and Gospel, I was reminded of one such quote which seems to connect to the feelings that some might have as we hear these words from the Scriptures. C.S. Lewis is perhaps one of the most famous Christian writers and apologists of the 20th Century. Once an atheist, he came to faith, and his writings show how his journey from unbelief to belief was very rational and thought-filled, and not just some reaction to events which caused him to become a Christian.
In his book, “God in the Dock”, Lewis attempts to answer some of the questions which people have about faith in general and Christianity in particular. One question was, “Which of the religions of the world gives to its followers the greatest happiness?” He answered the question this way in part:
While it lasts, the religion of worshipping oneself is the best. I have an elderly acquaintance of about eighty, who has lived a life of unbroken selfishness and self-admiration from the earliest years, and is, more or less, I regret to say, one of the happiest men I know. From the moral point of view it is very difficult! I am not approaching the question from that angle. As you perhaps know, I haven’t always been a Christian. I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.
Both the question posed to Lewis and his answer puts a finger on what is often a commonly held feeling about what faith is about and what it should do for a person who has it. In many modern circles, faith is about what you make of it and get out of it, especially the desire of many to have a faith which makes them “happy” and/or “comfortable”. Yet, after hearing the words from today’s Scriptures, what we are being told is that such a desire may be a faith which some may hold to, but it is not a Biblical faith. And unfortunately, when one comes to discover that not even the Scriptures promise us “happiness” or “comfort”, the only response to make about the faith one thought one had is, “Is this really what I signed up for?”
In the example of the Prophet Elijah, we see a man who was indeed full of faith and zeal, who believed in God, who was willing to answer God’s call and to do everything that the Lord commanded of him. Just before the events recorded in today’s reading, Elijah had the high point of his prophetic work and ministry. He had just won the great contest between himself and the 450 prophets of Baal, where he and the Lord proved to the people that the Lord alone was the true God, having answered the prayers of Elijah with fire from heaven. Having seen the Lord and his power, the people rose up and slaughtered the false prophets. Yet, always remembering that “no good deed goes unpunished”, Elijah now finds himself on the run and hunted by Queen Jezebel, who supported and protected the prophets of Baal and who also pledged to see Elijah just as dead as them.
As we find Elijah today, he is far from happy and certainly not comfortable. In fact, we see him laying out his complaint to God; reminding God of all of the things which Elijah had done for Him, and even coming close to asking God, “And with everything that I have done for You, where have You been and what have You done for me?”
The Lord’s response to Elijah is both indirect and direct at the same time. God does not answer Elijah’s questions by giving him the answers he wants or thinks that he deserves. God does not even seek to justify Himself to Elijah and his way of thinking. Instead, God chooses to give Elijah the reminder that he needs of who God is by revealing Himself to him. So God passes by where Elijah was, preceded by wind and earthquake and fire, revealing Himself as “the sound of a low whisper.” It is in this “still, small voice” which Elijah recognized the Lord. Yet, why would this be the sign of the Lord’s presence to Elijah, rather than in the powerful, mighty, and destructive acts which preceded the voice?
Perhaps it is because as Elijah went through the hardships and trials of being the Lord’s Prophet, he must have felt that he had been blown and tossed about by the wind, that he had felt the very foundations of his life and faith shaken, and that he had passed through the fires of trial and tribulation. Yet, through all of these things, Elijah must have had the knowledge that the Lord was with him, giving him the strength and the faith to endure, encouraging him with the Lord’s own words and promises, hearing that “still, small voice” always saying, “Never will I leave you or forsake you.”
In today’s Gospel, we are met by some rather zealous disciples of Jesus. James and John, named by Jesus as the “Sons of Thunder”, were so jealous for Jesus that they took rejection of Him quite personally and wanted to avenge Him by calling down fire from heaven on those who would not receive Him and His word. We then meet others who want to also come and follow Jesus. One says, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Another wants to follow Jesus, but first needs to take care of family obligations. And yet another wants to come along, but wishes to bid farewell to home and family.
At face value, it would seem as it these people would make wonderful followers of Jesus. But Jesus responds to each of them. “Follow Me everywhere? Would you be saying such things if you knew you would be homeless?” “‘Let the dead bury their own dead.’ If you follow Me, the living and their eternal life are going to be your concern.” “Go and say goodbye first? If you are always going to be looking back, you are not going to be able to follow Me where I am leading you.” Hearing these responses from Jesus, one might begin to wonder, “Is following Him really worth all of the trouble?”
In both the case of Elijah and these prospective followers of Jesus, the point of what is being revealed or said to them is not that the Lord is unconcerned for their happiness, safety, well-being or comfort. But what the Lord is calling those who follow Him to see is that He does not promise that trial, affliction, suffering, or other ills are going to be removed. In fact, He is going as far as to tell us that all of these things are to be expected and that we have signed up for it all by following Him. Yet, at the very same time, what God does promise is that He is there. His presence is with us to comfort us and bring us peace in the midst of every trial. And as we follow Him we know that we are never alone for He is the One who is leading and guiding us, bringing us to that place where He wills us to be, so that in Him we may find and have peace and joy evermore, both here in time and forever in eternity.
Has the Lord called us to an “easy life”? Quite the opposite. Yet, even in the midst of trial and suffering and all the things of this life which we cannot understand, God is with us. And because He is with us, even as things seemingly fall apart around us we still have comfort, peace, and joy in knowing that we and all things are in His hands, and we will not be shaken. Yes, there may be much in our lives with the Lord that we may not have thought we signed up for when we came to follow Him. But one thing is certain—the Lord is with us and we will not fear for we know that the kingdom of God is ours forever. Thanks be to Christ! Amen!
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