Today’s first reading is part of one of the most fascinating stories in the Old Testament. The main figure is Elijah, the most powerful prophet of Old Testament times and one of the two who stood with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Elijah is the only prophet who never died, he was assumed into Heaven on a chariot and this is why many believed that John the Baptist was Elijah returned. His story of being taken up to Heaven is the inspiration for Swing Low Sweet Chariot, the African American Spiritual.

Now, we have learned just how powerful he is, we can ask ourselves, “Why is he in a cave? There are two answers to this. He was sent there by God and he is hiding from Queen Jezebel, whose prophets he just defeated on Mount Carmel. Staging a duel between God and the god Ba’al, Elijah commanded a theophany, a great manifestation of God’s power, which demonstrated that there was no Ba’al. He then called for the execution of the prophets of Ba’al who all served the mighty Queen Jezebel. Jezebel, you may recall is the most evil woman in the entire Bible. She wants him dead, so he panics and runs. Yes the most powerful prophet in the Old Testament is hiding from the vicious Queen Jezebel for reaping the fruits of her rage. In a panic, he runs to the desert where he considers himself such a failure for what he perceives as weakness. In his deep despair, he begs for God to kill him. Instead, God sends  him to the cave where Our Lord speaks with His prophet. This is where we are. The Lord reveals himself in the gentle wind and comforts and strengthens Elijah and prepares him for returning home to the Kingdom of God.

What is the lesson here? Never underestimate the fierceness of the battle against evil, but do not lose sight of the fact that victory is measured by God, not us. At times, like Elijah, we are fighting some mighty forces and in our world, there is some intense resistance. We may struggle in order to do God’s will. God measures our efforts and adds to them. We may feel we failed for the results are not what we wanted, but our efforts are weighed by God, not by us. God will take our efforts and he will always bless them and use them for the mission that He gives us, the  furthering of the Kingdom of God and salvation of souls. Will we see next year a place that is so holy it is used as a model for the entire Church worldwide? Probably not.  But if we grow in our faithfulness, God will bless our work with His powerful results in His time. All we need do is remain faithful and do his work.

There is a fascinating true story that I greatly enjoy from the book The Cross and the Switchblade. Pastor David Wilkerson goes into to New York to convert gang members. He is quite naive, but seeks to be faithful to God. He parks his car near his target area, which I believe was in Spanish Harlem. Remember, this is a white Christian pastor in Spanish Harlem. He is not there long. Is he taken out by the gangs? No he is arrested by the police. He has some argument with them over how his car is parked and he is arrested right in front of the gang members. He too, like Elijah believes he has completely failed in his mission, he was made a total fool and will never convert anyone to Christ. Later he gets out of jail and goes to get his car only to discover that the gang members approach him and are interested what he has to say. Why? because he, like them, has been arrested by the same police officers. He had no idea his greatest failure was the door to his greatest success.

God calls us to be faithful and to act on our faith, he will take care of the rest. He will do it His way and He will comfort us in our work, just as He does with Elijah.

Yet, God is no pushover. When Elijah and Jezebel and her husband King Ahab of Israel have a later encounter of over Jezebel encouraging slander and murder to steal a man’s vineyard, the prophet curses them claiming that the dogs will lick up her blood. Ahab repents, Jezebel does not and, indeed, when she dies, long after Elijah goes to Heaven, she in fact dies in such a way that, let’s just say, that the dogs had a great feast. Just as Elijah said speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we seek to do God’s will, He may call us to do powerful things, but we have to judge our success or failure on our faithfulness not on our results. Elijah considered himself to be a failure for he ran away in fear. God did not see him that way, but comforted him. He knew his weaknesses and we learn it was not Elijah’s role to kill Jezebel, it was God’s.

When we stay faithful to God, we leave the results up to Him. They will be powerful, but they are His, not ours. It is when we focus on ourselves and our own strengths and limitations that we fail. Just as Peter did when he tried to walk on water.

Mother Teresa used to teach it does matter whether you succeed or fail, just remain faithful. That is because if you remain faithful, the results are God’s and not ours, even when it looks like we fail.

 

God bless you,