Proper 14 :: I Kings 19: 9–18 / Psalm 105:
1–6, 16–22, 45b / Romans 10: 5–15 / Matthew 14: 22–33
This is the homily given at St. John’s,
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, August 9, 2020.
“GOD ON THE ONE SIDE AND
CHALLENGES ON THE OTHER”
(Homily
texts: I Kings 19: 9–18 & Matthew 14: 22–33)
Wouldn’t it
be wonderful if, in this life, all the challenges and problems we encounter
would go away, or would be solved?
Of course,
the key phrase in this statement, it seems to me is “in this life”. The blunt
truth is that, as we make our way through this life, we will have times of
challenge, problems to confront and deal with, and times of loss and despair.
Holy Scripture bears witness to this reality.
Certainly,
that was the case with the Old Testament prophet Elijah. It was also true of
Peter, who was, perhaps, first and foremost among the Lord’s disciples. Today’s
appointed readings describe specific challenges that both men faced.
Elijah, in
our text today, is on the run, hiding in a cave so as not to be found by the
wicked Queen Jezebel. He had, no too much earlier, demonstrated the power of
God over the powers of the pagan god Ba’al by causing fire to come down from heaven
to consume the sacrifice he had prepared. (Recall that the priest of Ba’al had
been unable to call down fire on their sacrifice.) After their defeat, the
priests of Ba’al are all slaughtered by Elijah, causing Jezebel to vow that she
find and kill Elijah. (As a side note, I can’t read the accounts in I Kings
without hearing the music of Mendelssohn’s wonderful oratorio “Elijah”.)
Peter is
also in distress, floundering in the waters of the Sea of Galilee at night. He
had asked Jesus for permission to come to Him as He walked on the water. Peter
– whose character was often given to impetuous action – goes over the side of
the boat, and manages to walk on the water as the Lord is doing. But when Peter
looks around at the swirling seas, he loses focus on the Lord and immediately
sinks into the water. He is in danger of drowning.
Each man
needs a demonstration of God’s power, and each receives one.
Elijah is
told to stand outside (the cave) on the mountain, where God passes by him in
the form of a strong and mighty wind, an earthquake, fire, and then, finally in
the sound of silence (the Hebrew actually means “sheer silence”).
Peter asks
the Lord for help as he flounders in the water, and the Lord reaches out to
him, pulling him up out of the water and back onto the surface of it.
You and I
live often in the place that Elijah and Peter find themselves in this morning.
If we turn away from God, we are prone to self-doubt, to self-pity, and to
despair. In such a place, we will be unable to deal with the inevitable
hardships and challenges that life will throw in our path from time to time.
But if we can ask the Lord for some tangible expression of His ongoing and
enduring presence and power, then we can be equipped with the best and most
powerful tool that we can wield against the challenges of life: God’s power to
create, to re-create, and to destroy those things that would separate us from
Him. It is helpful for us to remember challenging times in our lives when God
has been especially present. It’s likely that God’s self-revelation won’t be as
dramatic as His self-revelation to Elijah and to Peter was, but – quite likely
- it will be just as helpful.
AMEN.
