Sermon: Wednesday of Trinity 5 - 2020

15 July 2020

Text: 1 Kings 19:11-21

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The prophet’s task is often gloomy.  Elijah preaches to the people of Israel as their civilization is collapsing.  He calls them to repent.  They continue in their sin.  He proclaims the Word of God.  They don’t listen.  And the faithful remnant gets smaller and smaller.  The people of Israel have become enamored by the false god Baal – a popular “deity” among other peoples in the region.  The king of Israel is corrupt and wicked and doesn’t fear God.

Elijah is about to quit.  He lays out his complaint before the Lord: “The people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Indeed, in just a few years, God will visit judgment upon the northern ten tribes of the people of Israel.  They will be taken captive by the bloodthirsty Assyrians and never heard from again.  

But in the meantime, Elijah is ready to pack it in.  He believes that he is literally the last believer on earth.

God had previously shown him a vision which he doesn’t seem to understand.  The Lord Himself passed by Elijah as he stood on the mountain.  A blast of wind “tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.”  The Lord then demonstrated the might of an earthquake, but again, this was not God’s Word.  Then there was a fire – that was also bereft of the Word of God.  Then the Lord God revealed His Word to Elijah in the form of a “low whisper.”  Maybe Elijah interpreted this to mean that the Word of God was weak.  Whatever he thought, he went out of the cave and was ready to quit.

But what Elijah did not understand was that the Lord was still at work among the people.  Yes, it was a remnant, but it was not a remnant of one as Elijah thought.  There was still work for the prophet and the remnant to do. 

And the Lord said, “Go.”

“Go… you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel.”  In addition, the Lord instructed Elijah to anoint Elisha “to be prophet in [Elijah’s] place.” 

For even among the remnant, there is still work to be done.  The “low whisper” of the Word of God is indeed mighty – mightier than the works one sees with the eyes in winds and earthquakes and fires.  We are called not to see the destruction of civilization and the faithlessness of our nation as a reason for despair, but rather, with the eyes of faith, we are to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” 

There will be new kings.  The proclamation of God’s Word will continue by means of other men who are called and ordained into this preaching office.  And indeed, the faithful “seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” who are left in the nation still need to hear the Word of God preached, still need to hear the Law calling them to repent, and continue to hunger for the Gospel: the good news of the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, to save the remnant and redeem them.  No matter how small the remnant becomes, no matter how hopeless the political and cultural landscape looks, no matter how weak the “low whisper” of preaching appears – we live prophetically by faith, and not by sight, dear friends.  

The Word is needed now more than ever: Law and Gospel, the cross, the proclamation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Satan – or Baal if you prefer – wants us to despair, to quit, to convince ourselves that we need blasts of wind and earthquakes and fire instead of God’s Word.  The devil would have you believe that the Word is weak and ineffectual.  The devil would have you listen to politicians and bureaucrats and doctors and experts and professors and activists and talking heads on the screen – those who worship Baal and not Jesus – and to put your trust in them.

They want to close our churches.  They want to make sure that you cannot gather with the remnant.  They want you to be gagged from singing praise to the One True God.  They want you to fear taking the Holy Eucharist.  They want you confused and befuddled, in terror and in despair.

Dear friends, God is in control.  We are indeed a remnant, but we are a remnant under divine protection, kept secure in the Ark of the Holy Church, bearing the armor of the Word of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

There will be an Elisha to our Elijah.  There are others who will not take a knee for Satan.  Wicked kings will be deposed and will receive their due: but in God’s time and according to His plan.

This is why we pray: “Thy will be done” in the Lord’s Prayer.  His ways are not our ways.  We are not called to fix the world, but to confess the faith before the world.  We are not called to drag people into the Ark, but rather to let the “low whisper” of the Word of God have its way among those who worship the Lord and those who worship Baal – leaving their calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying to the Holy Spirit according to the will of God.  We are called to preach or to confess, according to our callings, whether we are prophets, priests, or kings; whether we are preachers or hearers, whether we live in times of prosperity, or in times of uncertainty.

Our task is the same.  And our task is often gloomy as well.  We do see our civilization collapsing.  It does seem to us that our calls to repentance go unheard, unheeded, and even mocked by those for whom Christ died.  It seems as if the “low whisper” of God’s Word is becoming a silent scream, overpowered by the world’s bluster, by the din of wind and earthquake and fire.  And yes, we see more and more empty pews in the church, more gray heads, and fewer young people among the faithful.  All the while, the worship of Lucifer becomes bolder in our rotting culture, seemingly by the minute.

But we do not despair, dear brothers and sisters!  We have the promise of God.  We are baptized into Christ.  We are children of paradise.  We have the mighty Word that is there for anyone with ears to hear.  We have received the free gift of everlasting life – no matter what happens in this fallen world.  And thanks to the Word of God, thanks to the prophets, thanks to the Holy Scriptures, we know how this all turns out.  We know that Christ is victorious, that the Church is triumphant, and no matter what will happen to us in this fallen world, what awaits us is ultimately not our destruction by the Assyrians, but rather the creation of the new heaven and the new earth, “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting,” eating and drinking with God Himself in a banquet that has no end, the joy of living in paradise, undisturbed by sin, death, and the devil – without pain, without tears, and without being separated from our loved ones.  We await with expectant joy the return of our Lord, the one whom Elijah met when he rose into the whirlwind, even as many believe Elijah will return before the end of the world to complete his work of preaching to the faithful remnant.

Let us remain in that “low whisper” dear friends, not swayed by bluster, not despairing, and not resigned to worship Baal.  Let us look to Christ, to the cross, to your baptism, and to eternal joy that has no end!  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.