Saints and Troublemakers

© Amy Marie Epp

November 3, 2019

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I Kings 18:17-39 - The Inclusive Version

As soon as Ahab saw Elijah, he said to the prophet, “Is it really you - Israel's troublemaker?”

“It is not I who has brought trouble to Israel,” Elijah replied, “But you and your father's family, for abandoning the commandments of YHWH and following Ba’al.  Now summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, including the 450 prophets of Ba’al and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.”

So Ahab sent messengers throughout the length and breadth of Israel and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel.

Elijah stepped forward toward all the people there, saying, “How long will you sit on the fence? If YHWH is God, follow God; but if Ba’al is God, then follow Ba’al.”

No one said a word.

Then Elijah said, “I am the only prophet of YHWH left, but there are 450 of Ba’al. Bring two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, cut it up, and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it, and I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of YHWH, and the one who answers by fire is God. Agreed?”

All the people shouted their approval.

Elijah said to the prophet of Ba’al, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.”  So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Ba’al from morning until midday.  “Answer us, Ba’al!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they did a ceremonial dance around the altar they made.

At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” He said. “Ba’al is a god, isn't he? Maybe he's meditating, or he's off relieving himself, or he's gone on a journey! Maybe he's just asleep and need you to wake him up!” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and Spears, as was their custom, until they were covered in their own blood. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then Elijah said to the people, “Come here to me.”  They came to him, and he repaired the altar of  YHWH, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, whom YHWH had told, “Your name will be Israel.”  With these stones he built an altar in the name of YHWH, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two measures of seed; he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and laid it on the wood.

Then he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the whole offering and on the wood.” This they did, and he said, “Do it again.” They did it again. He said, “Do it a third time.” They did it a third time, and the water ran all around the altar and even filled the trench.

At the hour of the regular offering, the prophet Elijah came forward and prayed, “YHWH, God of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebecca,  of Israel and Rachel and Leah, prove today that you are the God and Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me,  YHWH, answer me and let those people know that you, YHWH, are our God, and that it is you who turn their hearts back to you.” Then fire from YHWH fell from the heavens, consuming the whole offering, the wood, the stones, and the dirt, and licking up the water in the trench.

At the site, the people fell down on the ground, crying, “YHWH is God! YHWH is God!”

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The story begins with a contentious back-and-forth between Elijah and Ahab.  Elijah is a prophet and Ahab is a king - a not so well-regarded king in the opinion of the Biblical narrative.  He is married to Queen Jezebel, a foreigner and worshiper of false gods.  Together they are tyrants and murderers.  For example - the story that I read most recently before this one - along with the high school youth Sunday school class he sulks because a man named Naboth won’t sell him a plot of land that he wants, so Jezebel schemes to have Naboth killed and Ahab claims the land.  Elijah didn’t have very nice things to say after that whole incident and he doesn’t now.

Ahab calls Elijah a troublemaker and there is no doubt that Elijah must be quite a thorn in his side and cramps his kingly style.  Because not only has Elijah pointed out the wrongdoing of Ahab and Jezebel at every turn, more recently he has prophesied the drought and therefore he’s blamed for it.

Elijah immediately turns the blaming and name-calling around in a sort of  “Nuh-uh, you are” kind of move. Or maybe it’s more like, “I’m rubber, you’re glue; whatever you say bounces of me and sticks to you.”  And in Ahab’s case, it really does stick pretty hard. You and your father’s family, Elijah tells him, are the troublemakers.  You’ve abandoned the commandments of God and followed Jezebel’s god Baal.  That choice - never mind the murder and the tyrany - is pretty toublesome.  And then Elijah more or less challenges Ahab to the Bible version of a duel.

Elijah is doing the job that YHWH’s prophets are called to: speaking truth to power, naming injustice and calling both king and people back to faith in their Creator.   I see several characteristics of the troublemaking saint that I feel we do well to emulate.  Elijah confronts Ahab with courage, humor, and though his challenge is theatrical and bombastic, ultimately he comes before God and people with prayerful humility.

He is courageous: he approaches Ahab though he knows he does so at great risk to his own life.  Prophets of YHWH have been killed in the hundreds.  Approaching Ahab could well mean his own death.

Humor: Its really a shame how much of the Bible is lost in translation sometimes.  When the prophets of Baal are engaged in their ritual of sacrifice and dancing, Elijah is essentially trash talking them: “Ooh, where’s your god now?  Did he take off on vacation? Maybe he’s meditating and can’t hear you! Is he on the toilet?” (Seriously! Elijah was making a poop joke and it’s completely been lost in translation!) The whole production is a theatre of the absurd.  The grandeur, the pomp and circumstance.

Ultimately, though this whole production of fire called down from heaven as been an over-the-top gong show, Elijah is prayfully submission to the God who called him to prophecy in the first place.  He challenges the people to choose God - to stop waffling, and hedging their bets between false gods and YWHW, an echo of Joshua’s call to the people of Israel to choose life!  And he prays, “Let them turn their hearts back toward you, God.  May they know you to be their own.”

Today we have not only the prophetic troublemakers of scriptures to remember, but also saints who have gone on before us, the saints that surround us still who live with courage, humor and humility.

I have to be honest, when I thought about the spectacle and irreverence of Elijah’s confrontation with the powers that be, the modern day saints that I thought of are the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. If you have ever been to a pride parade you have seen these sisters.  They are (to quote their website)

“a leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns [who] believe all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty. Since [their] first appearance in San Francisco on Easter Sunday, 1979, the Sisters have devoted ourselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment. [They] use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.” (from their website).  

This mixture of humor and joy, courageous challenge and passion for justice is a pretty sainted kind of troublemaking.  

I’ve also been thinking this week about saints in my own history and heritage.  I noted last week that I learned recently, of the Mennonite/Quaker folks from Germantown - Garret Henderich, Derick up de Graeff, Francis Daniell Pastorius and  Abraham up Den graef were Dutch Mennonites who joined up with Quakers after arriving in the colonies.  

They were so disturbed by the practice of enslaving their fellow humans that in 1688 they wrote the first documented treatise against slavery - based on their belief in the gospel and quoting Jesus’ golden rule.

When I think about my identity in whiteness I feel proud that I have these roots in my theological heritage.  In addition to my sainted Mennonite forebears whose farmland tilled the grasslands of the Cree and Chippewa, I am grateful to also claim the brave souls who wrote: (contemporizing the language a bit)

Now, though they are black, we can not conceive there is more liberty to have them as slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying that we shall do to all people as we would have done to ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent or colour they are. And those who people away, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike? Here is liberty of conscience which is right and reasonable; here ought to be liberty of the body.... But to bring people here, to steal and sell them against their will, we stand against this. (more here)

Granted they could have thrown in a few one-liners, but as newly arrived immigrants who were struggling to articulate their theological argument against enslavement in their second language, I’ll give them a pass for not including any potty jokes.

These saints and so many more challenge us to turn away from false gods of violence, division and oppression and turn toward the One in whom is a just peace.  May these be the saints that we turn to to see the face of the Divine. May we be these saints for our children and for future generations.   And may we - young and old - become like the best of our beloved saints who confront injustice with courage and humor, challenge and prayerful humility.  

Amen.