Elijah the Thunderer Did you know that the last part of The Lord’s prayer was added on by the early Church. “Thine is the kingdom, power and the glory forever,” etc, an add-on. If you’ve ever been to Catholic worship you have probably been embarrassed by rambling on after everybody else stopped. I asked a biblical scholar why they added that last part; seems a little presumptuous to edit the very words of Jesus. He said, it was because nobody likes a prayer that ends with the word “evil.” The gospel of Mark, from which we quoted today, ends with the word “afraid.” The early church made several attempts to improve on that too. But, the biggest problem of all, no one has addressed; the entire Old Testament ends with the word, “curse.” And the last name mentioned is that of Elijah and the ominous prediction that he would return to be the harbinger on the apocalypse. The first person to appear in the New Testament is John the Baptist. Jesus said that Elijah had come in the person of John the Baptist. Well, they certainly did have similarities. For example, neither of them had the good sense or restraint not to go head to head with the king. John the Baptist took on Herrod about marrying his brother’ wife. Elijah was a thorn in the side of King Ahab his entire career. Not only did poor old Ahab have to deal with a loud mouth prophet calling him out every time he tried to get away with something, but a wife who hen-pecked him mercilessly. The quintessential illustrating story is the one about Naboth and his vineyard. It was right next to the king’s palace and Ahab thought it would be cool if he could have it for a vegetable garden. He asked Naboth if he could buy it and Naboth said “no.” So King Ahab went home in a huff, he climbed into bed, assumed the fetal position, turned his face to the wall and refused to eat. Queen Jezebel said, “Are you a king or a schlemiel? (difference between a schlemiel and a schlimazel)) She said, “Let me show you how it’s done.” So she bribed a couple of low-lifes to bring false charges against Naboth, he is found guilty and executed. Then Jezebel says to her husband, “There, quit your pouting and go get your vineyard.” So Ahab is skipping merrily down the path to the vineyard whistling a tune when who does he encounter in the path but his nemesis, Elijah. Ahab just shakes his head and says, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” Then the tirade begins. Elijah calls Ahab an enemy of God and says that God will, “utterly sweep him away. In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick your own blood.” He goes on the say that the dogs will eat Jezebel for her sin and anyone who is even related to him. If they die in the city the dogs will eat them and it they die in the country the buzzards will eat them. In other words, nobody will care enough about them to even bother burying them when they die. Sounds just like something John the Baptist would say, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath to come. The worthless trees will be cast into the fire. Already the ax is laid to the root.” Maybe John the Baptist was Elijah. Everybody knew that Elijah would come back again because he didn’t die. He was just taken up, in a whirlwind in a chariot of fire. Why would God do that unless he had a use for him later? It is Elijah’s fault that the human mortality rate isn’t at a perfect 100%. Even Jesus died. So now the percentage is 99 point 9 to infinity. In many of the Jewish festivals there is a chair set for Elijah, sort of like leaving out cookies and milk for Santa. Elijah is a big deal, in other cultures as well. Elijah is named in the Quran as one of the great prophets. The Mormons say that it was Elijah who met with Joseph Smith on April 3, 1836 and inspirited him to found the Latter Day Saints. In 1844 Elijah is credited with founding the Bahai’ faith. Elijah is also a prominent character in folk lore. In Eastern Europe he is known as “Elijah the Thunderer.” He is responsible for storms: wind and lightning and hail and thunder. That would be right for Elijah. Anyone who could call down fire from heaven to engulf a water soaked altar can certainly call down lightning and thunder. The “Santa Ana Winds” ought to be called “The Elijah Winds.” I tell you all of this to emphasize what a big deal it was to say that Elijah had come in the person of John the Baptist. Elijah was the greatest of the prophets, the harbinger of the kingdom they had awaited for a thousand years, the one who opens the way for the messiah – Jesus says he has come. And he pointed to Jesus as the promised One. But he’s not at all like John the Baptist or Elijah - described as meek and mild – the good shepherd who loved the company of children. Like trying to follow Led Zeppelin with a solo acoustic guitar. Little bit of a let-down. But hadn’t Elijah even predicted that? Hiding in that cave after the contest on Mt Carmel? Waiting for God to show himself – like a prophet would expect God to show himself, with all the bluster and bravado heaven could muster. It began hopefully enough, earth quake, wind, fire. Elijah could relate to all that. Except God wasn’t in the earthquake, wind or fire. Then silence… And in the silence, the still, small voice of God. There was more power in the silence than in all of the pyrotechnics heaven could muster. Jesus came as the still, small voice – Not a ticker tape parade in Jerusalem but a manger behind the inn in Bethlehem on a “silent” night. Jesus said of John the Baptist that “among those born of women, none is greater than John the Baptist. And John the Baptist said of Jesus, “There is one coming after me that is greater than I. I am not worthy to bend down and tie his shoe laces. Elijah the Thunderer was followed by The Prince of Peace, the voice of God that speaks in the silence and resounds down the canyons of history – Jesus the God Whisperer. We await the celebration of his birth. We await his coming again to bring about the fulfillment of the Kingdom. It’s just a mater of time since Elijah has already come – a matter of time and listening.
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