Over the last several chapters, God has sought to refocus Elijah on the true reality of justice, love, and mercy, and not on defending himself and his beliefs using the name of God. In the story of Naboth, we finally see Elijah getting the point.
The theophany on Horeb is a microcosm of Advent and Jesus’ ministry in general. In Advent we celebrate the coming of the day of the Lord, not with thunders and lightnings, whirlwinds and earthquakes, but as a baby born in a manger.
Think of how Elijah’s journey thus far reflects your own spiritual journey.
To follow Jesus and to maintain our identity in Christ and not the Baals of this world, requires the endless intentionality that Elijah puts before us.
Elijah ends the drought and takes his revenge upon Jezebel’s prophets of Baal.
In the story of the widow, we should see Advent. We have a humble and intimate story. God working through small things – birds and the small gifts of a poor widow. The characters are mundane, and the location is marginal. Small people doing small things in unlikely places. And through them, God invades enemy-occupied territory to bring dead things back to life.
See the apocalyptic battle between Yahweh and Baal (God/Satan, Good/Evil) begin to develop. Notice the faith, as it waxes and wanes, in both Elijah and the Widow. See the typology of the coming resurrection of the son.
The Elijah stories provide us with a wonderful follow-up to Tim Sorens’s book Everywhere You Look about how the church can form an alternative community in the world. The stories also provide us with another way of walking through and understanding Advent.
By prioritizing Connections we are fighting back against the storm of individualism and polarization that is overtaking our society. Every good thing that we seek to do in the world, should start with these Connections
If the church is to win over hearts and minds, to bring about change at the neighborhood level, and to heal our divisions, we must be present in our neighborhoods and to think long-term.
