Psalm 24, 29; 1 Kings 19:8-21; Acts 5:34-42; John 11:45-57
Elijah has had enough, the battle is too lonely and he is finished. Psychologists would say that the man was suffering from depression and so isolated himself from society by going to this cave. He had served so well and so powerfully but this final battle, with Jezebel swearing that he would be killed, was too much for him to bear alone. Ministry is often a lonely walk but we are never truly alone because, as Elijah finds here, the Lord is with us wherever we go. It seems strange that he went from the mountain top (literally) in his duel with the prophets of Baal to this cave in the wilderness simply because of Jezebel’s threat but I am certain that he believed that the battle was done that day and that it rages on was an extreme disappointment to him. We live in a sinful, busted and broken world and the battle rages on to the end, we need others with us in this life to encourage and strengthen us, it is not good for a man to be alone.
Jesus, like Elijah, has just had an extraordinary ministry moment, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Immediately, the leaders begin to plot to kill Him as the people will go out after Him and they will lose their places of honor. If He is not going to be the Messiah they are expecting, a political and military leader who will surely affirm them as religious leaders, then He is only a threat to the established order of things, even if He is able to raise someone from the dead. You would think that such a miraculous work would cause them to become believers rather than to plot the demise of the one who worked the miracle. God’s intervention in the natural order is not always welcome and neither is the one through whom the intervention occurs. We should not expect the world to cheer ministry success, the world is at war with its own creator.
Gamaliel’s wisdom outstrips Caiphas, even if the latter was the high priest. Gamaliel, as a member of the council who preside over the trial of Peter and John in re the healing of a crippled man at the Beautiful Gate, counsels that only time will tell in this matter whether this is of God or of man. I had a mentor who lived by the words, “In time, everybody gets your number.” What he meant was that he never defended himself against scurrilous gossip or attacks believing that people would eventually reveal their own character and motives. Gamaliel perhaps has seen a bit more than some and knows two things, that sooner or later everybody gets your number or that persecution sometimes backfires and creates a movement rather than destroys one. In all three lessons today we see ministry success followed by immediate persecution, there may be a pattern here.
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
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