1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
“Pastor, would you come with me?” The older member of my parish was asking I would come along on a visit to his son. Of course, I went along. But along with his wife, I did not have a great expectation for the success of this mission. Their son was deep into an addiction to prescription pain killers. It was a scene which you can imagine. Addiction does terrible things to people. The place was a mess. The son was a mess too. He did not want to hear what his father and I might say, so he was a little hostile. But his father came in love and this time he let his father and me inside to talk.
The younger man was dying, not in the traditional sense of dying, but he was dying what commentators call in this day a death of despair. He simply had no hope. If things continued as they were heading, he would not live long. Elijah lies under a broom tree in today’s reading and asks God to end his life. He too had given up hope. There are many reasons people lose hope in our day. The world assesses us by the cruel measures of wealth, worldly success, and how many likes our latest post received. It streams images of beautiful, successful people across our screens in an unrelenting message of “you don’t measure up.” Social media have served to isolate us more than connect us. Some have never learned or forgotten how to be a friend or have healthy relationships with others. The constant mantra of self-sufficiency and a world defined by science and technology makes for a very thin gruel to sustain life. Many are starving; like this young man, they are starving to death. Perhaps you see them on your drive to the grocery store like I do. Perhaps you know them as friends, family, even children as the member of my parish knew his son.
The angel touched Elijah, woke him, and gave him something to eat. It must have been quite the nutrient dense lunch because with a second helping, Elijah went forty days and nights. Christ would feed the starving of this world too, and not only those whose nutritional needs are not being met, but also those who despair, who need to find hope and satisfaction in a life which is good. Because does not we do not measure people with the world’s measuring stick. With Him we love despite the person not because of what they are or have done. He and we are willing to be uncomfortable with them, to see value in a creature of God, intrinsically bestowed by the blood of Christ, a value which cannot be taken away by failure or drugs or sin. And Christ will give them hope.