10 August 2014
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Do our expectations sometimes get in God’s way? Elijah and Paul might have something to say about that!In the inspiring and familiar passage we read this Sunday from the Book of Kings, we find Elijah exhausted and afraid, having spent forty days fleeing the wrath of Israel's King Ahab. Settling into a cave, Elijah seems ready to abandon his prophetic calling. God offers reassurance to Elijah, but does so in ways the prophet does not expect. Elijah seems to think, “If earthquakes and other powerful phenomena don’t reveal God to me, then where is God?” Unexpectedly, the divine encounter comes in a mere wisp of a sound.
Paul, too, is anguished at something he didn't expect. He is surprised
that his fellow Jews are unable to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and
Lord. He acknowledges all
of the advantages the chosen people had. They ought to recognize Jesus as Christ! But he is
grieved that they cannot move beyond their narrow expectations to
accept God’s presence in Jesus Christ.Are our expectations still getting in the way of recognizing God's presence? For example, when we pray, do we expect that certain “things” may happen in those moments: answers, inspiration, comfort, peace--some kind of “experience” of God? What if none of that seems to happen? Has our prayer failed? Has God been absent?
Like Paul and Elijah, perhaps we are being asked to free up our expectations and look for God to be with us in new, surprising ways. We may find (like Paul and Elijah and many folks in the Bible) that God wants to surprise us in order to to make all things (and by all things, I mostly mean "us") new.
If we look to experience God in unexpected places, then perhaps our eyesight will be clearer, our ears and hearts better able to listen to God's Word all around us.
The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.
