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The Lord’s subtle ways of communicating with us

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), I Kings 19:9a, 11-13a. [Lect. 115, August 7, 2005]

It has only been two weeks since we have had a reading from The First Book of Kings. That reading, for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, showed us God bestowing wisdom on King Solomon. This Sunday’s reading is from later in I Kings and describes an encounter between the prophet Elijah and the Lord.

Things have not gone well with God’s people since Solomon came to the throne. The kingdom has been divided in two. The prophet Elijah has been proclaiming the Lord’s word to the northern kingdom of Israel. He has just confronted the idolatrous priests of Baal and had them killed by the faithful followers of the Lord. Now he is on the run from King Ahab and his foreign wife, Jezebel. He has fled from Israel toward Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai, where God had given His covenant to Moses and the people.

God had provided food and drink for him, and now he has arrived at Horeb, still discouraged, still frightened by the threats of his enemies. He has hidden himself in a cave on the side of the mountain. He complains to the Lord that he is the only one left to do God’s work, and his mission seems doomed to failure. This is where this Sunday’s reading begins.

The Lord tells Elijah to go outside and wait for an encounter with the Lord. A series of awesome and frightening natural events follows: a tornado-like wind, an earthquake, a fire. These would have been the contexts in which Elijah’s contemporaries would have expected the storm god Baal to express himself. But, although the Lord had used these vehicles to express himself to Moses in giving the covenant some 400 years earlier, the Lord now comes in "a tiny whispering sound," the vehicle of intimate conversation, the way friends communicate with each other. This is where this Sunday’s first reading ends.

In the biblical text that follows this reading, God assures Elijah that his mission is not yet over, that the Lord would continue to be with him, that there were still people who were faithful, that a successor had been found to carry on Elijah’s prophetic mission. We hear this portion of I Kings on the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year C.

The point of the reading as provided for our present Sunday is that the manner of God’s presence need not conform to our expectations. God doesn’t always come to us as we think He should. It is true that God is Lord of wind and fire and power, but God is also the Lord of the fearful, the discouraged, the threatened, and extends Himself to them in ways that are appropriate to their fragility and vulnerability.

We see God extending himself to the fragile and the vulnerable in the Gospel reading. We see the apostles in the midst of a storm. They are terrified by the unexpected appearance of Jesus. They cry out in fear. Peter asks to be allowed to approach Jesus, but becomes frightened as he walks ever so tentatively on the stormy water. As he begins to sink, Jesus saves him and chides him for the weakness of his faith. As they got back to the boat, the wind dies down and those in the boat express their faith in Jesus: "Truly, you are the Son of God."

In each of these two readings we find an encounter with God that takes place after the stilling of a storm. The Lord does not need to use the mighty forces of nature to communicate with His loved ones. He controls these forces, to be sure, and can use them to teach His own lessons, but He seems to prefer more quiet, one might almost say more respectful communication: "a tiny whispering sound" for Elijah, the quiet after the sea storm for the disciples to express their faith. Friends don’t shout at each other. They communicate in softer tones.

The place to encounter God is not only in the awesome events of nature, but also in the quiet word of the Lord’s love, in the Lord’s quiet acceptance of our commitment of faith.

I suppose all of us at some time or other have experienced the presence of God in the power of nature. But the Lord’s presence is more often offered to us in quieter ways: in the love that we share with other believers, in the calm expression of the Lord’s teaching by the church, in the celebration of the sacraments, in the silence of prayer. We do ourselves a disservice if we only look for the Lord in earthquakes and lightening bolts. The Lord is more subtle than that. Sometimes He sneaks up on us in ways that we never would have expected.

For reflection and discussion

How have I experienced the presence of the Lord?

Have I ever been surprised by the presence of the Lord?



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	*Overtures* Reflection on the first readings of the Sunday liturgy By Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk The Lord’s subtle ways of communicating with us Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), I Kings 19:9a, 11-13a. [Lect. 115, August 7, 2005] It has only been two weeks since we have had a reading from The First Book of Kings. That reading, for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, showed us God bestowing wisdom on King Solomon. This Sunday’s reading is from later in I Kings and describes an encounter between the prophet Elijah and the Lord. Things have not gone well with God’s people since Solomon came to the throne. The kingdom has been divided in two. The prophet Elijah has been proclaiming the Lord’s word to the northern kingdom of Israel. He has just confronted the idolatrous priests of Baal and had them killed by the faithful followers of the Lord. Now he is on the run from King Ahab and his foreign wife, Jezebel. He has fled from Israel toward Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai, where God had given His covenant to Moses and the people. God had provided food and drink for him, and now he has arrived at Horeb, still discouraged, still frightened by the threats of his enemies. He has hidden himself in a cave on the side of the mountain. He complains to the Lord that he is the only one left to do God’s work, and his mission seems doomed to failure. This is where this Sunday’s reading begins. The Lord tells Elijah to go outside and wait for an encounter with the Lord. A series of awesome and frightening natural events follows: a tornado-like wind, an earthquake, a fire. These would have been the contexts in which Elijah’s contemporaries would have expected the storm god Baal to express himself. But, although the Lord had used these vehicles to express himself to Moses in giving the covenant some 400 years earlier, the Lord now comes in "a tiny whispering sound," the vehicle of intimate conversation, the way friends communicate with each other. This is where this Sunday’s first reading ends. In the biblical text that follows this reading, God assures Elijah that his mission is not yet over, that the Lord would continue to be with him, that there were still people who were faithful, that a successor had been found to carry on Elijah’s prophetic mission. We hear this portion of I Kings on the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year C. The point of the reading as provided for our present Sunday is that the manner of God’s presence need not conform to our expectations. God doesn’t always come to us as we think He should. It is true that God is Lord of wind and fire and power, but God is also the Lord of the fearful, the discouraged, the threatened, and extends Himself to them in ways that are appropriate to their fragility and vulnerability. We see God extending himself to the fragile and the vulnerable in the Gospel reading. We see the apostles in the midst of a storm. They are terrified by the unexpected appearance of Jesus. They cry out in fear. Peter asks to be allowed to approach Jesus, but becomes frightened as he walks ever so tentatively on the stormy water. As he begins to sink, Jesus saves him and chides him for the weakness of his faith. As they got back to the boat, the wind dies down and those in the boat express their faith in Jesus: "Truly, you are the Son of God." In each of these two readings we find an encounter with God that takes place after the stilling of a storm. The Lord does not need to use the mighty forces of nature to communicate with His loved ones. He controls these forces, to be sure, and can use them to teach His own lessons, but He seems to prefer more quiet, one might almost say more respectful communication: "a tiny whispering sound" for Elijah, the quiet after the sea storm for the disciples to express their faith. Friends don’t shout at each other. They communicate in softer tones. The place to encounter God is not only in the awesome events of nature, but also in the quiet word of the Lord’s love, in the Lord’s quiet acceptance of our commitment of faith. I suppose all of us at some time or other have experienced the presence of God in the power of nature. But the Lord’s presence is more often offered to us in quieter ways: in the love that we share with other believers, in the calm expression of the Lord’s teaching by the church, in the celebration of the sacraments, in the silence of prayer. We do ourselves a disservice if we only look for the Lord in earthquakes and lightening bolts. The Lord is more subtle than that. Sometimes He sneaks up on us in ways that we never would have expected. For reflection and discussion** How have I experienced the presence of the Lord? Have I ever been surprised by the presence of the Lord?

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