Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 7 (C), June 19, 2022—1 Kings 19:1–4 (5–7) 8–15a [15b–18]; Galatians 3:23–29; Luke 8:26–39

 

Rembrandt: Elijah on Mt. Horeb

I Kings 19:1–4 (5–7) 8–15a [15b–18]

Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” part III

 

I had just about had it.

At the end of my rope.

Doubted I could keep going.

“It is enough! O Lord, now take away my life

For I am not better than my fathers.”

Thus Elijah sang.

Three recits and an aria to go.

Plus this one, with that long high D sharp towards the end.

Then, worried, I had a brain fart and sang a note too short.

Thought I’d blown it.

Panicked, I wondered what Stanley, conducting, would do.

He just kept smiling, because I’d lengthened the next note

Without realizing it.

Everything was okay!

And we made it through.

 

Funny how rare it is that all is lost.

 

But the best line comes next from the chorus:

“Go, return upon thy way,

For the Lord yet hath left Him seven thousand in Israel,

knees which have not bowed to Baal.

Go, return upon thy way!”

I don’t know why the lectionary omits it.

Keep it in this week.

Remind yourself, and your people,

That you—and they—are not alone.

When you’re ready to throw in the towel,

When you’re not sure you can keep singing

This faith business, this grace

That may only appear in the still, small silence,

Keep in mind those seven thousand!

And go on your way, in the strength of the Lord.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

(Stanley Romanstein was the conductor of the 1988 concert with the University/Community Chorus at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York.)

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 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 like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

+ + +

Galatians 3:23–29

 

Peacetime Spree

 

Anti-Semites, here take note:

This text is no small anecdote,

But central to Paul’s wild claim

That Jews and Gentiles mean the same

To God! The law which tends to separate

Is superseded by the trait

That God in Christ broke down the walls—

By separation, Paul’s appalled!

There is no longer Jew or Greek,

No male or female, slave or free;

So, if the kingdom you would seek,

Go on a love-of-neighbor spree!

 

Scott L. Barton

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

 

+ + +

Luke 8:26–39

 

Be Careful What You Ask For!

 

The demons begged he not dismiss

Them back into the deep abyss;

Instead, they asked that they be sent

Into the pigs, where thus, they went;

Except the next they knew, the swine

Plunged off the cliff into the brine!

I picture Jesus, whose wry smile

Previews his Easter laughing style,

While evil, still, he takes to task:

“You, too, watch out for what you ask!”

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.