Get up and eat

I reflect on the life of the prophet Elijah, focusing on his dramatic rise and subsequent moments of despair. Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal and his flight from Queen Jezebel highlight his profound faith and human vulnerability. I emphasise the importance of nourishment and rest, as seen when an angel provides Elijah with food and he finds strength in silence. Drawing parallels to our spiritual lives, I remind us of the sustenance Jesus, the “bread of life,” offers. Join me as we explore these themes and find encouragement in our faith journey.

When we are first introduced to Elijah, he comes suddenly on the scene with a bang. He’s this larger than life figure, a hero, being able to bring rain to a parched land, to a parched Israel after three and a half years of drought. It’s Elijah – whose name means My God is Yahweh. What a strong name that is! And he becomes the great hero able to restore the fortunes of a poor widow to someone on the very edge, someone so vulnerable to restore her son’s life after he had died. He’s this amazing figure. And then the scene that we have in First Kings 18 of the confrontation between Elijah by himself and these 450 prophets of Ba’al, and the 400 prophets of Asherah, all at the behest of the evil Queen Jezebel and King Ahab. It’s an amazing, incredible scene, as we’ve just seen, and Elijah is at the peak of his game. Amazing. He’s almost like a marvel superhero. So incredible. So amazing. And then when we see him at the beginning of First Kings 19, everything has changed.

00:01:20 Suddenly, Queen Jezebel threatens his life and that’s enough for him. He turns tail and runs a full length of Israel in a single day. 100km. He runs to get away from Queen Jezebel and then he arrives, tired, parched, worn out, and sits under this bush, wanting only to die. He’s at the end of his tether. He’s had enough. And it’s an incredible thing coming from this place of such exaltation that he is at the peak of his game. And suddenly he collapses in a heap. And we’ve we’ve known that we’ve been there. We’ve seen that experience ourselves from going to the top of the game to falling to the bottom, falling in a heap. And what are we here? That he’s there and the angel of the Lord comes to him and says he has some food. Get up and eat. Sometimes that’s what we need. Just a little bit of nourishment. Some food to provide our basic needs. And then we’re told Elijah, of course, has a little lie down.

00:02:30 He needs a rest. He needs some sleep. He needs to be rejuvenated. Not just from the bread, from the food that he receives, but also through sleep. And sometimes that’s such an essential part of our lives as well. When we’re feeling overwhelmed, when everything seems too much for us just to be able to say, I just need some space right now. I need to eat. I need to sleep. And finally, we’re told that that’s enough for Elijah. He’s able then to make this even more amazing journey down to the mountain of the Lord. A journey of 40 days. And he arrives. And what happens on Mount Horeb? On the mountain of the Lord? He encounters the Lord again. Not in the mighty deeds, not in the great signs, not in the earthquake, not in the mighty wind that tore the rocks, not in the fire, but in the sound of a gentle breeze, the sound of silence. That’s where we encounter our God. So as Jesus comes to us today as the bread of life, as he comes to provide the sustenance that we need, let’s allow him to feed us and nourish us, to give us those essential needs.

00:03:48 So that, strengthened by that food, we can continue on with our journey to encounter him in the silence of his presence.