DAY 124

CONFRONTING EVIL

1 Kings 16, 17 & 18 and Luke 22:47 – 71

I am mindful that yesterday’s post was longer than I like to write and so today I will try and be briefer. Today we have two stories: Elijah and Jesus.

In the Old Testament reading today there are a few “big stories.” The one I want to focus on is Elijah and the Prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. It is like a duel. Whose gods/God is greater? Elijah constructs this test of building an altar, placing a sacrifice on it, and then seeing whose gods/God is greater. Elijah lets the Prophets of Baal go first. Nothing happens.

Then Elijah starts talking smack as they say. Imagine the scene. You are outnumbered, but you know you have God on your side. This knowledge emboldens Elijah. “Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps asleep…”” Talking smack might be the proper phrase. After Baal’s prophets fail, Elijah has them pour water on his altar to raise the level of difficulty. Are you getting an image? Then in an instant – God moves!

God does not trifle with evil – Baal is evil. “Not trifling” can take on any number of forms. Jesus, God, in our New Testament reading is exercising a different sort of power in His confrontation with evil. Confident in his Father he is placing himself fully into the arms of a sovereign God. He has known that His path leads to and through the Cross – yet knowing something and doing it are two different things entirely. The scenes with our Lord: betrayal with a kiss, denial by a friend, mocked and ridiculed by the Council of religious leaders who represent the faith you founded: these scenes are powerful drama. Jesus through it all shows a powerful resolve, as if He is above all that is happening to Him.

We face evil. We turn on the TV and watch over and over the image of the Boston Marathon Bombing; Humans lying on hospital beds having apparently been gassed by their own government in Egypt; and more. Then there is the evil we confront in our smaller world, sometimes in our very selves. Elijah and Jesus wonderfully show us how.

Today, know that God is supreme. This is not a 50-50, “good versus evil” movie that we know not the end of. He may choose silence, or He may choose action, but He will neither be mocked nor defeated.