James 5:17-18 (KJV)
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are...
Elijah is an enigmatic figure in Scripture. He comes out of nowhere and walks onto the pages of Scripture wearing a garment of camel's hair. He is a manly man who is very hairy, beard and all. His clothing set the fashion trend for those who would thereafter aspire to be prophets. He was rough and untamed. If he were a part of the King Arthur legends, he would be Merlin. He is a person who walks to the beat of a different drum and who has a connection to the supernatural that is uncanny. He has spiritual insight that many people never have. He experiences miracles in almost every part of the story that we have of him. He is legendary, unique, and intriguing.
The many New Testament references to him speak of him as a powerful figure. He is remembered for being unafraid to confront kings and corrupt religious figures. He is remembered as one who, through the power of God, raised the dead. He performed miracles of provision. His prophetic words, like the prophet Samuel's, never fell to the ground. It was Elijah who called down fire upon his enemies. It was Elijah who restored Israel to the true worship of the one God. It was Elijah who was caught up to the heavenly realm in a chariot and horses of fire. The Jews of Jesus's day read the prophet Malachi and anticipated that this same Elijah would return sometime before the Messiah. To this day, in Orthodox Jewish households, an empty chair and table setting are set at Passover celebrations for Elijah. When Jesus asked His disciples who everyone thought Jesus was they replied that some thought He was Elijah. In the next scene in the Gospels, as Jesus prays on the Mount of Transfiguration, it is Moses and Elijah who appear to HIm to talk to Him about His Exodus. In Scripture, Elijah is placed on par with the figure of Moses, something very few other human beings are. Jesus pays the highest compliment He can to his cousin John the Baptist when he says that John is Elijah. As Jesus hung dying on the cross for our sins some misinterpreted His words as He prayed Psalm 22 as a cry to Elijah to come and save him.
He sounds like the stuff of legend and myth. He is powerful.
His name means "My God is Yahweh." And, as his name was, so was he. He was passionate about his relationship with God. It made him unafraid.
And if this was all we knew about Elijah, we might keep him in the category with Hercules and Wolverine or Thor and Iron Man. But James reminds us that...
"Elijah was a man..."
He was just as human as you and me. He didn't arrive from planet Krypton on a tiny spaceship. He didn't have superpowers. He wasn't a mutant. Elijah was a man...
James' choice of words here is telling. He does not use the gender-specific word for male. He just uses the word we might translate as "human." He is telling us that Elijah was flesh and blood. He was subject to gravity and aging. He needed food and rest. He could get annoyed and stump his toe. He was human and "subject to like passions as we are..."
James read all of Elijah's story and remembered that there were more than mountaintops and angelic encounters in the story. There was more than firey chariots and eschatological prophecy. He remembered that "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are..."
The word translated as "subject to like passions" is the same used by Luke for the speech that Paul and Barnabas gave to the men who thought Paul and Barnabas were the incarnate Greek gods.
Acts 14:15 (KJV)
And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein...
It means "pertaining to similarity in feelings of circumstances, with the same nature."
In 1 Kings, following Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal, we see his finitude and fallenness bleed through. He is emotionally, spiritually, and physically drained. He receives a message from the wicked queen Jezebel that she is going to find him and kill him. It is in this moment that he has an anxiety attack. He freaks out!
He runs away into the wilderness alone. His words betray depression and weariness. He expresses anger and a twinge of self-righteousness. He has a bad attitude. In this moment God sends a heavenly messenger to bake him a meal and help him rehydrate.
Some of our greatest issues are issues related to our need to take care of ourselves in a holistic way. God gave Elijah what he needed in the moment and what he needed was something good to eat and a long nap...
Elijah, one of the greatest heroes of Scripture was just as human as you and me! What a relief!
But James goes on. He tells us how Elijah was able to transcend his frailty...
and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
Elijah's circumstances were similar to ours. Elijah's difficulties were similar to ours. Elijah's humanity was the same as ours...
"And he prayed..." Prayer is something that anyone can do. The smallest child, the oldest adult. The wealthy and the poor. The powerful and the weak. The elite and the person long forgotten by society. The one whose health has been broken and the one with vibrant health. Anyone can pray.
Everyone does pray.
Richard Dawkins, "Oh, God..." There is something that is a part of being human!
Psalm 65:2 (KJV)
"O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come..."
Paul describes prayer that arises out of the human spirit and the Holy Spirit. There is a prayer that is nothing more than a sigh. Prayer is something that we all do. Prayer can be a groan. Prayer can be a silent wish of the heart. Prayer can be in an unknown tongue that builds up the faith of the person praying. Prayer is something that everyone does.
"And Elijah prayed..."
This is common. This is human. But, Elijah went further...
There is something powerful about going just a little further. Someone said, "It takes so little to be above average..."
In the garden of Gethsemane when our Lord was headed to the cross, He and all His disciples went to the garden. A few went on a little further with him. But, then He went on a stones-throw further where He prayed fervently. He tried to wake His sleeping disciples with these words, "Pray, that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is weak, but the flesh is weak..."
Elijah, like our Lord, had a secret source of power. He understood his frailty and finitude "and he prayed earnestly..."
Jesus taught us that we should ask, seek, and knock in prayer. All of these things are in the present tense.
In the church that I grew up in, it was common to have prayer meetings. We would get together and spend time talking to the Lord. We had prayer rooms where we would meet to talk to Him before worship. We had two hand-drawn placards on the back wall of the church that showed the silhouette of a praying person and had the acronym P.U.S.H. Pray Until Something Happens.
Elijah was not passive in his prayer time. He was like Jacob who wrestled with the Angel. He was like Abraham who bargained with God for the lives of the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah. He was like our Lord who prayed in the garden, "If it be possible..." He was like Paul who prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh might be removed. He was like Paul who said, I thank my God that I speak in tongues more than you all in my time of private prayer. He prayed earnestly.
Earnestly
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit...
