The Weight of the World

...And there he came to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." 1 Kings 19

I've always enjoyed the stories about the prophet, Elijah. He is truly the man who stands at the very intersection of earth and heaven. One moments he is boldly proclaiming the Word of God. And the next moment, he is running for cover in fear of his life. The text above takes place shortly after what is perhaps Elijah's greatest moment as a prophet. He has just taken on all the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. He calls upon the name of the Lord and indeed the Lord comes in mighty power. The statement and the lesson are clear--there is no god like the Lord! Nevertheless, as soon as the contest is over, Elijah immediately begins thinking about the consequences. He knows that Ahab and Jezebel will soon be gunning for him for what has happened. So Elijah scurries to a cave, apparently to hide out from all those people that were out to get him.

The Lord comes to Elijah and ask him about all this. Elijah's response is wonderful--at least for those of us who are able to laugh at ourselves. Here is a paraphrase of Elijah's response: Lord, you cannot imagine how incomprehensibly hard it is to be me. I am the only person in the whole world who cares enough to remember you. It's just a matter of time Lord. They'll be coming soon. I'm finished here.

Now to be fair, prophets do feel like this sometimes and Jezebel probably did want to see Elijah dead. But Elijah had just seen the power of God in an unusually dramatic display at the contest on Mt. Carmel. So what's the deal?

Sometimes we misjudge our role. Whether it be as servants or parents or leaders or simply people on the planet--sometimes we imagine that everything turns upon us. I call it the "thank God for me" syndrome. Religious people seem to be especially susceptible to it. And the reason here is because religious people tend to be conscientious.

Being conscientious, of course, is generally a good thing. Conscientious people feel the weight of the world and they want to do their part to carry the load. However, this can also lead to trouble, particularly when we start comparing ourselves to other people. It begins when we start noticing that other people don't seem to be paying as much attention as we are. We begin to tell ourselves that these people don't care as much as we do or that they simply cannot do as good a job as we can. And sometimes this is true. And this further complicates the problem. We already believe that we care more than everyone else so if we also believe that everyone else is doing a poor job anyway, then we might just as well do it ourselves. And the longer this goes on, the more we get the idea that we're carrying the weight of the world all by ourself.

This is sort of what happens to the prophet Elijah. In his noble effort to do the right thing well, he finds himself further and further isolated. To the point, if fact, that Elijah believes that he is the only one left--the only faithful person on the planet. And once you become the last faithful person left on the planet, there is little else to do but run away to a cave somewhere and wait for the inevitable.

This, btw, is a common theme in zombie movies. You can only fight zombies alone for so long. Sooner or later, something has got to give. Either they overwhelm you with their sheer numbers or you discover (as they do in the movies) that they're not all zombies. There are always others who are willing to stand beside you and hold off the dead people. You just might have to leave the cave to find them. And you might have to accept the fact that their concern and technique might not be exactly the same as yours.

Oh, here's how that story ends:
And the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, you shall anoint Haz'ael to be king over Syria; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel; and Eli'sha the son of Shaphat of A'bel-meho'lah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And him who escapes from the sword of Haz'ael shall Jehu slay; and him who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Eli'sha slay. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Ba'al, and every mouth that has not kissed him." So he departed from there, and found Eli'sha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Eli'jah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Eli'jah, and said, "Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again; for what have I done to you?" And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Eli'jah, and ministered to him.