Thursday, July 15, 2004
Great Prince Vladimir (Basil) of Kiev, Equal-to-the-Apostles
2nd at Vesprs, Prophet Elijah: 1 Kings 18:1, 17-40 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 7:12-24 Gospel: St. Matthew 15:12-21
1 Kings 18:1, 17-40, especially vs. 37: "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people
may know that Thou, O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their hearts back." St. John of the Ladder asserts:
"However great the life we lead may be, we may count it stale and spurious, if we have not acquired a contrite heart. For
this is essential, truly essential if I may say so, that those who have again been defiled after baptism should cleanse the pitch
from their hands with unceasing fire of the heart and with the oil of God."
Beloved of the Lord, St. John proclaims the identical truth which Elijah set before the People of God on Mt Carmel. The
Prophet offered the possibility of contrition of heart to all Israel in four steps. As he did for ancient Israel so he reveals to
us how to acquire a contrite heart so essential for relationship with the living God: the sin must be named for the offender.
Compromise must end. Dependence on God is required. Contrition must be demonstrated. These four steps are necessary
in all instances, whether one is aided prophetically by someone as the People were on Mt. Carmel, or whether one is taught
within by the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:26). Observe Elijah in this encounter. Directed by God, he goes to the apostate king,
Ahab. He censures him to his face, explicitly names the king's sin, and shows the wrongdoing to be the cause of the
drought (1 K. 18:1,17,18). The Prophet is very frank about the idolatry of the royal house: "you...and your father's house"
(vs. 18). Elijah closes the door to any evasion of blame that Ahab might assign to Jezebel. The king adopted her errors by
forsaking the direct "commandments of the Lord" (vs. 18) which he knew full well. Sin must be addressed not in
generalities but specifically, by name. All offending parties must own their own guilt. While one may question whether
Ahab truly acknowledged his sin, the people finally did.
Elijah directed his challenge to the entire people and not just toward Ahab. In one of the most beautiful statements in all of
Scripture, he called upon them to stop compromising: "How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the
Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him" (vs. 21). Although the people did not answer the Prophet either
out of shame, fear, or defiance, the challenge was laid down and the matter was brought to a head by Elijah's proposed
"contest" (vss. 23,24). Elijah offered both a challenge and a way to respond, so that all compromise might be brought to an
end, for equivocating cannot continue before God.
Let us note with great care that the Prophet did not depend upon himself, but upon God alone. Look at his prayer: "O
Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant,
and that I have done all these things at Thy word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that Thou,
O Lord, art God, and that Thou hast turned their hearts back" (vss. 36,37). If one acquires a contrite heart, Who gives the
penitence and sorrow? It is never a human work, but the Lord Who "turns hearts back."
Finally, there follows the stunning miracle of God, a dramatic intervention of the Lord Himself, which seems to move the
people's hearts, for they prostrate themselves and cry out in acknowledgment and contrition: "The Lord, He is God; the
Lord, He is God" (vs. 39). Elijah wisely does not accept these signs of heartfelt change. He demands that national life be
purged of the cult of the Baals, and that the priests of Baal be executed. Contrition becomes real as one openly confesses
sin and takes steps to purge further repetitions of sin. One must design a plan for ridding the soul of the sin, and must
execute it, killing every temptation to repeat the wrong. O Physician and Healer of my soul, blot out all my
transgressions, grant me complete contrition of heart and grace to avoid my previous evil ways and strength to resist
further sin.
