Eucharistic meditation

This builds on the thoughts in an earlier post entitled "Ups and Downs."

Elijah has power to ascend and descend. When Ahaziah sends his troops to capture Elijah, he is high up, exalted like Yahweh on a mountain. But He does come down to deliver a message, but only on his own terms and on Yahweh's terms. He has power to rise up, and he has power to come down. Because the Word and Angel of Yahweh are with him, Elijah has authority over his own destiny. No one makes him come down, but he comes down of his own initiative; he has authority to come down, and he has authority to rise up again. This points to Elijah�s role as a prophet. The prophet is a man who has "gone up" to the presence of God, and therefore can "come down" to deliver Yahweh's word. The king does not have this power. He goes up to lie down on his bed, and he will never rise up or come down again.

Elijah�s ups and downs in this story not only points to his own authority as a prophet, but also to the character of the God He serves. Yahweh is high and lifted up, exalted above the heavens. But Yahweh is also a God who comes down. And in this he shows His superiority to all idols. God is not only higher than all the gods of the nations, exalted above all idols. He is lower than all other gods. He doesn�t simply throw fireballs from the safety of heaven. He draws near, gets in our face, and confronts us on earth.

This is an unnerving God. He doesn�t stay up in heaven; He doesn�t politely recuse Himself from human affairs. For many people, this is unbecoming to a god. Any decent god will remain in blissful repose in heaven, and have the decency not to meddle with us. But the true God�s power is demonstrated not merely in exaltation, but in humiliation, in the power of descent, in the ministry of "coming down." Ascension is a demonstration of divine power; but God demonstrates His omnipotence even more thoroughly in incarnation. The God of Elijah, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the Father of Jesus Christ, is the God who comes down in fire and in a prophet, in the man of God and in the fire of God, in Word and Judgment, in bread and in wine.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 08:13 AM

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