The Agony of Defeat and the Thrill of Victory

Pastor Meyer's Sermon

Sunday, August 7, 2005

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our heavenly Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus our Christ.

The text on which we base our meditation this morning comes from our Old Testament reading just read a few minutes ago, 1 Kings 19, but specifically Verse 12. “And after the fire came, a gentle whisper, and when Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, growing up, one of my favorite shows to watch was ABC's Wide World of Sports . This show is best known for its introduction. Do you remember the stirring, brassy fanfare over a montage of sports clips and a dramatic accompanying narration by Jim Mackay? “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition. This is ABC's Wide World of Sports .”

The melodramatic narration became almost an instant national catchphrase that we can even still hear today. Much of us can still see that poor ski jumper who started to fall at the top of the ramp and he tumbled over and over and over again, hitting poles on the way down until finally he tumbled off the side of the ramp. All this, as Jim Mackay said the words, “Agony of defeat.” To those of us growing up during this era, this guy became known as the “Agony of Defeat Guy.” He became a hard luck hero of sorts, an affectionate icon for stunning failure.

In our text for this morning, we see another person who is known as the “Agony of Defeat Guy,” the prophet Elijah, and we see him in his own agony of defeat. You see, despite performing miraculous works of providing unlimited food for a starving widow or bringing rain that caused the end of a three-year drought or reviving the life of the widow's son who had stopped breathing, despite winning the dramatic contest with the 450 prophets of Baal, the false God of the time, where the God of Israel sent down fire to consume a sacrifice that the God Baal couldn't even touch, and despite still having the sounds of the people shouting out, “The Lord, the Lord is God, the Lord, the Lord is God,” ringing in his ear, he still felt defeated.

You see, the wicked Queen Jezebel had put Elijah on the hit list. He was wanted dead in the next 24 hours. So Elijah is on the run. He is bitter. He even prays to God that he might die. He feels like he is the only one left who is faithful to God. So Elijah runs. He runs to Mount Horeb , better known as Mount Sinai , and he crashes in a cave and he stayed the night. There's no thrill of victory here. There's only agony of defeat.

But how about us? Have we felt the same way despite our moments when our faith is lively and joyous? Maybe it's in the birth of a new baby or maybe it's in a new job promotion. Maybe there's a particular devotional reading that just uplifted your spirits. But we know these feelings of joy can quickly fade, can't they? And we know we don't need the threats of a Queen Jezebel for those joys to go away. Maybe it's a bit of bad news from the doctor or maybe it's a hurtful comment that you received from a fellow coworker or maybe some of your good friends are going through a divorce, a bitter divorce, and, once again, you have to see another family being torn apart. Or maybe you're passionate about something in ministry here in this congregation and it seems like you're the only one passionate about it. You see, it's easy for us to sense all our efforts toward our work and toward our family and toward the congregation can seem like they're going nowhere. So we can feel lonely. We can even be whispering to ourselves words of anger and frustration. Yes, there's no thrill of victory here. There's only agony of defeat.

But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He did not leave a depressed man, Elijah, alone. We see in our text He comes to Elijah. What does He say? He says, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah cried out, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant. They've torn down your altars, and they flame your prophets, and I, only I am left and they seek to take my life, too.” You see, lamenting and complaining was all Elijah could do to answer God's question because in the midst of those feelings of defeat, it's hard for us to see the victory and we, too, know about that, don't we? Just like Elijah, we're all too ready to lament or complain. “I've been faithful to you. I've given up my Sunday for you. But my family and my friends, they've all rejected you. They turned their backs on you. They don't believe in you like I do, but why is my life going the way it's going?” We may even say to ourselves, “If only God would show Himself in some powerful dramatic way, I would not be in this mess I find myself in.” But this God, this one and only God, heard Elijah lament and He responds. He reveals Himself, not through earthquake or wind or fire which echo when God appeared before Moses in the giving of the Ten Commandments, no, rather, God comes to Elijah in a gentle whisper. In the depth of Elijah's loneliness, in his frustration, in his anger, the God of Israel comes to him in the whisper of His word.

When we are in our agonies of defeat, when it seems like the word ‘victory' has been taken completely out of our vocabulary, even while in the depth of our loneliness and anger and frustration, this very same one and only God listens to us. Even when we feel like we are the only ones who are still faithful, even when we feel as if our friends and our family have abandoned us and left us to carry our burdens on our own, even when we feel as if we alone have failed so miserably in our sins, God listens. The God of Elijah doesn't have to appear in powerful ways, like wind or earthquake or fire in order to be present with us. He responds to us through another prophet, the prophet, God's own Son, true God and true man. His message to us? “Seek me and live. I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

In our gospel text for this morning, I am the bread of life. Because when Jesus was here on this earth, He went to those who were in their own agonies of defeat. Jesus went to the crippled man who was not only depressed because he couldn't walk but he couldn't find anyone to carry him into the pools of Saloam, but Jesus came to him and Jesus said to him, “Go. Get up. Pick up your mat and walk.” And the man could walk again. Jesus went to the ten lepers. These lepers were outcasts from society, cut off from their family. He comes to them and He says, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And they were healed on the way. Jesus said, “Go sin no more,” to the woman caught in adultery and she goes away forgiven and changed. And Jesus comes to Peter who, just a few days before, had wept bitterly because he had denied Jesus three times. And Jesus comes to him and tells him, “Feed my lambs.”

So this prophet went to another mountain, not the fiery mountain of Mount Sinai but a darkness-covered dump of a hill known as Mount Calvary . It is here God reveals Himself, not through a grand display of power. No, no, no. There at this mountain there were cries of, “He saved others but He can't save Himself.” There on that mount was just a dying man, truly alone, forsaken by His disciples and even by God the Father, hanging on a tree, gasping for His breath. Can you hear Him? Can you hear Him fighting for His breath? And then crying aloud, “It is finished.” And then the whisper of Jesus' last breath as He dies on the cross. He, too, went to a cave. He was dead. He was laid in the cave. By all accounts, it seemed, that He was defeated. But with this Jesus, there's no Agony of Defeat guy here. No, no. 1 Corinthians 15:54, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Yes, through Jesus' agony of defeat, there is the thrill of victory and it is our victory. As the apostle Paul proclaimed, “Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The result? In our text, God comes to Elijah and He says, “Go back the way you came.” He empowered Elijah to turn away from his own agony and to trust in God. God called Elijah to continue his work. God tells Elijah to go and anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha. “Get them ready for my work.”

Despite our own feelings of defeat, Jesus comes to us. He nurtures us through His Word. He cleanses us with forgiveness. He prepares us through His meal and then tells us in Matthew 10:27, “What I tell you, what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” And we are empowered to proclaim to those who are in their agony of defeat, to speak to the student who feels like he doesn't fit in. Speak to the couple who is struggling to raise their children and it's taking a toll on their marriage. Speak to the man who daily fights with his desires, only to lose time and time again. Speak to any person who has felt the sting of death, because there are bodies out there who are hurting and souls who are crying and marriages that are bruised and failing that are aching. And we know lives can be made whole again. Healing can take place in bodies and in souls and in marriages and in families. Through Christ, we know the agonies of defeat turn into the thrill of victory.

So don't just sit in your cave. God has a job for you because it doesn't matter who you are or what you are. It doesn't matter how old you are. God, using you, can make the difference in all the world literally for another person. It is the difference between heaven and hell. And it might be for a neighbor. It might be for a friend. It might be for a family member, maybe the one you love the most.

Just like Elijah, the Almighty God tells us to go back the way you came. And we will. With the words of St. Paul in our heart, 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Your work is not in vain. Be faithful. Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because you know your labor is not in vain.” Amen.

Copyright 2005 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church