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1 Kings 19:4-8 John 6:35, 41-51 If you lived in Kansas City in the mid 1990s, odds are that you knew who Joe Phillips was. He was a star defensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs and they made the playoffs 5 of the 6 years that he played for them. Rams fans might also recognize the name because he played for them in 1998 after he left the Chiefs. Joe Phillips was much more than just a football player however. The real reason that I remember him so well is because he and his wife, Cynthia, were one of the most visible couples in Kansas City during his playing years. They were both on numerous boards of directors at local hospitals and charities. They hosted a television show together. He appeared in commercials and posters, one of which hung on my wall during high school. He helped develop a program to help football players prepare for the years ahead when their playing days were over. He also had a stockbroker’s license. In addition, both he and his wife had law degrees and he practiced law during the off-season. Cynthia had movie-star good looks and, of course, Joe was an awesome football player. They had beautiful blond children. In short, in the 1990s, he was living a life that most of us could only dream about. Today, the only place that you’ll find Joe Phillip’s picture is on a Wanted List in Oregon. After he retired from football in 1999, he had problems finding purpose & excitement in his life. He slipped into depression and turned to alcohol and drugs as a remedy. He walked out on his family and filed for divorce in 2001. He is now wanted for multiple DUI charges and for missing his court appearances. Now, Joe Phillips isn’t on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List or anything, but he is a wanted man nonetheless. I guess the irony of being on one of these Wanted Lists is that nobody really wants you. You’re pretty much on your own and anyone who stops to help you is taking a big risk for aiding and abetting a criminal. The main character in our Old Testament lesson is on just such a list. He’s a wanted man, which is to say that no one really wanted him at all. Elijah the prophet has just become the number 1 Most Wanted Man in Queen Jezebel’s kingdom and now he’s on the run. This is rather odd considering what Elijah has just been through and the miracles that have just taken place. If you remember, Elijah was the prophet who stood up to King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and all the prophets of Baal. He famously challenged the 450 prophets of Baal to a prophet-off. The challenge was to see whose god could light the fire of the burnt offering. The god who accomplished this feat would be the one true god. The prophets of Baal got to go first and the whole crowd watched as they danced and prayed to Baal, hoping for a sign. Elijah sat under a tree and mocked them the entire time – a sign of his great confidence in God. Finally they gave up and it was Elijah’s turn. Before Elijah got going, he had the people pour water on the logs to make the feat even more difficult. Three times he had the logs soaked with water before he prayed for God to do something. Finally he prayed for God’s actions and BAM!, a lightning bolt from the sky came down and consumed the entire burnt offering, logs, water, bull, and all. At this, the people praised the true God and Elijah slaughtered all 450 prophets of Baal. When word of this humiliation reached Jezebel, she got upset and put a bounty on Elijah’s head, hence the Most Wanted List. Even though a few moments earlier, Elijah had been the darling of the crowds, he was now a fugitive and no one wanted to have anything to do with him. So he fled to a different country, as far away as he could get, and he prayed to God, who he had so confidently depended on before, “It is enough; now O Lord, take away my life.” Somehow, Elijah, the prophet of God, who had done such wonderful things and strongly stood up to so many people, somehow, Elijah had had enough. He had gone from an incredible high to an unfathomable low. Something in Elijah had caused him to enter into despair and call it quits. Maybe he was exhausted. Maybe he was scared. Maybe he was burned out on being a prophet. I asked a number of people in a couple Bible studies this week, “What causes you to become depressed? What causes you despair? What causes you to become burned out? I’m sure you can all identify with the answers I received. People get the “Blahs” when their expectations aren’t being met or when things aren’t going the way that they expect them to. Sometimes people start feeling this way because they feel inadequate or they’re not feeling useful. Sometimes its just too much stress or even the weather that can cause someone to become detached or burnt out. And it doesn’t even have to be a particularly bad experience that sparks it. Sometimes it can be an incredible high that actually causes the bottom to drop out on you because maybe things haven’t changed in the way that you thought they would. This seems to be the case with Elijah, but also with such contemporaries as Sheryl Crow who went into a depression after getting her big break by being a back-up singer for Michael Jackson. Buzz Aldrin, after walking on the moon and spending years in space program, fell into depression and alcoholism after he left NASA. Joe Phillips and his life after football. Whatever the reason, it is important to know that feelings of depression, despair, frustration, even suicide, are very real and very scary. “O Lord, take away my life.” And while many of us may never quite get to that point, we all struggle with these feelings from time to time, some more intensely than others. So what do we do when we find ourselves in that situation? When we feel inadequate, depressed, sad, frustrated, burnt out and unwanted? What do we do? Instead of answering that question however, I’d like to turn the focus around and take it off of us. Part of the danger of depression and despair and suicide is that when we’re in that situation, we don’t really want to do anything, so just telling something that they have to do something else, is really not the best approach. Instead, let’s ask the question, What does God do when we find ourselves in these difficult situations? God’s response to Elijah is to feed him. To give him nourishment. To send him an angel who takes care of him by cooking him some pancakes over the fire and giving him the strength to continue the journey. God’s response to us is the same. When we are struggling, when we are having a hard time finding purpose, or when we are overwhelmed, God offers to feed us and nourish us. The bread that he gives us to eat is far more substantial than some pancakes cooked over the fire though. The bread of life that we are given is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the bread that has come down from heaven to sustain us in our journeys. Jesus is the bread that has come from the Father so that might we might endure whatever comes our way. Jesus is the bread that offers eternal life, and if we eat of this bread, we will never be hungry again. So where do we get this bread that God so graciously offers to us? I mean, it doesn’t work for us exactly like it did for Elijah. Can you just picture it, if ________ is going through a rough spot, an angel comes and taps them on the shoulder, “________, O ________, wake-up, I’ve cooked you some piping fresh Jesus. Now its time to get going.” Naw, it doesn’t work quite like that. But God does give us this bread of life in some pretty significant ways. God gives us Jesus through prayer and reading the Bible. Its amazing how much Jesus there is in this one book, if we’ll just open it and read a few sentences. This is one way that God nourishes us in hard times. God also gives us Jesus through each other. Its amazing how much Jesus there is in other Christians and how God can work through our Christian brothers and sisters to help us get through those difficult times. Finally, maybe the Elijah story really isn’t so far off, for Jesus is offered to us through fresh baked bread whenever we share in Holy Communion. It is at this table where we are offered forgiveness of sins, hope of eternal life, community with each other, and union with God – the very ingredients in the bread of life. Our friend, Elijah, was at the end of his rope, like all of us are from time to time, maybe even right now. He was at the top of Jezebel’s Most Wanted List and it meant that nobody wanted him. And because he was hurting so bad, Elijah even had a death wish. Yet, God came to him with a life wish instead. And God comes to each of you with a life wish also. God offers you strength and nourishment, grace and forgiveness, love and mercy, acceptance and sustenance. God gives you the bread of life, Jesus Christ. In fact, you can place your picture right up there because you are at the top of God’s most wanted list, and that’s the best list to be on. Amen.
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