Tombstone

Pretending to live in peace or taking up spiritual arms

1 Kings 18:20-39  

Ahab sent to all the children of Israel and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel. Elijah appealed to all the people and said, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.”

          It is generally good to try to live in peace with other people. But sometimes it becomes clear that peace is not possible. That is, we have to take sides, to stand on the side of what is true, what is good, what is right, while standing against what is false and evil and wrong. This is how Thomas Jefferson began the Declaration of Independence. He wrote: “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another…” and from there he proceeds to list all the reasons why the revolutionaries where right. It was time to take sides, peace was no longer possible.   

          Another famous example of taking sides, where peace was not possible, was the old “Shoot-out at the OK Corral.” Do you remember that? The shoot-out occurred on October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, AZ. I mean, who would ever want to live in a town called Tombstone?? On one side of the shoot-out was Wyatt Earp, and his brothers, and Doc Holliday, while lined up on the other side were the so-called “Cowboys,” a nefarious band of outlaws. You see, it was no longer possible to live in peace, it was time to take sides, and to resolve the matter with war.

          In the first reading today from the first book of Kings, we see a sort of spiritual shoot-out at the OK corral, which didn’t take place in Tombstone, but rather on Mt. Carmel. On the one hand were lined up the 450 prophets of the pagan deity called, “Baal.” He was the arch-rival to Yahweh, the God of Israel. On the other hand, was only one prophet, Elijah. Clearly it was an unfair fight; Elijah would have to take it easy on the 450 prophets of Baal. You see, thus far the people had tried to live in a phony peace with both Baal and Yahweh, trying to serve both Gods. But Elijah prophesies that such peace in not possible, it is only pretend. He challenges the people, saying, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” In other words, it was no longer possible to live in such peace.  We know who wins that war.  However, what we did not see in today’s reading, what we would have read a few lines later, is that Elijah takes a sword and proceeds to cut off the heads of the 450 prophets of Baal. Sometimes, peace is not possible, we must go to war.

          Folks, do you sometimes pretend to live in peace, when such peace is not really possible? And I don’t mean going to war against terrorism, or choosing sides with political parties. I mean spiritually speaking, in our hearts and in our choices, we have to take sides because such spiritual peace is only pretend. In other words, we have a shoot-out at the OK corral going on inside each of us, and we must reject sin and Satan and stand on the side of God and his grace. St. Paul said it eloquently, “But I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind” (Rom. 7:23). That is, there is a spiritual shoot-out going on inside each of, all the time, with temptation and sin. We have to stop pretending that we live in peace.  My friends, we all live in Tombstone.   

          Praised be Jesus Christ!