Homily on Luke 4:22-30 and Romans 12:6-14

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Because of leap year, we missed celebrating the Prophet Elijah. His life is a powerful message of past and future, starting with Moses and ending with Jesus Christ. But it also applies to us. Elijah was a powerful message for the ancient Jews. He was a symbol of Moses because the Holy Spirit worked the same message in both. Elijah fled to the wilderness to escape an evil ruler, just as Moses did. Elijah saw the Word of God on Mt. Horeb, just as Moses did on Mt. Sinai. Elijah passed on prophetic power to Elisha his disciple, just as Moses passed it on to Joshua. In general, Elijah saved Israel from losing the worship of the true God, just as Moses did. But Jesus completes this symbolism. After preaching in a synagogue, telling everyone He fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah, the people rejected Him, since He was only the son of Joseph, nothing more. So Jesus declared that Elijah was also rejected by Israel, only doing a miracle for a widow who was not Jewish. Jesus then declared that Elisha only did a miracle for a leper who was not Jewish. This suggested that Gentiles are closer to God than Jews, which enraged the people, who almost killed Him, but Christ went past the crowd and escaped. This total rejection was what Elijah and Elisha saw, as Moses did. When Moses was on Mt. Sinai for the 10 commandments, all of Israel worshipped a golden calf. But he effectively saved the Jews from divine destruction, convincing them to worship the true God. Similarly in Elijah’s time, almost all Jews worshipped Baal, a fake god. But Elijah took a challenge to prove the true God by a miracle, which 450 prophets of Baal could not do. Like a long-term golden calf, God was rejected by almost all Jews, but Elijah convinced everyone that the Biblical God is true. All this points to Jesus Christ. Almost all of Israel rejected Christ. A crowd tried to kill Him at the start of His Gospel and a crowd at the end of His Gospel finally killed Him because they assumed He was only the son of Joseph. It sounds like the Church’s history. In the 700 years after Pentecost, all heresies treated Jesus Christ as only the son of Joseph or as a fake man. So the six ecumenical councils sought to save the Church from having a fake god. If Christ is not truly man and not truly God, mankind cannot be saved and the Holy Spirit is not in the Church. These councils preserved the truest way to follow Jesus as son of Joseph and fully God, which saved all people from losing His salvation. And now today, we are in a time, in a world, in a culture which despise the Lord Jesus and want all Christians silenced. It is like the days of Elijah and Elisha, when everyone hated God until He powerfully appeared as the only true God. This is what will happen when Christ returns: He will appear as Lord of all to a stunned world which rejected Him. If you are saddened by this rejection of God, if you feel oppressed by anti-christianity, if you feel depressed by distortions of reality, you are not alone. It has happened before with Moses and dramatically with Elijah and massively with our Lord Jesus Christ. It may seem like the patients have taken over the asylum, but do not be afraid. Our God can destroy a golden calf and make water burn as fire. He can also change a cross of death into the joy of resurrection. And He can walk through an angry mob trying to kill Him without a single scratch. So do not let them depress you. Walk through the people holding a cross and a bible with no fear. And Christ will change the screaming mob into a wimpering dog. He has done it before and He will do it again. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.