Rev. Dr. Jonathan Blanke, Senior Pastor
Pastor’s Corner for June 29-July 5, 2025
When Zealousness Is Not Enough
(1 Kings 19:9b-18)
Ever found yourself in a place where you’ve just simply had it?
That’s where we find Elijah this weekend. The Queen Jezebel had a contract out on Elijah’s life, following Elijah’s showdown with the “her” prophets… the prophets of Baal. The Lord God of Israel had won that contest. Baal had lost. You would think such a victory would have given Elijah the adrenaline he needed to carry on for another day. It did not. Maybe Elijah was tired of running. Maybe he was tired of being a prophet. But whatever the circumstances, Elijah had discovered that his zeal was flagging. “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts,” he says, almost as if zealousness was a commodity he had once depended upon to keep moving but now found was now all used up. Whatever his circumstances, Elijah had come face to face with the reality that zealousness alone in life is never enough.
Barbara Brown Taylor once said that the Bible story of Elijah on Mt. Sinai/Horeb is a kind of resurrection story. God shows up for Elijah in the middle of Elijah’s escape to that mountain. But God is not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire… all manifestations of God’s presence when MOSES met God there. No. After all of that, there is silence and a whisper. And it is the whisper that God gets Elijah’s attention! It is by way of a whisper that God speaks to Elijah… and sends him on another assignment. I like to see in that silence and whisper a kind of “pointing ahead” in the Scriptural story to the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. It is there we realize our own zealousness for life is never enough. It is there we experience the grace of God and the gift of Life in Christ Jesus that bring us time and time again into the light of another new day. It is there we find, no matter our own reserves of strength or ability, God’s call to new assignments and His strength for new opportunities to serve.
What joy to know that God’s grace is always sufficient!
A very blessed Fourth of July to everyone!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Jonathan
Pastor Jonathan Blanke grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He received his Bachelor's degree from College of William and Mary in Virginia and attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, where he earned a Masters of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biblical Studies, Book of John. He served as a Vicar at Messiah Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas.
The Blanke family lived in Japan while he served as pastor and missionary to Okinawa Lutheran Church and taught Biblical Studies at Japan Lutheran College in Tokyo.
Pastor Jonathan lived in southern Maryland from January 2014 to November 2019 and was thankful to have served as the Sole Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lexington Park, Maryland.
He and his wife, Juli, have two grown children. In his free time, Jonathan likes to travel, "play around" on the piano, and enjoy the outdoors.
Click HERE to view a brief video from Pastor Jonathan.