Stuck on Mt. Carmel

I seem to be stuck up on Mt. Carmel with Elijah and Ahab.  It was not really my plan when I turned to the Elijah narrative, but instead of making a quick visit and departure, I find myself still stumbling around trying to figure out stuff.  The biggest bothersome thing has been those four jars of water filled and poured out three times around the altar prepared by the prophet.  It still seems like an excessive amount of water in the midst of a three year drought.  Surely, it was a lot of water poured out in the trench around the altar.  The text does not seem to imply something like a pint jar, but a clay or stone vessel that held a lot of water.

 

What causes me to think a lot of water is that New Testament story of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.  The stone water jars brought into play that day held twenty or thirty gallons. (John 2:6)  Since a gallon of water weighs about eight pounds, someone did some heavy lifting there on the mountain.  If the jars Elijah used there on the mountain were the large variety, the prophet had to have some help.  As I started seeing folks around Elijah pitching in to help pour the water, it made me think about the stuff of miracles.  One thing we often forget about miracles is that they often require a community.

Now, God can certainly do alone the things we might deem to be miracles, but what we often see as we look closely is that He brings in folks like the water pourers on the mountain, the little boy with the bread and fish, and the people gathered to pray on Pentecost.  I also think of some church food kitchens that feed hundreds each week, a mission ministry that digs deep wells in Africa, and people covenanting to pray for someone sick.  All of these point to a partnership between God and a community.  Such a partnership is a miracle in the making.