Inspired by 1 Kings 17
Once again we have hit the fast forward button on this great
narrative of God and God’s people. Last week we read about the big promise that
God gave to David that God would indeed keep his throne intact for all
eternity, little did anyone know that God was referring to the royal throne of
Christ, but God knew, and we eventually got the memo. After this it was a
roller coaster of kings, some bad, some not so bad. After David died, his son
Solomon took the throne, and ended up building that temple that his dad wanted to many years before. Unfortunately, Solomon was not able to keep the kingdom
intact and upon his death the kingdom split in two with a king ruling the
northern tribes of Israel and a separate king ruling the southern tribes of
Judah. The author goes on to give us little snippets of each of the succeeding
kings, a little snapshot if you will of their time on the throne. And then the
author gets to king Ahab and says, “In the thirty-eighth year of Judah’s King
Asa, Ahab, Omri’s son, became king of Israel. He ruled over Israel in Samaria
for twenty-two years and did evil in the Lord’s eyes, more than anyone who
preceded him.” This is the Biblical way of introducing a character with, “Dun
dun duuuun!” So the hits just keep on coming for these people, with each king
being worse than the last one!
The author then abruptly changes direction and without the
usual introduction to a major character, in walks Elijah onto the scene. Remember
when Samuel was introduced? We got his whole backstory, including his conception!
And as I mentioned before, that was how you knew this was about to be a major
character in the narrative that was gonna go on to do big things! But with this
new prophet, Elijah, we get none of that. The author just plops him right into
the narrative without so much as a segue. What we do get however is equally
interesting, and I’d argue, even more profound than some miraculous conception
story. So let’s dive right into this story and see if we can’t figure out why
the author chose to introduce this new character of Elijah in such a different
way.
The chapter starts out with Elijah telling the evil king Ahab, in a cautionary
if not altogether threatening way, that a drought was coming. God then tells
Elijah to go hide in the desert and that he will be taken care of by a babbling
brook and ravens. We will talk about who the ravens were at the Wednesday
evening Bible discussion, spoiler alert, they were not from Baltimore. Now, why
did Elijah need to go and hide? Well, probably because he had just threatened
the king and his kingdom, and it probably didn’t matter to the evil king that
this message was from God. Don’t shoot the messenger wasn’t a thing then
apparently. So, God comes through as God always does and makes sure that Elijah
is taken care of for a while, but the brook eventually dries up due to the
drought and so Elijah finds himself without water and we all know that you
can’t go that long without water. So, God tells him to go to a nearby town and
that a widow will take care of him there. Keep in mind that this is the way
that the author is choosing to introduce this new character to this narrative!
Not very impressive to say the least! We as the reader don’t get the sense here
that this guy is anything special or will do anything of significance in the
foreseeable future! But, let’s keep moving.
Elijah does in fact find a widow there but it’s not just any
widow, it’s a poor widow, meaning, one that had not had a male advocate to care
for her upon the death of her husband, as was the custom of the day. Worse yet,
she has a child, a boy who is not only too young to care for her but as we will
learn in the next scene, he is not a healthy child. So, this widow is having a
hard time of it to say the least. When he meets her, he finds her gathering
sticks, but he’s parched and hungry, so he asks her for some water and for some
bread. She then goes on to explain that she is collecting sticks so that she
can make her and her son their last meal before they die of starvation. Elijah
then gives one of the coldest responses recorded in the Bible and tells her to
go make it for him anyway! But before we even talk about that we have to pause
here and take a look at what is really going on. Because at face value this
looks just like a small tangential story, as if the author just kind of started
rambling with his quill. But this is no tangent.
What we have here is a set-up…of the literary kind. What the
author is doing here first is establishing just how bad things have gotten
under the leadership of the evil King Ahab. And yes, I’m gonna keep calling him
evil king Ahab because, one, it sounds more dramatic that way, but two, he was
quite literally the worst! So, he deserves it! Anyway, The author here is giving
us a real-world example of just how evil this king was. Now, if we had been
reading through this book from the beginning, you might be thinking, “We
already knew he was evil, he’s been worshipping other gods! But this story
makes that sin, real for us. This story shows us what evil leadership does to
the people on the bottom of that evil leadership—all the way down to one poor
widow and her sick son. You know the way modern politicians will highlight a
super sad story of an individual to make you feel motivated, outraged even, for
a particular side? They’ll even bring them to rallies and conventions and point
them out! That’s exactly what’s going on here! But don’t let that be a turn off
for you, it’s an effective technique! Which is why politicians still use it!
Even in that day, long before the Bible had been assembled,
one of the core beliefs of God’s people was supposed to be the care of widows,
orphans, and the poor. This had been spelled out to them by God for
generations. Kinda like that old 60’s camp song “They Will Know We Are
Christians By Our Love.” Remember that oldie but goodie? Only for them, it would
have been, “They Will Know We Are Jews By Our Care For Widows, Orphans, and the
Poor.” Not quite as catchy but it gets the job done. Not only was this supposed
to have been ingrained in them, but it was also a great barometer for how they
were doing as a nation. If they had a lot of poor or widows and orphans that
were not being cared for, it reflected directly on the nation’s leadership, in
this case, evil king Ahab. And that is what the author was trying to get at
here. Evil king Ahab was not living up to what a king should be, what a
follower of God should be, let alone what a decent human being should be. And
Elijah was coming to set things straight. But first, Elijah needed some
credibility of his own. You can’t just walk into the king's palace without the
proper credentials! Who’s going to take you seriously, let alone listen to a
word you say?
This is where this odd way of introducing Elijah to the
reader comes in. It wasn’t in a miraculous birth story that Elijah would gain
the credentials to be one of the most influential prophet’s of God in the
Bible. No, it was going to be what he did as an adult that would set him apart,
or should I say, what God did through him. What follows is the widow making him
that bread even though it was the last of her ingredients that she had to keep
her and her son alive for another day. But instead of dying shortly afterward, every day when she went to the cupboard for ingredients to make another loaf of
bread, sure enough, there was enough. This went on for quite some time, and every day there was enough for them to eat.
On All Saints Sunday we remember the saints, both those who
have died, as well as current followers of Christ, us. Though we don’t like to
call ourselves saints out of humility, the Bible does, and so this day includes
us as well. And on this All Saints Sunday, this story got me thinking of the
many people in our lives that we have chosen to listen to, that we have allowed
to influence us, based on the credentials they bring. And by credentials, I
don’t mean a degree or a certificate. By credentials I mean their willingness
to follow the ways of God, the guidance of God, thereby helping to make this
world a bit closer to the way it was intended to be. I have a feeling you are
already thinking of people like that who have graced your life over the years.
I bet you are picturing their faces right now. I’d encourage you to not only
think of those who have died but also who are still living and have that
influence on your life. Have you told them, thanked them? These days we can all
use words of encouragement. If you haven’t already, maybe now is the time to
let those people know the impact that they have had on your life, and the
credentials of which you are in awe of.
This All Saint’s Sunday is certainly different, isn’t it! But that doesn’t mean it has to lose any of its power! Like that poor widow who was ready to die with her son, or Elijah who thought the king would surely kill him, if the wilderness didn’t get him first, or the widow’s son who thought he had died without the chance to grow up and care for his mom, our story is not over, just like theirs wasn’t. No matter how bad things get, no matter how hopeless, no matter how unfair, our work remains the same as it always has, since the days of Sarah and Abraham and Hannah and Elijah, to care for those around us, especially the most vulnerable, even when, especially when, the powers that be do not. Because God isn’t done writing this story. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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