Another week in our women in the biblical text series. it was also an abbreviated service because we moved from worship to packing bags of food to distribute to areas in need. We packed 18,000 bags (rice, soy, dried vegetable and vitamin powder). Since our worship included the Lord's Supper, the theme was clear and the need for a short sermon was clear as well.
I obviously picked this text because of its scarcity/abundance of food theme. The goal for the sermon and scripture lesson was five minutes. As expected, brevity required more work than a longer sermon. I felt like I was very focused and tied the sermon to the purpose of the service.
“Feeding” I Kings 17: February 3, 2019; Women series; Worship through Work; Richard B. Culp
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” 19 But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” 22 The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24 So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
Introduction: Set the stage for this story:
Elijah is fleeing for his life. He is looking to be saved.
the widow is running out of food - she is looking to be saved.
her son is near death - she is looking for him to be saved.
Move 1: The woman we meet in the text this morning has no name. No surprise - we have come to expect that in the biblical texts.
But what she is called - the widow of Zarephath - tells us important things.
Widow means she is part of the marginalized - widows, orphans, poor. how Elijah treats her will speak to how God calls Israel is called to treat the marginalized and oppressed.
She is from Zarephath, which means she is an outsider; how Elijah interacts with her speaks to how God calls Israel to interact with outsiders.
How God calls Israel to interact with the marginalized and the outsiders speaks to how God calls us to act.
Move 2: As we see Elijah interact with the widow, we see God turn scarcity into abundance.
a. The nearly empty jar will now remain full of meal; the jug of oil will not fail.
b. With God, we are invited to see the abundance in our lives, not the scarcity. To share the abundance and help others move beyond the scarcity.
c. Secondly, God not only meets the material needs like hunger, God literally gives new life.
1. The widow’s son is near his last breath.
2. through Elijah, God gives him new life.
conclusion: I preach these words on a day when we leave worship to pack bags of food to share from our abundance of food with those whose lives are lived out in scarcity fo food.
I preach these words as I stand behind the Lord's Table, which is much like the widow’s jar of meal - alway full, in this case with the life-giving presence of the Risen Christ.
Come and eat out fo the abundance God gives to you.
Come and share of the abundance.
Come and be transformed by our life-giving God.
Amen.
For the sermon, I read two articles that were not directly quoted, but impacted my thinking on this sermon.
- (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/theperipateticpreacher/2016/05/avoid-the-magic-view-the-man-i-kings-178-24/; John C Holbert)
2. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2860; Juliana Claassens, Professor of Old Testament, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
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