1 Kings 17:1-16

(sermon note:

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.’ The word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Go from here and turn eastwards, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.’ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi. But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ 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.’ As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ 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.’ 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. 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.’ She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 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.

This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a king who had ten wild dogs. He used them to torture and kill any minister that misguided him. A minister once gave an opinion which was wrong and which the king didn’t like at all. So he ordered that the minister be thrown to the dogs. The minister said, “I served you loyally for ten years and you do this?!” The king was unrelenting. The minister pleaded, “Please give me ten days before you throw me to the dogs!” The king agreed. In those ten days the minister went to the keeper of the dogs and told him he wanted to serve the dogs for the next ten days. The guard was baffled but he agreed. So the minister started feeding the dogs, caring for them, washing them, providing all sorts of comfort for them. When the ten days were up, the king ordered that the minister be thrown to the dogs as sentenced. When he was thrown in, everyone was amazed at what they saw. The dogs were wagging their tails playing with the condemned minister, licking his feet. The king was confused by what he saw. “What happened to the dogs?!” he growled. The minister replied, “I served the dogs for only ten days, and they didn’t forget my service. Yet I served you for ten years and you forgot all at the first mistake!” The king realized his mistake…and replaced the dogs with crocodiles!

Of course, that king’s real mistake was not appreciating the service of his faithful minister. But it’s easy to forget or overlook the faithful service of those around us. We get so caught up in our own service to others that we don’t notice their service to us. Not that that king would ever have been caught up in his own service to others. Kings tend not to serve but to be served. So really, they have no excuse for forgetting the service of others other than just selfish pride. But the rest of us don’t have such luxury. We have no excuse not to notice the service of others especially when that service directly affects us. We know the effort it takes to serve others. It’s not easy serving others. It involves a lot of humility and sacrifice to serve others.

Consider the service of the widow in today’s reading. We don’t know why she and her son are with so little food and on the brink of death. Presumably the years of drought that the Lord brought upon Ahab and his kingdom have had a devastating effect on this poor widow and her son. They, like countless people, were starving to death from widespread lack of water. Without water, the fields wouldn’t have produced, and the livestock would have died. Mass starvation is a common result of persistent droughts. It probably didn’t help that the woman was a widow either. Widows in that time were completely destitute without any means of supporting themselves. Their livelihood relied entirely on the generosity of extended family and bad relations with them could have led to disastrous situations. But we just don’t know why the widow and her son were in their dire situation.

We do know, however, that her dire situation didn’t affect her faithful service to Elijah. Elijah called upon her to provide food and water, and she faithfully gave him what little she had. And God promised to reward her for her faithful service: “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.” The widow gave and sure enough God delivered on his promise. But she had no reason to believe Elijah in the first place. She neither knew Elijah nor the faithfulness of Elijah’s God and yet she still gave of what little she had. She understood a life of service is often a life of sacrifice. Perhaps more importantly, she understood that a life of service is a life of faith. Sometimes we serve because we know what we’ll receive for our service. But a lot of times we don’t know what we’ll receive. A lot of the time we don’t receive anything right away either. Rewards may or may not come and possibly won’t come for a long time. A life of service IS a life of faith regardless of faithful service.

We need the witness of the widow to reveal this truth to us. She gave not really knowing if or when she would receive anything in return. Even in her dire situation, she chose to serve Elijah and sacrifice the well-being of her and her son. She lived out her life in and through her faith and we would be wise to emulate her. But lucky for her, she wasn’t just serving an unknown stranger. She was also indirectly serving our most gracious God and friends, that was probably the greatest thing she could do in her desperate situation. Our God is an amazing God who can turn around any desperate situation! Our God can make the impossible possible. Recall the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians, “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (4:19) Our God fully satisfies the needs of all, especially those in desperate need. We should never minimize this or doubt it. Our God is truly a good and generous God! And what did Jesus teach us about worrying? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” (Matthew 6:31-32) Our God knows and satisfies!

Maybe, just maybe, the widow and her son were deep in despair over the loss of their loved one. Today we’re remembering the loss of our own loved ones and the grief we bear. Grief can be overwhelming at times. But you know what, God provides for those in grief as well. Our God “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” as David sings in his 147th psalm. No grief is too thick that our God can’t sustain us through it. He sent Elijah to the widow and her son. He no doubt sends similar people into our own lives. Pay attention to those angels and give thanks for them!

The widow’s witness taught us that a life of service is also a life of faith. It taught us that our God generously provides for those who serve others. Let us seek to serve as she did and diligently live out lives of faith. And let us give thanks for David’s wisdom from his 34th psalm, “the young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” Thanks be to God!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.