1 Kings 17:17-24 [Pentecost 3 CWS C]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace Benson/Vail, AZ
June 30, 2019
GOD IS GRACIOUS TO US IN OUR WEAKNESS 1. Simply Because He is Compassionate (17-23) 2. To Keep Us Close to Him (24)
Dear Friends in Christ, Tests of faith. Have you had them? Elijah did—the prophet Elijah. So did a widow outside of Israel up along the cost of the Mediterranean Sea. In the middle of famine and drought, the Lord told his prophet to go to that area (among the pagan people who threatened his nation of Israel) and find a widow who would provide food for him. Elijah trusted God and went. He found the woman and asked for water and bread. It was then that the woman’s faith was tested. You see, this single mom didn’t have anything. Well, hardly anything. She had a handful of flour and a tiny bit of oil. Her plan was to use it for her and her son’s last meal. There was absolutely no hope after that meal and she certainly had nothing to give this stranger, even if he was a prophet. Elijah instructed her to use what she had and prepare some bread for him. He also promised that her jug of oil and her jar of flour would miraculously never run out. On the brink of starvation and facing death along with her son, for her to comply would require great faith. Give away her last food and trust something that bizarre? She could not know what would happen; she had to trust this prophet of the LORD and take him at his word. She did and she was rewarded. Sometime later, her faith was tested again. It was not the threat of death this time; her son had actually become ill and died. She had previously at least acknowledged the one true God and after the bottomless jug and jar, it seems that she had faith in the LORD. But now the test of faith came. Have you ever questioned God? Wondered why something awful happened? A global tragedy? Continuing war? Something even closer to home—the death of a friend or family member? Someone young, someone wonderful, someone just retired and beginning to relax after a lifetime of work? Or maybe we question the wisdom of God in not yet providing a pastor to serve us and help us and to reach out with his saving gospel. There are some pretty big things that may cause us to question God and the things he does and allows. This widow in Zarephath was no different. She lost her son and was now all alone. Her situation raised a big question in her mind and she posed it to God’s prophet: “What is the issue between us, man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sins and to kill my son?” Just like we sometimes do, she thought that some sin she had committed had caused the Lord to take action against her by letting her one and only son get sick and die. Confusion, grief, anger—all explode at the man of God who had previously revealed to her God’s love and care in a miraculous way. Have you ever, in weakness of faith, lost your perspective? Have you forgotten who you are and who God is? Have you ever forgotten how life and death happen in this world, that everyone dies? I think we probably understand.
But even with understanding hearts and with respect to the woman in her time of loss, we have to point out her weakness of faith and call sin what it is. None of us has the right to challenge the holy God and his decisions. And it’s worth talking about what she got terribly wrong so that we avoid that sin and find forgiveness when we are weak. When the woman challenged God’s prophet and God himself, God could have put her in her place, which would have been hell. She sinfully accused God’s prophet of killing her son, of God taking his anger at her out on her boy and causing her to suffer the loss of her only family and a difficult future. Can you imagine God listening in on this conversation?! The righteous and almighty God had every right to strike her down because of her attitude and accusations! But what does he do? The God of undeserved love is gracious to her in her time of weakness. Perhaps the gracious God dealt compassionately with his prophet too. Elijah carried the dead boy to the upper room of the house and laid him on the bed. He prayed as he stretched himself out across the boy: “O LORD, my God, have you sent tragedy on this woman with whom I am staying by killing her son?” and three times he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD, my God, let this boy’s soul return to his body!” It sounds a little challenging, but it may have simply been curiosity that prompted Elijah to ask why God allowed the boy to die. We can probably understand Elijah’s concerns. Why did God have Elijah save the boy and his mom from starvation if he was just going to let the boy die anyway? He shows his faith though as he takes the action and prays to God asking the LORD to raise the boy to life. The LORD compassionately responds to his prophet and allows another miracle for this small family. The compassionate God has not changed since the days of Elijah. He does not condone our sin, but he does not crush us in our weakness either. You may be familiar with this verse that speaks about God’s desire to save and not to punish: A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out (Isaiah 42:3). God is much more interested in fanning the tiniest flame of faith so that it burns brightly than he is in extinguishing it in anger. God showed compassion for the widow simply because he wanted to. That’s how big his love is. Going all the way back to Moses, God explained himself to be a loving God. He proclaimed himself this way: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:6-7). If God did treat us as our sins deserve, none of us would stand before him. The widow was not punished by the LORD because of a particular sin that burdened her conscience. It is not explained, but perhaps God allowed the boy to die so that he might show his grace in the face of her weakness. Then he could keep her close to him. The LORD listened to Elijah’s voice, and the boy’s soul returned to his body, and he came to life. Then Elijah took the boy and brought him down to the house from his upstairs room, and he gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “See, your son is alive!” 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 true.”
Look at what the Lord did for the woman! He gave her son back to her—back from death! The boy’s return to life gave new life to his mother. It gave her confidence in God yet again. In weakness, she had questioned God, but in the face of the LORD’s compassion, her strength of faith was restored. She was confident that Elijah was God’s prophet and she trusted God’s word that he spoke. It is pretty clear that the woman didn’t deserve that kind of love, but God gave it to her anyway. Even when she didn’t deserve it, God showed her grace and kept her close to him. Aren’t you very much like that widow? I know I am! When the stresses and trials and griefs of life attack us with all their might, we do not always respond well. We may indeed challenge God and his love…his wisdom…his power. Even though we have experienced his love in the past, even though he has given and provided before, all of that sometimes goes out the window when things don’t go our way. How ungrateful and unfaithful we must appear to God when our weakness of faith shows itself! But the compassionate and gracious God did something to bring sinners like us close to him. God also has a son. Like the widow of Zarephath, God’s son died. And like her son, God’s son was raised to life again. But there is a big difference between the two sons. The widow’s son died because he was a sinner. Sin leads to death. Everyone has sin and the wages of sin is death, God says. But Jesus had no sin. He only died because he carried our sins and the sins of the entire world to the cross of sacrifice. God punished Jesus for our sins. He paid the price for all our guilt, so it can never be that we will be punished for sins we commit. That’s already been done; they’ve already been paid for. So we never want to make the mistake that woman of Zarephath made, thinking that we are punished for something we did wrong before God. That’s not why bad things happen. We may bear consequences for sin—if we steal, we might go to jail, for instance—but the guilt of our sin has been paid for by Jesus. It is finished. This is why God says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Elijah took the boy and brought him down to the house from his upstairs room, and he gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “See, your son is alive!” Through God’s messengers today, the LORD himself announces, “Look, MY Son is alive!” That’s how God shows his grace, his compassion, and keeps us close to him. The historical account of Elijah and the widow and her son warns us not to fall in weakness of faith, not to forget that God has been very loving to us. It reminds us that when we are weak, God is gracious to us. He shows us compassion and he brings us close to him. As believers who live after Jesus came into this world, we have the benefit of seeing the full extent of God’s love accomplished in Christ. Because of Jesus’ victory, death has lost its sting and God deals with us in his grace—even when we are weak. Thanks be to God. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.