On this All Saints Day, we find ourselves in an interesting time in the life of the church and our nation. Today we remember the saints who have gone before us and the faith and wisdom they shared with us.  We’re also two days out from an election that will decide who leads our country for the next four years and those who will lead our state and local communities. And, as a church we are in the midst of a stewardship series reflecting on God’s generosity and how we are being asked to participate in God’s ministry through McPherson FUMC. As households and individuals we continue to navigate life’s challenges through work, health, and family.

Today, we are invited to look back, to remember our history, and learn from it. And, we are invited to look forward in anticipation to where God is working and calling us to join in God’s work. This anticipation might be anxious, excited, fearful, or hopeful. This is not an easy time. But a friend recently reminded me that sometimes our strength is found when we lean into the pain and the hard and not away from it. As we encounter today’s scripture and ponder over its message for us today in the midst of all the hard things, I invite you to take a deep breath in, exhale all the way out, and lean into God’s presence of light and love.

As we continue to work through the Narrative Lectionary we engage with and learn about God through the stories of the Israelite people as told in the Old Testament. After we look at the big picture of what the Israelite people have been up to, we will narrow in on the story of Elijah and the widow to see how this particular story might speak to us today. In the midst of trying times, it’s important to see how God has shown up for people in the midst of their own trying times.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve looked at the stories of the Israelite people during the reign of the kings beginning with David who dreamt of building a physical house for God and through David’s son Solomon who asked for wisdom and a discerning mind.  We’ve explored and wrestled with how we are called to join with God in building God’s kingdom utilizing our physical resources, and the gifts of wisdom and leadership. 

In the scriptures, we have moved from the times of the judges and prophets providing leadership and oversight, to a monarchy structure where kings rule the land.  This was a structure that the Israelite people begged God for; they wanted a king to govern them.  And the role of the kings was to worship God alone, deal with idolatry among the people, and remain faithful to God’s covenant. Even in the midst of the reigns of David and Solomon, the Israelites were not living in a bubble, and were impacted by the surrounding nations including the local Canaanite religious practices leaving them susceptible to idolatry. 

Now, when we left off last week with King Solomon, he had asked for wisdom to lead the Israelites well, but since then he builds wealth, institutes slave labor, and ends up resembling Pharoah from the Israelites time in Egypt. This week’s story takes place about fifty to sixty years after the death of King Solomon during the time of King Ahab whom the Bible explicitly names as the worst king yet in 1 Kings 16:30. By this point, the kingdom has divided into the northern and southern kingdoms, and has primarily been governed by a long line of evil kings who have worshiped other gods and prioritized wealth and power over their people and the God of Israel.

Enter the prophets. The role of the prophets is not to tell fortunes or tell of the future but to be a spokesperson on God’s behalf. They are the covenant watch dogs making sure the leaders and people are staying faithful to God. They call out idolatry and injustice, and they challenge people to repent and follow God.

Elijah is the primary prophet or spokesperson against King Ahab. He first appears in scripture right before his encounter with the widow. His name means “My God is Yahweh.” He is sent to bring the Israelites back to God and to prove who the one true God is. Elijah proclaims to Ahab that there will be no dew nor rain because he has strayed from God and worshiped Baal. The Lord then provides for Elijah during this time of famine by telling him to follow the Cherith Brook and ravens would provide bread and meat. This reminds me of the way God provides for the Israelites in the wilderness through manna and quail. But eventually the brook dried up because there was no rain. And that’s where today’s story begins.

The Lord tells Elijah to go to Zarephath near Sidon and a widow will take care of you.  Now Zarephath is in the northernmost part of Canaan. It is outside of Israel.  So God tells Elijah to go to this neighboring land, where they worship a different God and call upon a widow for care. 

Elijah shows up and asks the woman for water and then for bread. She tells him that she doesn’t have any food and the flour and oil she has left will be used to make the last meal for her and her son. Elijah tells her, “Don’t be afraid!” and asks her to make him bread first. And then says, Israel’s God won’t let her flour and oil run out until the Lord sends rain if she provides food for Elijah.

The widow, the woman, has given into her situation; she ‘s given up. She’s going to use the last of her resources and then die. But an amazing thing happens. Elijah shows up and invites her to join in God’s plan, to join in God’s work, and gives her a different path to follow. At first it seems crazy because Elijah is like hey what you were going to use for your last meal, you need to use that to feed me first. But the thing is, then he tells her that she’ll have enough flour and oil to last her and her son until God sends rain on the earth. He’s basically telling her that she won’t die if she uses the last of her resources to feed Elijah for God’s plan. She will survive and not die. 

Now, I don’t know about you but that’s a pretty difficult decision. I guess on one hand what’s she got to lose because she’s going to die anyway. But she’s still gotta be pretty hungry and has probably been planning and looking forward to this final meal, and providing nourishment for her family one last time.  

But then this person, this stranger, just shows up and asks her to use her last resources to feed him and tells her that Israel’s God will provide for her.  Now this widow doesn’t live in Israel and likely doesn’t worship Israel’s God, but worships Baal instead. We don’t know what kind of faith or religious practices she observes. And we don’t know what kind of role she plays in her community or who she is except that she is a widow. We don’t even get to know her name. From the story, we do know that she is a mother and the provider for her family. But I think they tell us she’s a widow to let us know that she has no other resources. She’s at the lowest of the low. She’s one of the people in the category that God talks about being an outcast that the Israelites are supposed to look after and take care of. Take care of the poor, the orphan, the widow, the immigrant.

But she’s actually suffering because of the Israelites, because King Ahab has walked away from following the ways of the Lord and made idols out of wealth and power. He’s not following the way of God. Perhaps she chooses to use what she has left to feed Elijah because she knows what it is like to hunger; perhaps she is filled with compassion and wants to join in sharing a meal with him; perhaps she responds to a request for hospitality.

If somebody showed up at your house and said, oh I see that you’re about out of food and that you’re starving and that you’re weak and that you’re going to die, but God told me to feed me with the last of what you have and then you shall not perish. That would be pretty hard to believe. Can you imagine doing that for a stranger, someone from out of town, who looks road weary and maybe a little scary? But she listens and uses what she has left to feed Elijah, and the flour and the oil did not run out. God takes what is scarce and uses it for his purposes. The widow joins in God’s work in the midst of scarcity and fear, generously sharing all she has left and she receives abundance.

So what does this strange story mean to us today? 

One of the things I take away from this passage is a warning that the consequences of unfaithful leadership often cause the most detriment to the most vulnerable in society. The unfaithfulness and evil actions of King Ahab not only affect the Israelite people but those in neighboring lands, especially those who already live on the margins of society.  Last week we saw the example of Solomon asking for wisdom and discernment, but we know that there are things in this world that can corrupt and overpower wisdom from God – like idolizing wealth and power over care of people.  It is important to evaluate our leaders through their actions, especially in how they take care of the most vulnerable in society – the poor, the widow, the orphan, the immigrant.

But mostly, I think this story is a reminder that God wants us to join in God’s work. And to clearly see what God’s work is, we look at his son, Jesus.  Jesus came to show us the way to walk with God and that way is to share God’s love and grace, to work for peace, to take care of the least, to fight against the injustices that keep the least where they are, and to take care of the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the immigrants. Jesus goes on to expand this list to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the stranger, and the imprisoned. We are invited to join in this radical way of life, to have faith in the midst of fear, like the widow stepped out in faith in the midst of a famine. We are invited to cross barriers and respond in hospitality to those who are different from us, to share a meal with a foreigner, or someone who worships differently than us, or has different values than us. And, we are invited to use the resources that God has given us to join in God’s work. To give what we might think we can’t give, to give out of our scarce resources, to trust God to use even the smallest gift to do amazing things.

This story is also an invitation to think about what we cherish and value. King Ahab cherished his power and wealth over God and people. The widow cherishes life and not only her life and the life of her son, but also the life of a stranger, Elijah. God also cherishes life and asks us to cherish life.

On this All Saints Day, I think about those who have gone before us, those who walked a life of faith who may have had abundance or may have lived with scarce resources but walked in the ways of God. We remember them today. We remember the lives they led. We remember their faithfulness. We remember like we do with the people in the Bible that they weren’t perfect and we learn from their mistakes and missteps, and we cherish life.

I have some closing questions for you to ponder as you reflect on this passage throughout the week. How is God calling you to join in God’s work in the world? Will you notice when asked? Are you willing to give all you can to join in building God’s Kin-dom here on earth?

Will you pray with me?  Faithful God, we thank you for your presence and provision for us throughout our lives. Open our eyes to see where you are at work. Open our hearts to respond to your call. And grant us a spirit of courage to put our faith into action using the resources you have generously provided.  Amen.

~ Deacon Jeanne Koontz