Elijah resuscitating the son of the Widow of Zarephath Louis Hersant (1777-1862) Public domain 10 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C June 9 th, 2013
First Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-24 8 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. Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-19 11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many
among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord s brother. Gospel Reading: Luke 7:11-17 11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, Do not weep. 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to you, rise! 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has risen among us! and God has looked favorably on his people! 17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country. Raising of the Widow s Son at Nain 14th century fresco from the Decani Monastery, Serbia Public Domain
Homily The official lectionary readings for today do not include I King 17: 8-16, the story of Elijah living with the Widow of Nain before her son dies. The story of the bit of flour and oil lasting a year is one we have often heard before but I think there is something important by integrating it with the next story that adds to our understanding. What we have in the two stories of Elijah and Jesus is their great empathy for widows being left alone and with no means of survival if their sons are dead. Certainly that was very important in their world. But there s another aspect to the Elijah story that I d like to raise that I hope will be enriching. Elijah escaped with his life from the King who was outraged at being confronted by the prophet and now Elijah comes into the village of Zarephath, which was not in Israelite territory. Then, being helpless in an unfamiliar place, he asked a strange widow first to give him something to drink, and then to give him something to eat. She is not a believer in his God, and she first disclaims the possibility of helping him, saying that she had barely enough food for one more meal before she and her son would be left to die of starvation. The boy evidently was too young to be of any help to his mother. In their world, the religion of the Hebrews as well as those who held allegiance to other gods was carried out at home. It was in the home that religious life went on, and especially for the Israelites where trips to the Temple were arduous and often impossible. The context of religious observances at home was around events of daily life and survival, conceiving and giving birth to children. Obtaining, preparing, and consuming food was at the core of many of their religious practices, putting the woman of the house at the center, both in authority and in carrying them out. So we see the widow from Zarephath was hesitant to take Elijah in, and he promises there will be enough for the three of them if she does. And whatever her religious experience, she assents to his request and miraculously, they were surviving on the flour and oil for making bread every day. So, she takes a step to trust Elijah at his word. This is her first step toward faith in his God. But then, her son dies and she becomes suspicious and angry. She is distraught and fears that Elijah is a man of his God who is bringing punishment to her for prior sins. She believes that Elijah was the cause of her son s illness and death. This was a common belief in that day, and continues even today. We still ask, Why me? when something catastrophic occurs and think we re being punished. Let us recall the time that Jesus was asked if a man who was born blind because of the sins of his father or his own, and Jesus said neither, but that God may be glorified. Because we lack God s perspective, what we perceive as punishment may turn out to be a necessary training ground.
There are many parallels between the Elijah story and the incident with Jesus. Elijah was a man of god (I Kings 17: 18, 24). Jesus was the holy one of God (Luke 4:34). Both were what Jewish scholar, Geza Vermes, has called charismatic healers, coming from a tradition where the institutional religious establishment and structure functioned to keep people compliant and orderly while the charismatic healers have direct access to God and their primary function is to heal. Elijah stirs God to restore the child s breathing. He placed the dead child on his own bed. He then lies on top of him and warms his body. He prays to God to save the child, going through an elaborate ritual. We see the contrast with Temple ritual by the priesthood system in place and this very personal contact and prayer to save the boy. In our Gospel Reading, Luke also reminds his readers of the parallels between Elijah and Jesus. Both Elijah and Jesus taught through their examples that God s mercy extends beyond the law to restore life to the spirit and body and, most of all, to restore relationships. In the situation among the Galatian followers taught by Paul learned that in Christ, God s mercy extended beyond traditions and rules that maintained separateness. Now the Jewish Christians sought to extend God s welcome to their fellow gentile believers. This is the basis for us as an ECC Church saying, without passing judgment, All are welcome in this place. For us, those who have experienced the pain of not being accepted in other churches can find a home here. Now let us look at the Gospel account for the day. Nain was a little village about seven miles southeast of Nazareth and Luke tells us that Jesus had traveled from Capernaum to Nain. En route, he healed the sick slave of the Roman Centurion just prior to encountering the Widow of Nain. This Roman Centurion sought Jesus in desperation because his slave was ill. Clearly, the Centurion was not an Israelite nor was his slave. 1 In fact, there is some possibility that the slave was the Centurion s male lover, a common pattern in their time. Although Jesus offered to go to the Centurion s home to heal the slave, the man said he knew that Jesus only needed to say the word and his slave would be healed. Jesus told the Centurion that his faith was greater than he was finding in all of Israel. Then before Jesus reached the gates of the village, he ran into a funeral procession. He was touched for the widow whose only son was dead. He touched the funeral bier and ordered the young man to get up. Many times Jesus ignored the rules regarding ritual purity or religious boundaries or cultural prohibitions. We can recall how he spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well. Note that Jesus did not pass judgment on her, nor on the Centurion for being a Roman Officer, and did not criticize him for owning a slave, but 1 Based on analysis of the Greek words, some have concluded that the slave that Jesus healed was the Centurions s male lover. See http://www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org/biblical_evidence/gay_couple.html
honored his concern and his faith. Those who were poor and vulnerable were given special attention. In the process of restoring their lives and well-being, Jesus restored relationships and like Elijah before him, he formed a very personal bond. In the Sacraments, we also encounter Jesus in a very personal way and receive His Grace to live and to love others. We can learn about how to be Christ to others in these stories. In an era when Jews would not sit down for a meal with Gentiles, nor go in their houses, nor touch the sick or the dead, Jesus broke all these rules. I am reminded of Fr. Richard Rohr s little book, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, 2 who says that we need to spend the first half of life learning to follow the rules and in the second half, how to break them. This is the message of Elijah. We also see that the Apostle Paul followed this pattern in his life, where he was a very observant Jew who came to understand that welcoming new followers of Jesus required putting love first. Although we do not have the power that Jesus had to raise people from the dead, we are given power through the Holy Spirit where we can usher in new life to those who were formerly spiritually dead. We are empowered to reach out across all boundaries, to reach out to people where they are, and to offer healing and relationship. Whether we offer a meal in our homes or to those in a shelter or on the street, let us have faith as the widow of Zarephath learned -- our feeding others literally, emotionally, or spiritually is a true act of worship as it was even for the unbelieving widow who fed Elijah. It was the beginning of her restoration and also required growing faith for Elijah to depend on God for provision through a stranger. And it is never a one-way street: we ourselves are restored and will learn more about trust and faith when we serve another person. We see that often Jesus was on his way to somewhere when he encountered people in need or sometimes they approached him. How many opportunities do each of us have in a day in our normal activities to serve Jesus and to feed one of his lambs? These moments occur in every day life, sanctifying the time, the place, and all those who participate. Brothers and sisters, we will become more aware of God s blessings if we use our talents of time, treasure, and skills that are unique to each one to serve the Body of Christ. 2 Published in 2011 by Jossey-Bass. Available in print or on Kindle.