As some of you might recall, it is my custom to invite you to stand as you are able during the reading of Scripture. Our second Scripture reading which comes from the book of 1 Kings, Chapter 17, verses 8-16. I will be reading from the New Revised Standard Version. Please stand as you are able: You may return to your seats. Will you pray with me? Lord, we invite your presence into this preaching moment. Speak, Lord, speak, for we, your humble servants are listening. Amen. What are you waiting for? Has anyone ever asked you that question? It is the sort of question that is asked at the beginning of many motivational speeches, right before the speaker launches into the three simple steps their listeners can do today to achieve their wildest dreams. Although this is not a motivational speech and I don t have the three simple steps that are going to help you to reach all of your goals, I ask you the same question. What are you waiting for? But, when I say What are you waiting for, I don t mean what are you waiting for before you take the trip you have always wanted to take or before you write your cookbook or launch your new business. I mean what are you waiting for to do whatever transformative, life changing work God has personally called and ordained you to do? Yes, we are all called and ordained by God to do something. It is simply that some of us are called and ordained to traditional Christian ministry. We who are called and ordained to Christian ministry are called out by God for this work not called above those who have a different call on their lives. For the truth is that many of us want to see our world change. Many of us what to see our nation change; we want our communities to change; we want our family dynamics to change; we want our church to change. And, if we had it our way, we would be part of that change. But the world is broken. And the obstacles in our way seem too great. So, we keep wanting and waiting. Waiting on the world to change. But it doesn t change, or it doesn t change quickly enough, or the change was not the one we expected. And all too often in those moments
of disappointment, we become like the woman in our text for this morning. We look up and find ourselves preparing to cook our metaphorical final meal and to die. And in those moments, our answer to the question what are you waiting for becomes I am waiting for death. Singer-songwriter, John Mayer, effectively captured our shared predicament in his 2006 song, Waiting on the World to Change. The song begins with the lyrics, Me and all my friends, we're all misunderstood. They say we stand for nothing and there's no way we ever could. Now we see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it. We just feel like we don't have the means to rise above and beat it! So we keep waiting (waiting), Waiting on the world to change. The lyrics reveal our common human tendency to be too afraid to fight back against the problems that seem inevitable. The song captures a sentiment that was probably shared by the woman in our text this morning. She sees what is wrong in her world, but she feels like she doesn t have the means to rise above and beat it. So, she is waiting... and she is waiting... and she keeps on waiting. Either the world is going to hurry up and change or she and her son are going to leave it. We who know how the story ends might sit in judgement of her choice to simply give up and die. But our rushed judgment ignores the struggle of her lived reality. During the time in which she lived, widowhood meant financial ruin. A widow s only option was to scavenge and beg. And here, we encounter a woman who didn t like that option so she was choosing a different one. She had enough agency to make this one last decision and she had decided that she and her son were going to enjoy a final meal of water and cake made with her last bit of oil and then they were just going to sit, and wait for death. And, I don t know about you, but I sympathize with this mother. She would rather see her son dead than to have subject him to a life of begging for bread. So, one last time, she was going to provide a meal for her boy. One last time, she would see the smile on his face, and finally, her hand holding his, fingers
intertwined, they would face what came next together. While I find her choice heartbreaking, that our world is so cruel that people would rather die than be subjected to a life of begging their neighbors for bread, I can understand her tragic logic. What makes this story remarkable is not her choice, but rather, what happens next. Before we go any further, I will pause to clarify that many Biblical scholars call this story a prophet legend. That means that this story is not intended to be read as a historical text. This is a theological text that teaches us about our relationship to God. So, as we continue to journey through this story, let s consider what the Spirit has to say to us through this ancient legend. What is the Spirit saying to Her church? What do this prophet and this widow have to say to us? Well, let s start by setting the scene. Chapter 17 of 1 Kings finds Israel and the surrounding areas in the middle of a drought. A drought means that there was no water and no water means that there was no vegetation and no vegetation means... well you get it. It was hot and dry and people were hungry and thirsty. Elijah, the man of God, did not have access to food or water except what God provided for him. He was living in the kind of temperatures we have been experiencing in these past few days but unlike us, he could not find any water to quench his thirst. Life must have been miserable in those days. Elijah s neighbors were probably desperate to find food and to quench their thirst. Perhaps his neighbors were afraid. Perhaps they were angry at God. Perhaps they were painfully hungry and thirsty. There were probably people all around Elijah who had died from hunger and thirst or who had fled from town to avoid dying from hunger and thirst. Those who had any little bit of food or water left probably fiercely guarded it. Although the culture called for radical hospitality toward strangers, I doubt that culture could have dictated the rules of the day in the midst of such extreme natural conditions. In verse 8, where our reading for the morning begins, God saw that Elijah was hungry and thirsty and decided to do something kind of strange to help him out. God told Elijah to go to
Zarephath in Sidon and to live there. God said that a widow there had been commanded to feed him. Now that is a head-scratching solution to a major problem. Zarephath is on the Phoenician coast, south of Sidon. Sidon was the heart of the territory where worshippers of the god Baal lived. And, you might remember that Elijah, the prophet of the God of Israel, and Baal s prophets never quite got along. And to make the situation even more bizarre, Sidon was the hometown of Jezebel and Jezebel really had it out for Elijah. So, isn t it ironic that God chose for Elijah to be blessed in the very land where his religious and vocational rivals lived? And, not only was Elijah to eat there, our passage says that Elijah was to live among them! But that is not the end of the strangeness of God s command! Elijah was told that a widow had been commanded to care for him. And as I studied the text this week I could not quite figure out why a man of God, a prophet, would go to the home of a woman who was poor and needed whatever food she could get, and in good conscious instruct her to feed him. It seems radical and bizarre. And you know, it even seems heartless. Surely, Elijah would have known that she didn t have resources to spare. Why would he have expected that she would use any of her final resources on him, a man from a different region who taught a religion that was not her own. God s instructions were strange ones and the text gives no indication that Elijah questioned them. Elijah s confidence in God teaches us to follow God s call even when it leads us down unusual or circuitous paths. Elijah s faith here reminds me of the faith of Noah, a man who was crazy enough to build a giant ark when there was no rain! Elijah s faith reminds me of the faith of Abraham, a man who left the place of his birth to travel with God to the ambiguous place where God would eventually lead him. His faith reminds me of the faith of Moses who returned to the home of the people who raised him to tell them to set the Israelites free from the bondage of enslavement. Elijah s faith reminds me of the faith of Hannah, who spent her life praying and begging God for a son and who, when she finally had her son, gave him to the priest to be
raised in the temple. Elijah s faith reminds me of the faith of a young shepherd boy named David who went head-to-head with a giant with only a slingshot and five smooth stones. Elijah s faith reminds me of the faith of a young Jewish woman named Esther who risked her life to save her people. His faith reminds me of the faith of the faith of his fellow Israelite prophets who boldly condemned the sins of their nation. Elijah s faith reminds me of the faith a girl named Mary who agreed to be the Godbearer. His faith reminds me of the faith of Paul who took a risk when he stopped persecuting Christians and decided to become an evangelist for the Christian faith instead. His faith reminds me of the band of believers who staked their claim to this land and became the First Baptist Church of West Hartford. His faith reminds me of all of the believers since that day who have toiled in this place that we may freely worship God here. His faith reminds me of the faith of the people all over the world who have nothing but their faith in God to lead them and yet, they go. Elijah s faith is a reminder to us on this day that maybe it s time to take a risk with God. Where is God moving? What is God moving you to do? Where is God at work? Elijah s faith reminds us to stop waiting on the world to change and instead to take some risky steps with God. The change is happening and it starts right here with you and me. Mayer proclaims in his song, One day our generation is going to rule the population. So we keep waiting (waiting) Waiting on the world to change. Elijah could not (and did not) wait for the one day. He made the one day this day by allowing God to be the ruler of his life. But this is not just Elijah s story. This is her story. This is the story of a woman and the son she raised. This is the story of their preparation for the end. God told Elijah in verse 9 that the widow had been commanded to feed him. Well, umm, my reading of this text indicates that the widow had no idea. When Elijah got to town, she was happy to give him something to drink but she was none too interested in giving him a bit of bread. When Elijah asked for food, she told him that she only had a little bit of food left and that after she and her son ate it, they were
going to wait for death. Sure, there was the standard hospitality shown in her culture. But, this was just unreasonable. She probably thought that this Israelite s request was just plain rude, to say the least. Yet, by verse 15, she went. She provided food for the stranger. We often read God s commandments that say that we are required to care for the widow and orphan. But the tables are turned here. The widow and orphan cared for the man of God. What is God saying to us through this dramatic reversal of roles? The widow and her son provided for Elijah not only on this day but also for the days to come until the drought was over. Sometimes it is the ones who we see as weaker than we are who usher us through our most harrowing days. This was a feeding miracle and the lingering question is: what happened between verses 12 and 15 to make the widow change her mind? She was not an Israelite. She and Elijah worshipped different gods. She didn t share his faith. Yet, she fed Elijah. All we can determine from the passage is that Elijah s faith in God encouraged her faith. They were incredibly different. He was the Israelite prophet; she was a widow who theoretically worshipped Baal. Yet, they somehow found common ground. He taught her not to be afraid. He encouraged her by reminding her that the drought would not last forever. These two unlikely allies changed one another s lives. God was already at work in their midst but the trick was that they both had to listen to God s instructions. Elijah had to go into the land of his enemies and beg a widow for help. The widow had to follow through on the command of a God she did not serve to feed Elijah. Both parties made a choice to join God in the transformative work God was going in their midst. And, their world changed. Between Elijah and his new friend, we learn a two-part lesson. From Elijah, we learn that our unwavering faith and our provision of hope to the people around us can change their outlook. We can comfort one another, we can instruct one another, we can be one another s light in a world that can seem dry and hopeless. From the widow, we learn not to be controlled by fear and that even our smallest gift can be transformative for a person in need. With a bit of
meal and oil that were soon to run out, she preserved the life of a man she did not even know. She, with God s help, did the impossible. So, Elijah teaches us to follow God s call no matter where it leads and to encourage others during the challenges of this journey. The widow teaches us to release our fear and that even a small material gift can do the work of transforming lives. And the third lesson of this text, we must teach to ourselves. We are left with verse 16 which says, 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. The widow was down to her last bit and yet, verse 16 tells us that the jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail! How can that be? How can God take nothing and turn it into something? How can God take that which is nearly dead, that is which hopeless, that is which broken? And, how is God making even these things new? I don t know how God makes this world work. I don t know how God heals us. I don t know how God answers prayers. All I really know is that God does it. God is at work even here. All I know is that God is. And so Elijah has taught us so much through his faith, and so the widow has taught us so much through her hospitality to a stranger and through releasing her fear. And now, we have to teach ourselves something. Each of our own lives in some way is a testament to God s divine provision. God is working. My friends, what is God saying to us on this day? What has this story stirred up in you? Where is the Spirit of God compelling you to go? Go there. Who does God have for you to encourage? Encourage them. What fears must you release? Release them. What gifts do you have to give? Give them. What is the Spirit of the Living God saying to you on this day? Listen. Amen.