Open this Sermon in a “New Window”
Good Shepherd Ev. Lutheran,
Pentecost 3—
I Kings 17:7-24
The Word of God will be validated in your own experience.
Which means that what the Bible says will happen in your
life.
Things were bad. And then they got worse. One day, her husband died. Family income dropped to zero. Making a living is always a struggle. But in those days and at that time, for a single mom to make it was a terrible struggle, even under the best circumstances. But these were not the best circumstances. There was a famine. And this was a time when people lived hand to mouth. When you lost your crops, there were no Hy-vees to go get food from. When you lost your crops, it meant that there was a good chance that at least one person in your family would not make it to see the next spring.
It was God who made this famine happen. As a judgement on the religion of Baal, which was the religion of the people of Zarepheth, where this young widow and her son lived. The religion of Baal was a religion that promised rain when you needed it, sunshine when you needed it, and large harvests of crops and wine and large families as well, as long as you made the right kind of sacrifices to Baal; and Baal was a god who demanded some pretty expensive sacrifices--sometimes he demanded sacrificing one of your own children. Which is awful, and cruel.
But that's where false doctrine eventually leads—to cruelty. Ask those who suffered during the Crusades. Ask those suffering in hell because their church taught them false doctrine in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Which is insisting on correct doctrine is an act of love. Which is what is happening when we practice close communion, isn't it. Which makes it an act of love. Because false doctrine comes ultimately from the devil, and as the Word of God says, he is a liar and he has an appetite to devour. And so false doctrine ultimately become cruel. This is how it is with false teaching, because the Word of God will be validated in everyone's, what the Bible says will happen in each person's life.
But God takes no pleasure in suffering, as he says in his Word. And this woman was to learn that what the Bible says will happen in each persons' life, including hers. God sent one of his pastors, Elijah, to rent a room in this woman's house. And when he finally got there, he asked her for a drink of water and a piece of bread. What he does not know is that for the past how many days, she has been trying all kinds of ways to get more food, but nothing has panned out. And he hasn't seen her trembling hands carefully measuring out exactly how much flour and oil she needs, and then she puts a little bit back, getting by with as little as possible. What he can see is that she is thin, gaunt really, because she always lets her son eat his fill first.
She says, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I don't have any bread – only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” And she's probably not exaggerating.
And now the test. “Don't be afraid.” (It's interesting, isn't it, how God is always asking us not to be afraid.) “Go home and make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'” A promise. For ours is a God of promises. But a promise needs to be received. And if promises are like a stack of hundred dollar bills, faith is like the hand that stuffs those bills into your pocket. And you don't have to try to make yourself believe the promises. The Holy Spirit himself not only created your faith but strengthens it each time you hear the Word or rightly use the Sacraments.
This is why our God wants us to act like we trust his promises—because by the power of the Holy Spirit, we do. And we don't. And so he gives us tests, exercises for our faith. He gives us promises in his Word and then sometime during the week he lets us feel some deep need, some serious lacking, something that can make us afraid. But he doens't want us to act afraid or act like we're going to give up or rush to find relief through sin, no. He wants us to act like we are confident, certain, that what he promises will happen. Not just to others. But to me. Because the Word of God will be validated in everyone's, what the Bible says will happen in each person's life.
This was the test for this young widow. An hour later, this gaunt woman comes back to Elijah. She has the bread and the cup of water. Maybe her young son is holding on to his mother's skirts. He's thin, too, and little for his age. Can you seee her hands hesitate as she starts to give the food to Elijah; she looks down at her starving boy, and begins to weep, as she gives away the last bit of food they have. Elijah takes the water and the bread; now Elijah must do the hardest thing of all. Eat it. Eat their last meal. Eat it while he knows that little boy is starving for a bite. And I wonder, could I have eaten it? Could you?
What God asks of us, sometimes, is very hard. That's why Christians can't be wimps. But he does it only because we are rotten to the core, by nature sinful as we say in our confession of sins. So he must push us to extremes sometimes to help kill our sinful nature so we learn to hold on this fact--that the Word of God will be validated in my experience, what the Bible says will happen in my life.
And he has such astounding promises for our lives! Everything that happens today, he promises to work every little thing work for good. Tomorrow morning you get up, and he promises that you will start your day with a fresh supply of his forgiveness and mercy, like he's never had to forgive me anything before, so great is his faithfulness. He promises not to remember my sins, which encourages us to move forward and leave the past in the past. He promises to answer every single prayer I pray in Jesus' name and to give me the very best answer possible in this universe. He even promises to bring the dead back to life and give me a glorified body and life everlasting. Every promise secured for us by Christ's life, death, and resurrection. And they are given to us as promises. And promises cannot be earned. Once a promise is given, it can only be received, by faith. And each one of those promises will be validated in my own experience, those things will happen in my life, as they will in yours. And have.
For this young widow, it was this promise-- “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.” And she learned that what God says will happen in her life. For every day there was the same amount of flour and oil. Not a bucket full. Just the same small amount. But it was enough.
Elijah
stayed in an upstairs room, maybe renting it.
She liked having a man around the house, I think; it was kind of like
having her grandpa around. And he knew
so much about this Triune God who created our world. He taught them about Adam and Eve, and
Abraham and Sarah, and Moses and the 10 plagues, and Joshua and the walls of
These
were better days. This young widow
learned how to smile again. Laughter was
heard in that house, along with reciting Bible passages, I would think. Because maybe Elijah couldn't preach and
teach in
And the boy, that boy, I bet, was fascinated to learn about this God who wanted to be called “father.” That would have meant so much to this boy, for he was a boy who had no father; and in those days and at that place where divorce just was not an option, seeing a boy without a father was as unusual as seeing a three legged dog. And it is a powerful thing, isn't it, to have the God of the universe be your father by faith in Christ. Because even the best earthly fathers disappoint and let us down sometimes, but not our heavenly Father. Never. That is what the Sciptures teach. And so it will be validated in your experience, that will happen in your life.
And then one day the boy wakes up and isn't feeling well. But you know how childhood sicknesses go. One day they are sick, next day they are running around. But this time it was different. By the evening he is very sick. I do not doubt that that young widow stays by her boy's bedside day and night. Tries everything. He crys out, moans, and sometimes shrieks in pain. And she feels that terrible sense of helplessness that you feel when someone is in pain and you can't do anything about it. If you have felt it, it is not necessary for me to describe it to you. And if you have not yet felt this kind of helplessness, you will. For this is another way our God teaches us humility and dependence on him and his Word. Which is a very good thing to learn, though we learn it mostly through our times of helplessness.
Then
the boy starts to become quieter, the breathing more jagged, and it slows, and
it slows, and then, he is no more. And
in her grief, Satan attacks. And I can
almost hear what he is putting into her brain, something like, “God saw what
you and your husband did before you were married. God knows you love this boy more than you
love. And most of all, God knows that you haven't been a good mom. So now he's punishing you. Taking your son away.” She cries out to Elijah, “What do you have
against me man of God? Did you come to
remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
And
Elijah is just as shocked. Surely he had
prayed to God for this boy, how could God, the God of life and death, how could
he let this happen? He says, “Give me
your son.” He carries this boy to
his own room, and as he is carrying him, the boy feels cold in his arms, and it
feels so horrible, so wrong, this boy who was so warm and full of life, now he
is so cold. He lays him on the bed, he
lays next to him, and on top of him, somehow trying to share his warmth with
the boy, willing to give whatever must be given so this boy might be given back
to his mother. Elijah is so distraught,
all he can pray is one sentence, over and over, three times, “O Lord, my
God, let his boy's life return to him!”
And
he did. He did. Imagine the look on that mom's face when
Elijah comes walking down the stairs with her little boy giggling and
laughing. It is a beautiful moment. As is the next one. We find out she learned
what she was meant to learn. She didn't
just say, “Oh thank you God for giving me my son back.” I'm sure she did. But what she said was, “Now I know that
you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the
truth.”
Now, she already knew that. Just like you do, like I do. Every word of the Lord in the Bible is the truth. She knew that, too.
But now she knew it better, deeper. But you know what most of all she knew deeper and better? That what the word of God said was meant for her. It would happen in HER life, HER life. Which is one of the great lessons God is still teaching today, to each one of us.
God's Word will be validated in everyone's life, what the Bible says will happen in each person's life. Some refuse to learn this until they find themselves in trouble or in divorce court or waking up and finding themselves in hell. Some keep on learning this by hearing the Word, remembering their baptism, mindfully celebrating the Lord's Supper, and understanding what God is up to when he lets you suffer something during the week that makes you cling to one of his promises.
Which will it be for you, for me? Because either way, the Word of God will be validated in in your own experience. Which means that what the Bible says will happen in your life. Which is terrifying news for those who do not gladly hear and learn the Word of God. But for the person who trusts in the Word of the Lord, the best news he will ever hear. Amen.