This advent season, I would like us to observe the story of Elijah from 1 Kings 17:8-24.
This chapter consists of two pericopes, "The Widow of Zarephath" and "Elijah Raises the Widow's Son".
To begin with, let us dive into the character and context which this text was written.
Idol worship prior to the reign of King Ahab was “only” through cultural aspects: food, fashion, arts, etc. Yet during the reign of King Ahab, he made a system to idol worship through the annihilation of YHWH’s prophets. The events which 1 Kings 17:8-24 took place were when Elijah was YHWH’s last prophet, causing Elijah to be a minority.
Also take note that at that time, God also quit pouring rain as mentioned in 1 Kings 17:1.
Meanwhile, rain was the symbol of Baal, as Baal was believed to be the god of rain.
Through these three pericopes, we will see how “precious” Elijah’s life, because Judaism and Christianity “depended” on Elijah.
Through these stories, we will see how God worked to sustain Elijah.
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| The Prophet Elijah with the Widow of Zarephath and Her Son, by Abraham van Dijck |
"THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH"
God told Elijah to go to Zarephath, without Elijah knowing why. Yet, readers in the past would have been surprised to read this. In the New Testament, Jesus also retold this story of Elijah. And right after He did, He was threatened to be thrown off a cliff by the crowd! But why is this story so offensive for readers in the past, and perhaps to Elijah as well? Because the instruction that tells the last YHWH's prophet to go to Zarephath was illogical for two reasons:
- Both the Old Testament and New Testament always mention Zarephath being in Sidon, instead of merely the city of Zarephath alone, and we know Sidon is outside of Israel. It means that God asked Elijah to go outside of Israel to obtain his salvation from the oppression of King Ahab. Not only that, but Et Baal, the King of Sidon, was Jezebel's father, Ahab’s father-in-law. God has asked Elijah to go to Jezebel’s city, the city of a woman who sought his life. God has asked Elijah to go into the devil’s den.
- Not only did God imply that salvation will come from Jezebel's city, but salvation will also come from a gentile, a woman, a widow and a poor. Back then, women had no right whatsoever, they were mere properties, more so if they are widowed and poot. And yet God has declared that Elijah’s salvation will come from this woman. If you have not been surprised enough, let me make this relevant for your generation. It is equivalent to God wanting to save Christianity today through the hand of a transgender. The same impact occurred to Elijah when he heard of this instruction.
But why did God instruct Elijah to do so? If this is only a matter of giving Elijah bread to eat, then God could have used any widows in Israel. But God wanted to show that He is a gracious God and that there is a dark side of grace: He wants to show us that it is sometimes difficult to accept God’s grace. How could such a person be favored by God and receive His mercy?
False gods require men to provide some kind of an asset to reach the gods. Or maybe for us, we think there are certain requirements in order for us to be accepted and used by God: money, the requirement to possess the Holy Spirit, the requirement to learn the Bible well, or even the requirement to use hymns and not drums.
Yet, this is not the God of Christianity. Besides, could we ever apply the standards we use for others to judge ourselves? Remember that God works by bypassing all these human categories.
There’s a female pastor called Nadia, a quite questionable pastor actually, but she mentioned something very interesting. She said repentance is not a prostitute becoming a librarian, but a prostitute disgusted by herself, coming to the church, despised by the church, yet accepted by God. And she still comes to the church anyway because she knows although men do not accept her, God does.
Tim Keller once asked an atheist what kind of a god the atheist actually despises, and the atheist answered, “I don’t believe in a god who determines whether you are good or bad, and if you’re bad he punishes, if he’s good he’d be gracious”. And Keller said, "I too do not believe in that kind of a god".
This is what differs Christianity from religion: the absence of polarization between the insider and the outsider based on certain the requirements.
"ELIJAH RAISES THE WIDOW’S SON"
The story suddenly takes a turn in verse 17 when the widow's son got sick until he died.
In verse 18-19, the widow brought her son to Elijah as if she could not take the situation, saying, “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!” (verse 18). To rephrase this, it’s as if the widow was saying, “Elijah, I thought you come to bless, but you come to judge. Does my sin cause my son’s death?”
Interestingly, hearing this, Elijah who was very much different in status, gender, nationality, and spirituality than the widow, immediately prayed to God a prayer similar to the widow’s question. He was asking God if the widow’s sin caused this death, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” (verse 20).
It is clear that both Elijah and the widow were upset and shocked by this death, but neither said, “God what have I done to deserve this? I was being very nice and welcoming to Your prophet / this widow! You have no right to do this to me, God!”
Quite the contrary, the widow was professing her sin by asking if the tragedy was a wage for her sin.
A LIVING AND INDEPENDENT GOD
Pay attention that God is referred to as a living God in both of these pericopes, for instance, the widow said, “As the LORD your God lives […]”.
The living God is not merely a courtesy title, but it is the uniqueness of God among other gods. And this is suitable for Elijah’s situation of him being in a country of Baal.
What is the difference between a fake Baal and a living God?
Fake Baal would always fit into the human brains. We can fully comprehend them because they are manmade and originated from us. But a living God is not a mere manmade concept. Thus, He works in ways which we cannot comprehend, yet He still asks us to follow Him. A living God is liberated and independent of our actions. He could give plenty of bread and oil one day, and the next takes an innocent boy’s life.
Previously, we discussed a God who is gracious, but the second half of the story, God is not only a judging God but is also a demanding, strict and “cruel” God. But it is for this very reason why He is not a fake Baal because we cannot fit Him inside our private drawers, He cannot simply be fit into our concept.
IMPLICATIONS
What are the implications, then?
This brings us to a consequence that the people of the living God will live differently, oddly, uniquely and they are uncategorizable. And this is exactly how we should imagine a church would be. We seek a simple church, where everyone is accepted and correct. But believing in a living and wild God would bring dynamic in a church community.
Furthermore, we witness both humility and hope in Elijah.
Humility, because he acknowledged God’s sovereign justice over the widow. He confessed that God has a right to take away the life of the child.
Hope, because despite his knowledge of God’s sovereign justice does not stop him from begging for God’s mercy, because he knew that God is gracious.
How would you have responded if you were Elijah in this situation?
Elijah faced a tragedy, he was upset, yet he did not stop there. He begged, he asked, he hoped. He assumed God killed the widow’s son because of the widow’s sin, but in humility, he also asked if he assumed correctly by crosschecking with God in his prayer. By doing so, he gave room for this possibility. But he did not stop there, he asked God if He could resurrect the child.
Once again, Elijah acknowledged God’s sovereign justice (he was humble), yet he pleads for grace (he was hopeful). Therefore, in order to face reality, we must acknowledge both God’s grace and justice.
The problem we face today is that we “know too much” of our God. We might even say, the book of Westminster “knows too much” about God, leaving no room for God’s mystery.
Elijah came to know God better through this widow. And not only did Elijah learn more about God through this widow, the outsider, but the widow also learned more about YHWH through Elijah, who was a stranger to her. God often uses others who are strangers who are odd and different from us. Without strangers’ lenses, we cannot learn to know our God better. I’m not implying that we must learn false teachings, but we do have to open our minds to other teachings that are opposing ours. Engaging in a dialogue with someone who opposes my ideas does not shake me, but instead enables me to view my own position clearly.
This is how a church should be. In a church, we have a tendency to follow certain teachers or pastors, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:12, “What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.””
But how did Elijah gain broader knowledge about God? From outsiders!
Finally, after the child was resurrected, the widow 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.”
She did not say this because she just witnessed a miracle from God because she has witnessed a miracle in the precious pericope and she did not proclaim this statement.
After her son was resurrected, she proclaimed this statement because she saw a new and resurrected life.
If we would like to evangelize others and we want to make them say, “now, I know”, we have to show it through our resurrected life.
We often say, as Christians, we have to be different from the world, even if they consider us strange.
But does the world view us merely as strange, or do they consider us miraculous?
Does the world only witness our humility, or do they witness our hope in Christ?
Do they witness the loving God from our life?
November 28th, 2018
By Vik. Jethro Rachmadi B.Mus., M.Th., GRII Kelapa Gading
Written by Alicia Angie Wiranata
This sermon note has not been revised by the preacher.
Alice
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