Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo + November 10, 2024
25th Sunday after Pentecost
In his sermon for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost, Pastor Hector reflects on the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, a tale of unexpected abundance in the face of scarcity. He challenges the us to consider how God often provides through seemingly improbable means and unlikely people. In a world that can feel desolate, we are reminded that God calls us to move beyond fear, trusting that our lives are upheld by divine grace. As we open ourselves to God’s provision, we find that our "jars and jugs" are never truly empty, inviting us to become bearers of hope and life for others
Sermon Transcript
From automatically generated captions, and lightly edited for readability by AI chatbots
Grace to you and peace from our Father, Mother, Creator God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. And we said, Amen.
I was thinking earlier this morning, when I was looking at all the leadership of the congregation today, that this happens only maybe when the planets align or something. But do you notice what is happening with all the leaders of the congregation today? The names of the leaders of the service today—we have three Marks participating, and then we have three Johns participating. So today is the gospel day, I guess! I think that the planets need to align for this to happen. And not only that—we have the gospel of Mark. So I'm excited! I don't know what that means, but it's exciting to hear that. Anyway, that's just an observation.
But, um, how are you today? How are we doing as a community of faith?
Today I invite you to think and to ponder that question because I believe that each one of us is in a different space, maybe trying to make sense of how our faith shapes us and informs us in who we are, whose we are, and how we are going to continue to be, with our young worshippers, agents of the love, the grace, and the justice of God.
Today we have this passage that we read in the Old Testament, in the book of First Kings. Just a quick reminder, and maybe a bit of context, to help us remember where this story is placed in scripture. The prophet Elijah, whose name means "Yahweh is my God" or "Yahweh is my strength," isn’t that great? Isn't that a good reminder? Isn't that something that probably we need to hear today?
Well, Elijah lived at the time when King Ahab was the ruler in Israel, in the northern kingdom. He was the seventh ruler, and this is a ruler that maybe you don’t remember very well because we normally remember the wives more than the husbands’ names. His wife was Jezebel. Do you remember her name? I told you—we remember more the wife than the husband, but that’s okay. This king, his wife, and his reign were marked by actions that were considered evil. They worshiped the gods of that region; the god they worshiped was—and there are a couple of different pronunciations of this god—some people pronounce it Baale, others Baal. They worshiped this god, and not only that, but they erected an image of the god in the temple in Samaria. So, his reign was one of political chaos, religious chaos, and not only that, there was even a drought in the region, predicted by the prophet Elijah.
It is in that context that God tells Elijah, if you read the verses before the passage we read today, "Get out of this place and go to Zarephath." Not "to Zarephath that’s lived there," but go to a brook in the desert. "I will make sure that you have food, that you have bread, and you will be fed by the ravens who will bring bread for you, and you will be next to a brook where you can drink water." But because of the drought, the brook dried out, and then Elijah needed to go somewhere else, needed to move on.
And that’s the part of the passage that we read today, when God tells Elijah, "Now, Yahweh says, Elijah, go and live in Zarephath, where I have commanded a widow to feed you." A widow. Who were the widows among the people at that time? Do you remember their status in society? These were vulnerable people, destitute. They were compared in the Old Testament to orphans and the poor because a widow wouldn’t have an inheritance, and they needed to basically survive on their own. So, she was a vulnerable person. And the question is: a widow? How could she feed a prophet?
And the story goes on and says that Elijah says, "Bring me bread. No, bring me water. And not only water but also bread." In order to understand the importance of this conversation, I invite you to think. Again, when you go back home, I invite you to think and to read the passage. It’s fascinating to read these stories. I don’t know if you have done it, but do it. I recommend that you do it. You will see that the passage we read today is sandwiched between the drought I just described and, then, the passage after the one we read today, which talks about the son of the widow who died and was then brought back to life. So this passage is between the prediction of the drought and the death of the widow’s son.
I was thinking, what is this passage really trying to tell us? And maybe the question is: Maybe God is helping us to remember how you and I are going to face the gods of this world in the presence of Yahweh and how we are called to learn to depend on God, who works through the incomprehensible means around us.
Two aspects that are important in this passage are the impossibility and the scarcity mentioned when the woman, the widow, says, "I don’t have flour, and I don’t have oil," and also the possibility of abundance, when Elijah says to the woman, "Go and do it," and they find out that they have an unstoppable supply of oil and flour. I believe that is an example of how we live in this dichotomy, you and I, when we feel that we do not have enough, or we cannot see what we have, and therefore, we feel that we cannot share with others.
God, though, works in and through a widow who is considered a pariah, but also God works in and through the prophet, who also felt abandoned or maybe alone as he was fleeing from the king and his wife, who were chasing him. Basically, the vulnerability of the widow led her to instinctively look for ways to survive. And that’s why she says, "Do you want me to feed you? Do you know that I have only one piece of cake? And if I give it to you, we won’t have anything. If we eat it, it’s the only thing we have. And if we eat it, we will die because we don’t have more."
Survival, my siblings in Christ, is rooted in fear and death. And Jesus’ words are clear in the gospel when he says that the powerful are devouring widows for this uncontrollable obsession for power and control as a way to mitigate their fear and their sense that there is only one way to survive, not to live fully as God wants us to live.
Elijah’s and the widow’s lives, then, through this event, are reframed. Maybe it’s a good reminder for us that everything we are experiencing in our lives are opportunities for our lives to be framed in the light of the message of life that God brings to us in Jesus, in the message that Elijah brings to the widow from God. And this is significant, my siblings, because these moments are liminal spaces where you and I certainly are disoriented, but in this disorientation, you and I are able to discover the signs of life, of hope, and of transformation.
Elijah said, "Do not be afraid." And sometimes I was thinking, well, is Elijah really talking to the widow, or is he talking to himself? How many times do we feel afraid, and we need to encourage someone else? How many times do we feel afraid, and we need to provide for somebody else?
And my question today is: As some of us, and many in our communities, our society, and our country, are feeling empty, desolated, disoriented—what is it that God wants us to give to others when we think that we do not have it? Or is it that we are going to share only hopelessness, disappointment, and anger? Or is God telling us, "Even when you think that you do not have the joy, the life, the strength, the promise, the hope—I am giving it to you to give it to others"? Are we willing to be open to the life-giving power of God to remind us that our jars and our jugs are full of the grace, mercy, compassion, and love of Christ, and that they are overflowing to the point that we can share it with others? Or are we going to be thinking that we cannot give any of that because if we give it, then I won’t have anything, and I will die?
It is a time, a liminal time for us, and maybe an opportunity to reframe our lives.
Last Sunday, Pastor Bev reminded us that Yahweh removes the straps of fear to see the possibilities of new life. Through that, you and I gain access to the invisible world of faith. This is not the end. This is not the end. And that is why Elijah was sent to proclaim in word and in action to the widow. And after he was with her and her son, he continued to go—even in the midst of challenges, in the midst of opposition, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of confusion, in the midst of hopelessness—he continued to proclaim the life-giving presence of God. Yahweh is my God. Yahweh is my strength. And therefore, I can continue.
As participants of this ancient scene and story, we may, for a moment, claim the role of Elijah for ourselves. We may claim the role of the widow for ourselves. But the widow, who has such scarce means, is an instrument in God's unfolding reign to provide for others, as you and I are. What sometimes looks like a misfortune or an illogical event may be the way that God's reign unfolds in our lives. Maybe we are to be fed by a stranger, or maybe we need to feed a stranger, and we do it gladly and joyfully because, as St. Paul said, “All things work for good for those who love the Lord.” And with that confidence, we thank God. Amen.
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