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H.
Fege, D.Min. Pastor. 1 Kings 17.17-24; Gal. 1.11-24; Lk. 7.11-17
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H.
Fege, D.Min. Pastor. 1 Kings 17.17-24; Gal. 1.11-24; Lk. 7.11-17
The
Old Testament lesson begins with “after this…”
That
piques my interest…
After what? “After this the son of a
woman the mistress of the house, became ill.”
As
the story unfolds we learn that the son stopped breathing…
Not
good. But I’m still curious about what happened before, the “after this.”
So
here it is.
King
Ahab, husband of Jezebel, decided that the storm god of the Egyptians, also
known as Baal, was more reliable in regulating the seasons than Yahweh the God
of Israel.
Elijah
does not take kindly to this news and tells the good king Ahab that “there shall be neither dew or rain these
years except by my word.” 1 Kings
17ff.
At
that point Elijah is told to go hide out for a while by the wadi east of the
Elijah
is promised that ravens will come and bring him bread and meat and that the
wadi will have water.
As
the drought continues the wadi dries up and God sends word to the prophet with
directions so detailed that you could program them into a GPS: go to Zarephat,
a village known today as Sarafath near
When
Elijah got there he saw a middle-aged woman near the town outskirts gathering
wood. He greets her and tells her that he is hungry.
“Bring me something to eat and some water.”
She answered him “As the Lord your God lives there is nothing on the stove.”
I
am gathering some kindling so that I might prepare a last meal for my son and
myself before we die. All I have is a little lard and some flour.
Elijah
is not deterred. He tells her to go ahead and use what she has to bake him a
“little cake.”
And
to bring it to him and then whatever is left to also bake a cake for her son
and herself. You will have enough oil and flour until the rains return. She
does what he directs and we are told that she and her household ate for many
days …
That
is where the story picks up for the Old Testament reading for today… That is the “after this.”
After this the son of the
woman became ill... he stops breathing and the mother of the boy says “what
have you against me oh man of God?”
Her
first thought is like most of us… What have I done wrong? Why is God doing this
to me?
Elijah
doesn’t go there.
He
picks up the kid, carries him upstairs to where he had been given a room and
what does he do? He has a conversation with God. He prays. And what a prayer it
is. We are told that he “cries out!”
“Adonoi Yahweh” Oh Lord God!
Have
you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying by killing her
son?
In
other words Elijah questions God’s motive…
He
questions what he perceives to be God’s capriciousness… and in desperation he
throws himself on top of the boy three times (CPR?).
“Let
this child’s RUACH – breath, spirit, life… come into him again.” The boy begins to breathe and Elijah – himself at this point must be
breathing a sigh of relief – carries
the boy back down to his mother and tells her “your son is alive.”
She
then says “now I know you are a man of God”…
What
about the cupboard full of oil and flour that she and the family had been
enjoying “for many days?” It seems that we humans never tire of testing God’s
providence.
Fast
forward to the Gospel for today.
Again
we have the missing piece.
“Soon
afterwards…” Soon after what?
Jesus
is on the move… he had just walked the 20 or so miles it took to travel from
the seaside town of
*(A little footnote in my Gk. tells me that
the word “afterwards” can also mean “the next day”).
7.2
A centurion had a slave who was near death… let me read you the text 7.2 – 10.
Jesus
says that he has not found such faith in all of
That
would be like the Pope saying that he has found more faith in
So
that is where the Gospel Lesson begins…
Again
a GPS would help.
Nain,
is a little town 20 miles from
Nain
is the same place where Elisha had raised the son of a woman who had given him
hospitality (2 Kings 4:8-37).
The
mourners at Nain may have made a connection between these two similar miracles.
Luke
records, “Fear gripped them all, and they
began glorifying God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘God
has visited His people!’” (Luke 7:16).
One
scholar who visited the place writes that he noticed there was only one road
leading in and out... and a short distance from the city is an ancient
cemetery.
Again,
a widow.
Again
no heirs except this son.
Some
of us in the Lutheran church just lost 1/3 of our pension fund… she lost it
all!
Now
Jesus returning from
No
one asked him to do anything.
He
saw the funeral procession and the distraught mother and he stopped.
New
Orleans “Oh when the saints go marching
in” and touched the casket “ young man I say to you arise” Only Lk.
would have used the Gk. word translated “arise” because it is a Gk. medical term
used when a patient was lying down and is told to get out of the bed…
like
in the passage from the Old Testament where the prophet gives the boy back to
the widow, “Jesus gave him to his mother.”
Wedged
between the Old Testament and the Gospel are 13 sentences from one of Paul’s
letters.
Paul
is angry at some folk in
They
think that he is too easy on the converts from non-Jewish backgrounds…
They
feel that before they join the church the men need to be circumcised!
So
Paul makes mention that he has met Peter and some of the original cast of disciples
who live in
Paul
appeals to God’s promised grace for his legitimacy…
In
essence Paul says, who put you in charge?
Whatever
your issues are, my authority – my legitimacy – my right to preach, comes not
from hobnobbing with the Bishop or the folks in
But
from God himself!
That
is the “meat” between the two lessons today!
Permit
me a few observations.
In
the Old Testament reading Elijah challenges the socio-political order.
It
would be like me questioning the legitimacy of “the National Day of Prayer” in
a pluralist
In
the time of the Prophets, it was the popular notion that the Rain God of Egypt
was more reliable than the Yahweh of Israel.
The
part of Elijah hiding out in the wadi
and later lodging with a the mistress of the house whose son dies... is a
little detour that lets us know that Israel’s God can be counted on.
The
same is true of today’s Gospel.
You
ask, if not out loud then in your heart and mind…
Did Jesus really pull this
off? And all those stories where Jesus
makes people well, and drives out demons from those who are possessed?
There
are two schools of thought in the Lutheran tradition.
School
A.
School
B. ELCA.
School
A says it happened just like Luke tells it.
School
B says that Luke is telling us that in the person of Jesus, God became flesh
and lived among us …
Jesus
is God, God is life.
And
if you think that you or I or anyone else is going to figure all that out,
forget it.
Toward
the end of the 18th century, Franz Joseph Hayden (contemporary of
Mozart and teacher of Beethoven), composed his masterpiece “The Creation”.
At
one place in “The Creation” the chorus quietly sings, “and God said ‘let there
be light’ and there was light.”
On
the second occurrence of “light” the orchestra bursts forth in a mighty
crescendo of sound –
It
was at this point that Hayden was deeply moved. “One moment I was cold as ice, the next I seemed on fire, more than
once I was afraid I might have a stroke”.
Ten
years later Hayden made his last public appearance in
Beethoven
was there to kneel and kiss Hayden’s hand. “The Creation” was performed in
honor of the composer.
When
the chorus came to the line “and God said let there be light and there was
light,” Hayden raised his gnarled hand from his tired body and pointing to the
heavens he declared in the presence of those who had come to honor him:
“Es ist nich von mir aber von Dort, das kommt
alles…!”
Not
from me, but from thence comes everything.” That thence is spelled with a
capital “ T ”.
Amen