Reading: I Kings 17:8-24
The story of Elijah, a poor widow, a dying son and Yahweh
Elijah is sent by God to spend some time with a poor widow in Zarepath. We ask: where on earth is Zarephath? Elijah might wonder the same thing.
Elijah, a prophet of God, is deeply discouraged by current events in the kingdom of Israel. The king, Ahab, is as bad if not worse than the kings before him. And now through marriage to Jezebel, princess of the neighbouring kingdom of Sidon, Ahab has brought a culture and an ethos into Israel very different from what Israel has been. As far as Elijah can see, the kingdom is being changed irrevocably for the worse.
God's response is to send him to spend some time with a widow in Zarepath -- a town in the kingdom of Sidon, the "enemy culture." The foreign widow, like Elijah, is poor and marginalized in her own land, and her son is dying. All is not well in Sidon either, and as the widow and Elijah come to open themselves to one another in risky and generous ways, they come to know surprising abundance, feeding, healing and even resurrection from death. In other words, under the radar of the misguided kingdoms of their time, they come to know the kingdom of God where they are -- the same kingdom of God the Gospels talk about in the stories of Jesus, as being among us always.
Elijah is rightly worried about the changes being made for the worse in the kingdom of Israel, and he stands up to challenge them as strongly as he can. That was last week's story (I Kings 18).
But at the same time, through relationship with others on the other side who also suffer from the corruption at the top, he finds himself -- much to his surprise, sharing with them the gifts of the kingdom of God in the world even as it is.
In worship on Sunday, we'll try to explore and find our way into the truth of this story.
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