PROPER 27B - 1 Kings 17:8-16; Psalm 146:409; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:28-44 -

12 November 2006 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

 

Is God In Your Perspective?

 

INTRODUCTION - Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath

 

God sent Elijah to Zarephath to provide for his physical needs, while a drought was going on in Israel. A poor widow was to be the key to his survival. “...I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” When Elijah arrived at Zarephath, and met this widow, she apparently hadn’t gotten the message from God yet.

 

“Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

 

“As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it - and die.”

 

Elijah then says something interesting. He doesn’t say, “I am sorry to hear about you and your son. It is terrible that you have so little food, and that you’re about to die.” No. He says one of those things that all sorts of different people in the Bible are told. If you pay attention when you’re reading the Bible, you might be led to think to yourself, “There it is again.” What does he say to her? Yes, those familiar four words.

 

“Do not be afraid.”

 

“We’re down to our last handful of meal and a little bit of oil. This is it. We’re going to die.” This is reality, as she perceives it.

 

Elijah sees a different reality. “Go and make a meal for you and your son, as you intend. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.”

 

Elijah’s words got through to her. Her perspective shifted. How do I know? “She went and did as Elijah said.” She offered her home to Elijah, and she and Elijah and her son ate for many days. “The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.” (1 Kings 17:16) And that’s not all that happened! Go home and read the rest of 1 Kings 17, to get the rest of the story.

 

WHAT IS YOUR “HANDFUL OF MEAL”?

 

What is your “handful of meal”? What are you holding onto so tightly in your life, what do you see as so limited, so minuscule, so meager, that you’re holding on to it for all you’re worth, and don’t believe you can share it with others?

 

Is it your money?

 

Is it your love? Is there part of you that thinks, “I just don’t have much love to offer?”

 

Is it your ability to praise God? “I just can’t let go and praise God the way that some people do.”

 

Is it your talent or your gifts? Do you minimize your talent, and don’t think you really have any special gifts to be offered?

 

Is it spiritual insight or wisdom? Do you think that you have only a “handful of meal” when it comes to the spiritual life, that there’s nothing really that you have to share in that area that would be of benefit to others?

 

Do you think you have no peace to offer anyone, or no faith, or no hope?

 

Is your handful of meal energy or power?

 

I’m thinking that most, if not all, of us have a “handful of meal” perspective about something in our lives. And like the widow of Zarephath, it’s all rolled up in fear.

 

I’m afraid to be generous with my money. What if it runs out?

I’m afraid to be generous with my love. What if I get hurt?

I’m afraid to really praise God. What if I look like a fool?

I’m afraid to share my talents and gifts. What if they’re not appreciated, or other people get envious, and start attacking me?

I’m afraid to talk about my spiritual life with God. What if the words don’t come, and I start babbling? How will God be glorified by that?

Who I am to offer peace or faith or hope or power to someone else? What if I reach down to draw on one of those resources, and I feel empty - like nothing is really there?

 

When we have the “handful of meal” perspective, there are a lot of “what ifs”, and if we give those “what ifs” too much credence, we just start shutting down, and we stop living.

 

GOOD NEWS

 

There’s another “what if” out there that counters all the “what ifs” that you could ever name, and counters all the fear that has ever welled up inside of you.

 

Ask yourself this: WHAT IF IT’S TRUE THAT GOD IS INDEED FOR ME? Not just with me, but for me. What then?

 

And how do we know if God is for us, unless we risk that God is for us?

 

How did Elijah know if God was really for him? Well, the truth is, he didn’t, until he set out for Zarephath, and started looking around for a widow who might be interested in feeding him.

 

And how did that widow know if God was really for her? Well, the truth is, she didn’t, until she said, “Okay, you can stay at my house, and I’ll feed you. I’ll even feed you before I feed my son and myself.”

 

And how did the widow, walking past Jesus, know if God was really for her? Well, the truth is, she didn’t, until she put her last two coins - “all she had to live on” - into the treasury.

 

There seems to be a principle at work in the universe.

 

The God who doesn’t hold back...

 

- the God who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them

- the God who gives and gives and gives

- who gives justice to those who are oppressed

- and food to those who hunger

- the God who sets the prisoners free

- and who opens the eyes of the blind

- the God who lifts up those who are bowed down

- and who loves the righteous

- the God who cares for the stranger

- and sustains the orphan and widow

- the God who reigns for ever (Psalm 146)

 

This God - this generous, always-giving God, who does not hold back when it comes to sharing everything, this God who came to us, and gave his very life for us, this God says to you and to me, “Do as I do. Don’t hold back. Don’t hold on to whatever it is you are holding on to. Don’t hold on to your life so tightly, or you’ll lose it. Offer it up. Offer who you are and what you have. Do not be afraid. Offer it. Live your life as if I am for you, and see what happens.”

 

See if I don’t feed you.

 

See if I don’t lift you up when you are bowed down.

 

See if I don’t bring you justice when you are wronged.

 

See if I don’t free you from whatever is holding you captive.

 

See if I don’t open your eyes and help you see what you are blind to.

 

See if I don’t unstop your ears and help you hear what you most need to hear.

 

See if I don’t give you the people in your life that you most need in your life, for you to learn how to love and grow and live.

 

See if I don’t give you a whole new way of seeing and living, when you move beyond your fear.

 

Here’s what I observe. When we step out into the world, acting as if God is for us, we find that there is enough. We discover that that handful of meal and that little bit of oil is enough. There is enough money, enough love in my heart, enough praise to keep on praising, enough talent and giftedness in me, enough spiritual insight and wisdom, enough peace and hope and faith, enough energy and power.

 

Enough already! THERE IS ENOUGH! Because God is not a God of depletion and scarcity and rationing. God is a God of blessing and abundance and grace. God is enough! The bread and the wine at the eucharist are enough. You are enough. What we all have, here in this community, is enough.

 

If you won’t hear it from me, then hear it from the two widows in today’s lessons. With God, there is always enough. Because God is enough.