Commentary

1 Kings 17:8-24
From what we have before us, it seems this scary story about the prophet Elijah,
the unnamed widow, and her young child starts out fairly normally. But this is not
the case. Just a few verses earlier, the prophet tells the evil King Ahab that God
is sending a drought. No rain, not even dew, would fall until God lifted the curse.
This change in the weather brought by God was extremely significant for all in-
volved because King Ahab worships Baal, the lord of the heaven who brought
rain, thunder, fertility, and agriculture. By withholding all moisture, God is en-
gaging in a cosmic battle between God and Baal that will determine who Israel
worships.
The prophet Elijah is one of the foot troops in the this war and needs to be
protected. God sends Elijah off to hide by a wet weather creek. There the ravens
feed him.
Fear falls upon the whole land as crops fail and water sources dry up. After a
while, even the creek that supplied Elijah with water stopped flowing. Because of
this, God commands Elijah to go Zarephath, an industrial town on the Phoenician
coast whose name in Hebrew means metalworking shop. There he is to live with
a widow who from all appearances is neither a Jew nor a follower of God.
Somewhere outside the city, in the area that is no-man’s land, the prophet
finds a woman gathering sticks for her last meal. She must do the entire work of
the family since she has no husband and her son is too young to work. Breaking
through the cultural norms, Elijah speaks to the unnamed woman and he asks the
enemy, a worshiper of Baal, to bring him a drink. As she goes to find a precious
glass of water, Elijah adds a ridiculous request. Please bring me a bit of bread.
For the widow, the cold hard facts of the drought brought by God and King
Ahab’s rule have added up to one harsh reality. Her family is starving to death and
she knows that they will surely die. She has nothing to share and by the all the
rules of God, Elijah should be providing her with food. She then does something
that most of us cannot even grasp. She talks to the stranger and exposes her heart
to him when she tells Elijah that she has only one meal left and then she and her
son will die.
In the midst of the drought and the stench of starvation, the prophet replies
with these strange words, “Do not be afraid.” God will provide us what we need.
This utterance pierces the woman’s heart. Without fully knowing what was to
come and in the face of all logic, she divides her food three ways. God’s Word

1
comes true and this blended family has enough to eat for many days.
Tragedy strikes once again, when the widow’s young child dies. Now she is
truly alone in the world. The last member of her family is dead and she now has
the face the future without any social net.
The story now takes an unexpected turn. After taking the dead child from his
mother’s arms, Elijah brings the body to the prophet’s room. He cries out to God,
“Why? Why does death visit this house?” In some strange ritual, he places his
body on top the the corpse and then calls out to God, “Let him live.” After the
third repetition of this routine, the child is given life.
Finally, our text for the day ends with the widow confessing that Elijah faith-
fully serves the Lord.
On the surface and visible for all to see are many frightening aspects of our
lesson from first Kings. The most obvious example has to be the drought. The
weather, which we depend on for our daily life, had turned hostile to life itself.
The lack of water caused the failure of crops, the death of animals, and ultimately
the death of men, women, and children. We live in an area of the world that too
much water often threatens us. The river can overflow its banks, a storm from
the Gulf can drown us, and we know what it looks like when the leave breaks.
Second, the Phoenician widow brings into clear focus what it means to live on
the sharp edge of life where even one false move means death for either you or
your loved ones. If she had mistakenly trusted a charlatan, she would have killed
herself and her child. All around us are people that still live on this thin razor’s
edge. One missed day at work, one fewer hand in the fields, or one less house
cleaned means difficult decisions must be made. Do we pay the rent, feed the
children, or purchase your medicine? Each of us know in one way or another the
universal fear of having a loved one die. This is the third fear that we all share.
When a younger sibling dies before an older brother or sister, if a child dies before
their parents, or a grandchild before their grandparents we feel that life has been
upended. Throughout the rest of our lives, this pain never quite leaves us. Every
holiday, every special occasion, and every time that we want to talk with them all
remind us that a loved one is gone.
Deep below the all of these fears is the scary part of the story that most of us do
not like to talk about. What happens when God does not answer our prayers? Or
to be even more blunt, “Why was Elijah’s prayer answered when ours was not?”
On the one hand, we have those people who know exactly the reason why God
says “No!” to our prayers. In their way of thinking, we have not done enough.
That is why God is denying our request. For them, it might be that we have have
not lead a life pleasing to God or that our faith is not strong enough. The message

2
that they would have us believe is that God will continue to say no until we change
our life.
On the other hand, there is a group of people who believe that God does not
or cannot listen to prayer. Their way of thinking is just as stark as the first group.
In their minds, God cannot be bothered to intervene in our little problems because
God has better things to do. The logical extreme of this idea is that God completely
ignores our prayers. It might be that God is too busy or it even could be that God
does not exist.
Someplace between these two extremes of needing to work harder and a deaf
God, we hear a lot of answers that are meant to make us feel better. You know
the ones that I am talking about. These responses normally take the form of, “God
needs them more than you do.” or “God needed another angel.”
As Lutherans, we disagree with all of the previous answers. In the first case,
no one ever can “do enough” to make God love them. We trust that God is a
loving Father and will do what is best for us. Next, we take seriously the entire
life of Jesus. Here we had a perfect man (Hebrews 5:9). Despite His lack of sin
and His earnest request for the cup to pass from Him, Jesus still suffered and died
(Matthew 26:39, 42; Mark 14:16; Luke 22:42). Christ’s example is the final proof
that disproves the idea that God only says “No” to those people who have not done
enough. In the second example, where people think that God ignores us, we trust
in the words of Jesus. He has told us that God is like a loving Father who will
give us what we need (Matthew 7:8-11; Luke 11:9-13). Even more importantly,
we have Christ’s life that shows us the depth God’s love for you. For the people
that offer us meaningless words, just remember that they are hurting also and are
just looking for some reason to a question that we cannot answer.
This final statement of “I do not know.” is the hardest response to give and in
reality it is most accurate answer that we can give one another when God fails to
give us an acceptable reply to our prayers.
The phrase “I do not know.” is not one of resignation that God is powerless
to change the world. We believe that God raised His Son to life and this is a
judgement for the entire world. All who believe in Him will be given a life like
His (Romans 6:4-11; 1 John 3:2). Neither is this answer a cold hearted acceptance
of the current state of affairs. God has put us in charge of the world and in the
final analysis we are responsible for what happens here on earth (Genesis 1:26).
Instead, we when say “I do not know.” it admits the truth that we are limited
creatures who do not know what God has in mind (1 Corinthians 13:12).

1 Kings 17:8 came to him – The story is about Elijah who had been living near

3
 the wadi (wet weather creek) named Cherith, where the ravens had been
bringing him food to eat. The drought was a result of God’s judgement on
King Ahab.

1 Kings 17:9 went to Zarephath – Zarephath (Σάρεπτα) was a small town on the
Mediterranean Coast between Sidon and Tyre. This town is now Sarafand,
Lebanon. The city’s name became the word for any smelter or forge, or
metalworking shop. The town was Christian in the time of Eusebius and
Jerome. This ended sometime around 1185 when it became Muslim.
for I have commanded a widow there to feed you – In an ironic turn around,
God asks a widow to support the man of God rather than having the prophet
help the widow.

1 Kings 17:10 gate of the town – It is outside of the city, in the area that is
no-man’s land that the prophet finds the woman.
a widow was there gathering sticks –No one is helping her. She must do the
entire work for her family since she has no husband and son for whatever
reason cannot help.
he called to her – Elijah breaks the cultural norms and speaks to a woman
that he is not related to.
Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink. – Just as surprising,
he makes a request from the enemy, a worshiper of Baal, to bring him water.

1 Kings 17:11 she was going to bring it – Without question, she does what the
man commands.
he called to her and said – It isn’t enough for her to bring the water, he
prophet must also have something to eat.

1 Kings 17:12 As the L ORD your God lives – Somehow she knows the faith
tradition of Elijah.
I have nothing baked – She has not made her daily bread.
only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug – The poor and the
outcast of society are always the ones hurt in the social upheavals.
we may eat it, and die. – The cold hard facts of the drought and King Ahab’s
rule have added up to one reality. She is starving to death and she knows that
they will surely die.

4
1 Kings 17:13 Do not be afraid – What a strange order. Death is at her door. Her
future is closed.
first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me – The requirement is that
she feed the stranger before her own family. How does this not break God’s
own law to take care of the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant?

1 Kings 17:14 For thus says the L ORD the God of Israel – Only now does she
learn the reward of doing the L ORD’s Word. That is the only way this action
required of her stays with the L ORD’s law.
until the day that the L ORD sends rain on the earth – The miracle will
continue until the land can support her.

1 Kings 17:15 She went and did – This is the basic definition of faith. Without
fully knowing what was to come and in the face of all logic, she divided her
food three ways.

1 Kings 17:16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail –
The miracle occurred just as promised by the prophet.

1 Kings 17:17 there was no breath left in him – Sometime later, the boy dies.

1 Kings 17:18 What have you against me – We have not heard any word against
the woman or her lifestyle. Are these words of grief, confession, or anger?
to bring my sin to remembrance – We believe that every one of us contin-
ues to sin. Does this phrase from the woman reflect this attitude or is she
recalling a specific item in her past?

1 Kings 17:19 He took him from her bosom – According to ritual, Elijah is now
defiled. He has touched a body.

1 Kings 17:20 have you brought calamity – It seems that the question is about
the intent of the child’s death.
by killing her son – The prophet becomes bolder and states that God is the
reason why the boy dies.

1 Kings 17:21 stretched himself upon the child three times – The prophet puts
himself on top of the child and then speaks to God.

5
 1 Kings 17:22 let this child’s life come into him again – This basic prayer has
been said be believers throughout time but it is rarely answered by giving
life to he dead one.
the life of the child came into him again, and he revived – God answered
the prayer and the child lived.
1 Kings 17:23 gave him to his mother – Like a birth, the child is given to the
mother.
1 Kings 17:24 Now I know that you are a man of God – It is interesting that the
miracle of food is not enough to convince the woman. Instead, this dramatic
happening is what gives her confidence in God.

Psalm 146
The unspoken question in this psalm is “Who do we trust?” Do we place our lives
in the hands of people who cannot even control when they are born or when they
die? Or should we risk our future with the One who is outside of space and time?
The Jew/Christian answers that we place our loyalty in God.

Psalm 146:1 Praise the L ORD – The psalmists argues that the L ORD is the one
who needs to be remembered.
Psalm 146:2 I will sing praises to my God all my life long – This is one of the
methods used to tell others what the author feels about the L ORD.
Psalm 146:3 Do not put your trust in princes – In contrast with other humans,
the L ORD always keeps His promises.
Psalm 146:4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth – Every one of
our promises are limited by the life we lead. Sooner or later, we will break
them and then our death makes all of our words null and void.
Psalm 146:5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob – Blessings are
given to those who follow this God.
Psalm 146:6 who made – By recounting the L ORD’s deeds, the author reminds
his audience of the L ORD’s power.
Psalm 146:7 who executes justice for the oppressed – Righteousness includes
uploading the law and keeping morals.

6
 Psalm 146:8 The L ORD sets the prisoners free – Some people are placed in chains
by others. The need to be freed. Everyone dies. They also must be brought
from their captivity.

Psalm 146:9 The L ORD watches over the strangers – The people that most of us
ignore are seen by the L ORD.
the way of the wicked he brings to ruin – The question of justice runs
through this psalm. If the L ORD is to bring good things then those who
cause pain to others must also be held accountable for their actions.

Psalm 146:10 The L ORD will reign for ever – Unlike other rulers, this One will
last forever.

Galatians 1:11-24
Paul tells his audience that Jesus personally gave him the message of the Gospel
along with the charge to brings this Good News to the people that are not Jews.
This argument is important since Paul wants the church at Galatia to use his un-
derstanding of the Gospel and not that from anyone else.

Galatians 1:11 the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin –
One of the cards that Paul plays is that of divine inspiration. He informs the
community that his understanding of what the Gospel is and is not comes
directly from the source. This allows him to argue from “higher ground”
than the others who might differ with him.

Galatians 1:12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it,
but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. – Paul recounts his
conversion as a way of telling the audience of his special place in God’s
world.

Galatians 1:13 I was violently persecuting – The verb translated as violently is

πορθέω, which means to pillage and plunder.

Galatians 1:14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same
age – It seems that Paul still likes to brag about what he has done in the past.

Galatians 1:15 God, who had set me apart before I was born - This way of
arguing a point makes it difficult for anyone to trump your interpretation.

7
Galatians 1:16 reveal his Son to me – Paul states that his revelation was directly
from God.
I did not confer with any human – This could be one of the issues behind
the strife between Paul and the other disciples.

Galatians 1:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles
before me – As yet another indication that the Word came directly to Paul
from God, Paul tells the audience that he did not have contact with those
men that personally knew Jesus.

Galatians 1:18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas
and stayed with him for fifteen days – Paul apparently did visit for Peter for
a while.

Galatians 1:19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother
– Instead of seeking out the others or because they didn’t want to see him,
Paul only saw James. Note that this differs from the account of the meeting
in Jerusalem found in Acts.

Galatians 1:20 In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie – Paul makes
a personal appeal. This time it is not about the source of the revelation but
the person who brings it. This link in the chain of arguments is important
because it verifies the correct transmission of the Word from God to Paul
and then to the church in Galatia.

Galatians 1:21 I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia – Paul outlines his
travels.

Galatians 1:22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in
Christ – It is difficult to understand Paul’s amazement that the churches in
Judea do not know him. After all, he has already stated in Galatians 1:16
that his mission was not to the Jews.

Galatians 1:23 they only heard it said – Paul here only reports the good things
that others are saying about him.

Galatians 1:24 they glorified God because of me – Paul wants to use the argument
that others see clearly what he is doing and approve of it. Therefore, the
church in Galatia must do the same thing.

8
Luke 7:11-17
At the town’s gate, two processions intersected. One was triumphant. It had healed
a sick servant of the occupying forces and the other had succumbed to the death
that is a result of the oppression found in this world. Jesus reaches out and shows
that no one has power over Him: not Rome and not even death itself.

Luke 7:11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain – This story is only
found in Luke.

Luke 7:12 she was a widow – The unspoken assumption here is that the woman
now has no one that will take care of her.

Luke 7:13 the Lord saw her – This is the first use of this language of “Lord” by
the author.
he had compassion – The verb σπλαγχνίζομαι indicates deep emotion, Christ’s
stomach turned at the sight of it all.

Luke 7:14 touched the bier – Jesus is now ritually unclean.

Luke 7:15 gave him to his mother – This phrase in Greek (ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ
μητρὶ αὐτοῦ) is also found in the LXX version of 1 Kings 17:23.1

Luke 7:16 A great prophet has risen among us! – This is the first time Jesus
is called a prophet in Luke even though it has been apparent Jesus is a
prophet.2 This recalls Deuteronomy 18:15.
God has looked favourably on his people! – The visitation of God is also
spoken of in Luke 19:44 and Acts 15:14.3

Luke 7:17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding
country. – The message that life comes to the hopeless is contagious and
quickly moves through the people.
1
Luke Timothy Johnson; Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., editor, The Gospel of Luke, Volume 3,
Sacra Pagina, (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991), p. 119.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.

9
References
Johnson, Luke Timothy; Harrington, S.J., Daniel J., editor, The Gospel of Luke,
Volume 3, Sacra Pagina, (The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN: The
Liturgical Press, 1991).

10