Prophet in the Middle

~~~ 1 Kings 17:7-16 ~~~ Psalm 4 ~~~ Matthew 5:13-16 ~~~

O LORD, let the light 

of your countenance shine upon us!

The name “Elijah” means “the Lord is my God.” 

Elijah stands in the middle of the battle between
 the fertility god Baal and The Lord.
Who will the Israelis pledge their loyalties to,
 Baal or the Lord of Elijah.

Being a prophet must be both challenging and rewarding.
You are both the bearer of good and bad news.
Your message is either heeded or you are ousted.
Whatever the result it is never easy.
Oftentimes the one chosen by God to be a prophet
does not want to accept this anointing.

Elijah had a most difficult task, because Baal was the favored god
of King Ahab's wife, Jezebel.

One can only imagine her outrage at Elijah's
 announcement of the drought.

Jezebel could have easily ordered him to be executed.

God saw fit to protect him by sending him away.

God protects us in ways we do not see or understand too.
God provided for Elijah's well-being;
he sent food by raven.
He led him to the poor widow
who was preparing to die with her son. 

She was an unlikely one to rescue him from starvation.
She had very little left in the cupboard.

She, however, listens to Elijah and complies with his request.
Sometimes God asks us to do something out of our expectations.
The widow was resigned to her fate;
God entered in and changed her whole life.
God not only changed her immediate life, he gave her a new life.
The flour sack and the oil jar mysteriously replenished themselves...
of course we know God did this for her obedience.

For the LORD, the God of Israel, says,
‘The jar of flour shall not go empty,
nor the jug of oil run dry,
until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’

God watches over those he has appointed to do his work.
The work of a prophet was one of the most rewarding
 and one of the most dangerous.

That day God Blessed the house of the widow.
Later God allowed Elijah to perform a miracle
when the widow's son suddenly dies.

She had been a good and faithful servant of the Lord;
 God in turn gave her son back to her.

Certainly we cannot expect such demonstrative
miracles from God on a regular basis.

God is always at work on our behalf.
He does shine the light of his countenance down upon us.

Being in the middle is not so bad when
God is part of the mix. 

Being in the middle can be a Blessing
 when you are bringing forth the Kingdom of God.

What are you in the middle of today?
Where is God in this picture?
~~~Peace~~~

Weeping Turned into Rejoicing

~~~ 1 Timothy 3:1-13 ~~~ Psalm 101 ~~~ Luke 7:11-17 ~~~

  

We are given another example of the power Jesus had over death.
He has compassion for this widow who is mourning the death of her only son.
The funeral procession is passing by Jesus.
 No one comes to ask Jesus to heal the son;
 it is too late he is already dead.

When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”

It is never too late for Jesus to work a miracle. 

Jesus was moved by this woman's sorrow.
She was already a widow and now she has lost her only son
 meaning she had no one to provide for her.
She was all alone and on her own. 

 

 

 The longer I reflect on the scene of the weeping woman at the funeral
of her son the more I wonder about Mary.

 It just might be that Jesus had a moment of compassion for this woman
while at the same time having a flash of what it would be like for his own mother.

 We have no evidence that Joseph was still alive when Jesus
was crucified. The written accounts do mention John but never Joseph.
Mary may have already been a widow and now
 she would no longer have her son to care for her.

 

 “Do not weep.”

 

These are difficult words to hear when you are grieving.
Jesus wants this woman to experience the truth that physical death is not the end. 

He restores life for all eternity. He is the source of life.
God the father is the giver of life and the one who receives your last breath. 

 

 Jesus healed the slave of a gentile and now he restores life to the dead son.
Touching death was to make oneself unclean as was written in the law.

Jesus defied all of the accepted rules of that time.

By becoming one of us he was able to understand
the grief of losing a loved one. 

In breathing life back into this only child
Jesus was demonstrating what life in him would be.
He broke the chains of death.
If we die in Christ we too will be raised up on the last day with him. 

“Do not weep.”

For in Christ we have life...not only our earthly life
as in the case of this widow's son,
but we life everlasting. 

Nothing can compare to the life we will experience in heaven.
There will be no more weeping but only rejoicing.

All of the losses we have experienced throughout
our life will be no more. 

Mary certainly experienced the loss of her son, Jesus,
as they laid his lifeless body in her arms,
but she also had the hope and belief that this death was only temporary. 

In Paul's letter to Timothy he lays out the guidelines
for being a good bishop and deacon.

There personal lives should reflect for the people their firm
belief in everlasting life in the Lord. 

 

My eyes are upon the faithful of the land,
that they may dwell with me.
He who walks in the way of integrity
shall be in my service. 

 

I invite you to pray for the clergy in our churches today,
that they may conduct their lives with the utmost integrity.
Please, Lord, protect our clergy from the snares of the 'Devil's trap'

Blessings come in holding strong our belief in eternal life with Christ.

 

 

 



The Widow's Gift

~~~ Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~~~

~~~ 1 Kings 17:10-16 ~~~ Psalm 146 ~~~ Hebrews 9: 24-28 ~~~ Mark12:38-44 ~~~

 

The first reading and the Gospel from Mark use the example of a widow.

In Biblical times a widow within the Jewish community had no status. Without her husband she had literally no one to take care of her. She was left to fend for herself which often ended in poverty.

 

In the first reading we have the desperate widow who barely has enough food to feed both herself and her young son.

 

"...there is only a handful of flour in my jar
and a little oil in my jug."

 

She is resigned herself to the fact that she and her son are in fact doomed.

They are facing imminent death from starvation.

She is scraping together what little she has left to provide for her son.

 

You can imagine how torn she must have been when the prophet, Elijah, asks her to share her last bit of food with him.

Giving water to Elijah was was enough...just go to the source scoop up a cupful and bring it to him. But he asks for more; he wanted some bread as well.

 

Certainly it would not have been unreasonable for her to have ignored his request.

Somehow Elijah's words dispel her fears and she decides to honor his request for some bread. In reality what did she have to lose? She was going to die soon from lack of food. Elijah goes on promising her that neither the flour jar or the oil jar would go empty.

Here she takes a huge leap of faith and puts her trust in his words.

As we know she has the grace to make the right decision and God blessed her with abundance. For the next year the flour and the oil remained constant.

 

God had indeed kept his promise foretold to Elijah.

Some may have accused the widow of acting in a foolish manner,

especially when she also had her son to care for.

 

Sometime trusting in God does make us appear to be foolish

in the eyes of others.

What we give to God is returned to us a hundredfold.

Our giving is never in vain.

 

 

Our second widow has come to the temple to worship. She files into the temple with the crowds and drops in her last two coins for her offering.

Some would say that she too acted foolishly; giving her last couple coins.

The scribes and Pharisees all but despised widows. They often took advantage of their poor financial state insisting that they pay their part.

 

So there she was giving her all along side of those

who were giving from their abundance and wealth.

She was giving from her poverty.

Which is the greater gift?

If we only give from our abundance...is it truly giving?

 

Give yourself fully to God.

He will use you to accomplish great things

on the condition that you believe

much more in His love than in your own weakness.
Mother Teresa

 

These wise words from Mother Teresa

give us much to contemplate in this season of thanks and giving.

 

Jesus gave all that he was for our salvation...

every last drop of blood.

We have never been expected to give at that deep level.

 

May our giving bring us greated cause to trust in God's providential care.

He will take what litle we may have and turn it into so much more.

God will provide!

The jar will never be empty if we trust in him.