[1Kings 7:8-16] 8 Then the word of the Lord came
to Elijah: 9 “Go at once to
Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there
to supply you with food.” 10 So
he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there
gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little
water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As
she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the Lord your
God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a
jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home
and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be
afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread
for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for
yourself and your son. 14 For
this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be
used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain
on the land.’” 15 She went
away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and
for the woman and her family. 16 For
the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping
with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
[Luke 21:1-4] 1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich
putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 "Truly I tell you," he
said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts
out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.
This Sunday
we mark the Festival of the Reformation--a triumph of the Gospel and the Word
of God, but we also finish up our stewardship mini series entitled FEARLESS
GENEROSITY. As I've noted, it's a theme derived from Ephesians 3:20-21: 20
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly
far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and
in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Throughout each
of the four weeks of October we've taken a look at different aspects of what
this Fearless Generosity looks like at ground level. We began by seeing how
that empowers us to FEARLESS LIVING. The second week we took a look at FEARLESS
SERVICE, and last week we looked at FEARLESS SOWING. In three weeks of
stewardship emphasis--a topic that most of us think is about money--we haven't
looked at money at all. But, you guessed it, during this fourth week we're
going to finally get around to talking about money... or at the very least giving. This week's emphasis is FEARLESS
GIVING.
The gospel
reading is very brief, only four verses, but is very well known. It stars a
nameless widow who gives all she has.
A fantastically suitable Old Testament accompanying passage also stars a
destitute widow.' That being the case, let me begin by making a couple of
remarks about widows--in general, and specifically, in the Bible. In the
ancient patriarchal society of the Bible, being a widow meant potentially great
hardship. The status of women was hooked to the nearest adult male of the
family--a husband, adult son, or brother. A woman who had none of these in her
immediate family would quickly be reduced to begging. This is the sad reality
of the situation--with the only mitigating factor being that God had commanded
alms- giving to the poor in the Torah. And so it is extremely safe to say that
both widows in this week's readings are destitute--yet, both end up being used
mightily by God; the widow of Zarephath to preserve the life of the prophet
Elijah, and the widow in the Temple to be seen and singled out by Jesus.
The
stewardship series offers the Gospel reading as the focus of the Sunday sermon,
primarily because the thing that the widow gives is actual money. Yet, given
that (a) a lot of giving is
accomplished by the widow of Zarephath and (b) there's more to actually sink
our teeth into, I've made the decision to preach from the Old Testament
reading.
Regardless,
there's a unifying theme that we can't ignore. BOTH of these women by virtue of
their actions end up displaying an immense TRUST in God. Isn't that
interesting? It always seems like those of us who have the most trust the
least... which is to say, we trust the least in God. We trust ourselves; we trust our income; our savings; our
ability to get a job in the marketplace; our common sense; etc. One of the
things we take from these passages, however, is that fearless giving can only
happen when we fearlessly TRUST in God.
More this Sunday!
Cheers,
T.M.
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