1 Kings 17:17-24
17 After this the son of
the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe
that there was no breath left in him. 18 She then said to Elijah,
"What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my
sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" 19 But he
said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried
him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own
bed. 20 He cried out to the Lord, "O Lord my God, have you brought calamity
even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" 21 Then
he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord,
"O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again." 22 The
Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him
again, and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the
house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is
alive." 24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God,
and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."
Galatians 1:11-24
11 For I want you to know,
brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human
origin; 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. 13 You
have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently
persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I
advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far
more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But
when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his
grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the
Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17 nor
did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I
went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. 18 Then
after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him
fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. 20 In
what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! 21 Then I
went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22 and I was still unknown by
sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23 they
only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now
proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." 24 And
they glorified God because of me.
Luke 7:11-17
11 Soon afterwards he went
to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he
approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He
was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd
from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her,
"Do not weep." 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.
And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" 15 The
dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear
seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has
risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!" 17 This
word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
You have
heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism.
·
In today’s readings, there is a theme
that runs through them all. Even though it is hard to see in the reading from
Paul’s letter to the Galatians, it is there. The theme is a person raised to
new life.
·
In both the reading from the 1st
Book of Kings and from the Gospel of Luke, the son of a widow is raised to
life. Now we all know that death and the loss of a loved one is painful enough.
The complication of the story is this: the two who died are sons of widows.
Luke says that the man is the widow’s only son, and the writer of the 1st
Book of Kings implies it.
·
In ancient times, a widow had to
depend on her son for life and livelihood if her husband had died. Without a
son to support her, there was little or nothing she could do for herself,
except to glean the fields for what that harvesters had left. At best, that
could be sketchy. Without a husband or a son, a widow had no way of living and
no place in the society of the time. She would be utterly lost and at the mercy
of those around her, often unscrupulous people who would take advantage of her
or even harm her.
·
Please don’t think that this is a
thing of the past. In our own nation and culture, there are plenty of people
who are willing to take advantage of a widow. This past week, I learned that in
certain African countries, widows are liable to lose their land and homes when
their husband dies, because members of the husband’s family take the land or
home from her, because it belonged to her husband and therefore to his family
and clan. We could only imagine the suffering that causes.
·
By Elijah raising the boy to life and
Jesus telling the young man to rise, life returns to those two sons. Life also
returns to their families and specifically, their mothers, who are restored to
their places in the community and society. Being raised to life has
implications far beyond a beating heart and a dried tear. The entire life of
those villages are changed and, in fact, healed.
·
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he
is writing to a congregation he has founded and loves. He wants to see them
grow and develop. The problem is he isn’t sure this will happen, because the
people of the Galatian church have begun to wonder if their faith is good
enough, if it is complete enough. Some are concerned that Paul didn’t preach
the whole Gospel.
·
Other Christian preachers had come to
tell the Galatians different things, things Paul would oppose. Paul lays out
his resume in a very direct and almost un-edited manner, most likely in
response to what he’d heard the Galatians were told about him and his
preaching. Further on in the letter, Paul appears to refute accusations of
slanting his preaching to curry favor with one group or another, in order to
please them.
·
While he sets out his history, he
tells his readers that he has a special place in the plan God has : God, who had set me apart before I was born
and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son
to me…
·
Is Paul bragging? Probably not since
he doesn’t spare himself when relating his history and his role in the
persecution of the Church. He is telling the truth as he sees it and leaves
nothing out.
·
What he does say – in effect – is
that he has been raised to a new life when Jesus Christ was revealed to him. He
could no longer persecute the followers of Christ; he had to become one. His
entire life was turned upside-down. He says he went into “Arabia”- the desert
east of Damascus where he may have prayed and sorted things out in silence and
solitude. He also stayed in Damascus for three years, most likely learning the
stories of the Christian faith, and only after that he met the apostles who
were in Jerusalem. He gives the credit and praise to Jesus
himself, saying the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 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.
·
We can say that Paul was raised to a
new life, not for his own purposes but for God’s. His ministry built up the
Christian community in many places in the Middle East and he may have been
among the first missionaries to Europe, through Greece and Thrace (what is now
Bulgaria.)
·
Raised to life – two boys, and a man.
Raised for different purposes, but all raised by the power of God. Two were
raised to heal the broken community of God’s people seen through the state of
their widowed mothers. The third was raised not from death, but from a life of
deadly hate and violence to build up the larger community of the people of God
beyond the usual boundaries.
·
We are the results of the grace of
God through the call and ministry of Paul. We are also the hearers of the good
news of Jesus, telling us that death will not hold him and death will not keep
us from his healing grace.
·
Three stories, all telling us that
death, hate, and distance will not separate us from the love of God, for we too
are called by God’s grace to heal what we can and raise those around us to new
life. Believe it; that is our mission.
…they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among
us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!"
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