“I can’t believe this happened to them!”1 Sixth-grader Elizabeth Kowalsky, a member of St. Andrew’s Church in Colchester, Connecticut, had just learned of the earthquake that struck Haiti this past January. She and her friends already knew a lot about Haiti. The church had had a relationship with Haiti for many years, and its high school youth group had hosted annual “rock-a-thons” to benefit the Haitian Health Foundation. Last fall, without being asked or prompted by adults, last fall the middle-schoolers decided they wanted to do something too. “It felt like the right thing to do,” Elizabeth said. The kids decided to collect shoes and supplies for Haiti and created a project called “Flip-Flops for Education.” Word got around, and soon students in other schools were collecting shoes and money. By the end of the project, on October 24th of last year, the St. Andrews children had collected 2,000 items and $1900.
Had the St. Andrews middle-schoolers heard today’s lessons? In starting their “Flip-Flops for Education” project, could they have been wanting to follow in the footsteps of Elijah and Jesus? Could they have been led by the Holy Spirit to do God’s work? Did they see a need and act on what they saw? The story about them in a recent USA Weekend article doesn’t tell us, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were inspired by Scripture to reach out to others without being asked. For both our Old Testament and our Gospel lessons for today give us powerful examples of reflections of God’s compassion for “the least of these.” Both of our stories highlight the plight of widows. In ancient Israel, both in Elijah’s time and 900 years later in Jesus’ time, most widows were in very desperate straits. There was no life insurance back then, and widows did not inherit their husbands’ property. Unless they had grown sons, they were dependent on the charity of their husbands’ families or other relatives. No wonder the Scriptures of both Jews and Christians condemn those who neglect or abuse widows and praise God for defending widows and their children.
In our story from 1 Kings, Elijah first encountered the gentile widow from Zarephath as she and her son were on the point of death from starvation. “Don’t be afraid,” he told her, speaking God’s words of assurance. Then he announced that God would continue to feed them all, the widow, her son, and Elijah himself. Later, when the son, lay mortally ill, Elijah again reached out to her. He prayed – fervently – and begged the Lord to restore her son. When her son was restored, the widow – remember she was not an Israelite – understood that in the healing of her son, God had come to her through Elijah’s pleading. She also understood that Elijah’s power to heal was a sign of his authority as a spokesperson for God. “Now I know that you are a man of God,” she said, “and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
The story of Elijah’s healing of the son of the widow of Zarephath would surely have been in the minds of the hearers of Luke’s Gospel. And they probably would have seen the obvious parallels. The situation was similar in Nain: a widow facing destitution because of the death of her only son. As the procession of mourners came toward him, Jesus saw her. He really looked at her. He didn’t turn away. He didn’t cross to the other side of the road to avoid her and the procession. He looked at her and knew how desperate her situation was. And his response was similar to Elijah’s. His heart went out to her. “Don’t cry,” he said. However, here is where this story is a little different from Elijah’s story. Luke has told us from the beginning that Jesus is more than simply a prophet. His identity as God come among us was foretold to his mother even before he was conceived. His birth was attended by angels. At his baptism, he visibly and publicly received the Holy Spirit. When he preached his first sermon, he indirectly identified himself as the Messiah. Just before this episode in Nain, when a centurion – another gentile – asked him to heal his slave, Jesus did so. Now, without the widow’s even asking, Jesus reached out with compassion to her. He disregarded the possibility of ritual pollution by touching the bier. He didn’t need to pray to God to heal her son. He simply commanded the boy to “rise,” demonstrating that he was himself the Lord of life. Then Jesus, like Elijah, gave the boy back to his joyful mother, thus also restoring her hope for the future. And as in the story of the widow of Zarephath, the people here, the disciples and the crowd, got it. They acknowledged that Jesus was a great prophet, like Elijah. But what is more important, they understood that Jesus was more than a prophet, that indeed “God has looked favorably upon his people.”
What do we learn from these two stories? First of all we learn that God cares deeply for “the least of these.” The mission of Jesus – and ours – is about addressing real human need, and it is about compassion, compassion for all, especially the poor. As we read through Luke’s Gospel, Luke will remind us again and again of God’s concern for the “least, the lost, and the left behind.” These stories also show us that God sees, truly sees, human need, that God answers prayer, and, what is most important, that God graciously takes the initiative to heal us, irrespective of who we are or what we have done. Ultimately, by God’s grace and as a true gift, God offers us new life in Jesus.
We’ve entered the long season of Pentecost, the green season, the season of growing in discipleship, of being more and more transformed into Christ’s likeness. We will be hearing about Elijah and his successor Elisha for the next several weeks. We will be reading Luke’s Gospel through the end of November. We will have many other opportunities to ponder what God expects of us as disciples of Jesus. What can we, who seek to continue growing in Christ, apply from today’s lessons to our life here at St. Peter’s? For me, these lessons suggest three verbs: look, pray, and act. Let’s start with look. As Jesus’ disciples, we are first called to truly look at human need. As Jesus’ disciples, we cannot look away, cross the road, ignore, refuse to see. Instead, we are called to look need squarely in the face. I see a little of the need in this community in the faces of those who ask for help from my discretionary fund. As most of you probably know, I’ve fed people at the Golden Corral, put people up at motels, bought a gas cylinder, a bus ticket, and groceries, and paid water and electric bills. Those of you who have gotten to know the people who come to Loaves and Fishes, or those who take diapers from us as they gather food, also see something of local needs. I wonder how we can get closer to the other needs in this community, and not only the need for material help, but also the need for real human connection and for spiritual sustenance. What are we still failing to see? Where does Jesus want us to look next?
Perhaps we also need to pray. Of course, we always need to pray. All prayer is important, our own personal prayer, and our prayer as a community. Could St. Peter’s become known as a place of prayer, a place that actively prays for the needs of individuals? Perhaps in addition to my writing a check, I need to pray for those who seek help from us. Perhaps we need to pray for those who come to Loaves and Fishes. Perhaps we need to pray with them. Perhaps we can pray for a deeper vision of how we can respond even more effectively to the needs around us. And perhaps too we can continue to go deeper in our own contemplative prayer lives, so that as we grow in our love of God, we can better radiate that love out to others.
And finally, we need to act – or support those who act with both our goods and our prayers. In Loaves and Fishes and in our diaper ministry, we are already faithfully doing God’s work. Several of us have trained as Benefit Bank counselors and our site is officially open. More of you can train! Last week two of us met with Ariel Miller, the director of the Episcopal Community Services Foundation, to launch a new project of working with Rio Grande students in submitting on line the required federal forms for financial aid. We are also considering extending the program to local high schools. Can we involve some of you in that effort? And where else are we called to model God’s compassion? Where else can we be bearers of God’s grace?
We pray to you today, O God, that you will continue your transformation of us and of this parish. As we cooperate with you in our ongoing conversion, help us to be attentive to the wonders and miracles that you work in our lives and through us in the lives of those around us.
1 This story appeared in the April 18, 2010 issue of USA Weekend.
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