We need God’s only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to gives us the true resurrection that can make our belief more than just dinner and a show.
By bringing a famine into the land, God was making it clear that Baal was no god to be worshipped. Since Baal is believed to be responsible for the rain which, in turn, makes the crops grow, Yahweh was undercutting this supposed deity of fertility. No rain for three years is a divine dig against Baal by the one true God. During this famine, to whom does God provide bounty and life? He graciously gives to an outsider woman and her son. This reveals how God brings His provision and grace where He wants. This radical act proves that other supposed gods are incapable of doing what he alone can do.
God’s reign and rule come to these outsiders and developing that in a sermon can be a superb opportunity to unpack the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer and its meaning. God’s Kingdom comes without our asking. We all hope and pray we might be in the neighborhood when God is doing His gracious work. This Kingdom of God is hard to see and easily misunderstood. It is “hidden” to those in our text, and it often remains hidden to us. God’s Kingdom is clearest when it is revealed in His Word and Sacraments. This is why verse 14 of our reading is so critical. It connects the Word of God to the sign which points to His gracious reign and rule. The future invades the present in this woman’s life by the power of the Word of God to restore all things and give life. The Word of God promises grace to us as well. We have a foretaste of this every time we come to the Sacrament with faith in the words of Jesus who promises to give us this grace when He says: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
We have a foretaste of this every time we come to the Sacrament with faith in the words of Jesus who promises to give us this grace when He says: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”The real struggle with preaching this text comes from the tendency of preachers to create “bread and circus” Christians. We came for a show and some bread and that is all, “Thank you very much.” However, if the woman believes only on account of the bread, she has faith in the wrong thing. For sure, you as a preacher can make a lot of bread out of the provision that “will not come to an end” (verse 14) or the life that does not “end/lack” (verse 16). However, to have the full, explicit Gospel you will need to grab the account of the widow and Elijah just past our assigned pericope.
Chapter 17, verses 17-24, demonstrates the weakness of a gospel proclamation based only off of bread alone (Matthew 4:4). As the woman is enjoying an endless supply of wonder bread, her son becomes ill and dies (verse 17). She then feels the judgment of God for this loss crying out in verse 18: “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!” It is a fair complaint from a terrible situation. All she can see is the judgement of God in the death of her son. Elijah then takes the son and hides him away and cries out to God. Three times the prophet stretches out over the boy as if to cover his living body over and against this dead son, begging God in the midst of death for life (verse 21). God hears this prophet’s prayer and answers with resurrection power (verse 22). Elijah comes out of that morgue and reveals to the boy’s mother what was hidden from her. He went away with her dead son and now he comes back with her resurrected son.
As a result, listen to what the woman says to Elijah in verse 24: “Now I know you are a man of God, and that the Word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” Now she knows the Word is true and God is true. Now she believes, not on account of the bread alone, but because of the resurrection from the dead! That is true faith, and it comes not on account of Elijah or this widows’ raised son, but as a product of something only God can do.
We ourselves need someone greater than Elijah and greater than the widow’s son when the hour of our death draws near. We need God’s only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to gives us the true resurrection that can make our belief more than just dinner and a show. We believe on account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead! His death and resurrection are what prove the Word of God to be true for us. We can believe the word of the prophets because it is made more certain for us in Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:19)!
Possibly, a wonderful illustration for this sermon which points to Jesus could be from the Gospel of John (4:1-45). In that text, Jesus meets with the woman at the well. In this scene, He shows the radical nature of grace to an outsider and leaves her with more than what can just sustain her physical life (water). He leaves her with the truth which gives everlasting life (a never-ending source of water). Without delay she abandons her water jar and leaves that place having had an encounter with God which leaves her more alive than ever.
Elijah crossed the boundary into enemy territory to give life to this poor woman and Jesus is our greater boundary crossing savior who crosses over into the sinful territory of our lives to give us new and eternal life. He comes when and where He wills, and He is the Word of God who brings life. It is life that is not just from a well but life from death on a cross and risen again to new eternal life forever. We, like these women, believe on account of the resurrection of the dead.
Since the problems in the sermon need solutions (outsider verses insider; death verses life) I would suggest that we use the Problem Solution Structure:
“This structure examines a topic through creating or identifying a need and then providing a resolution to that need. The preacher engagingly presents a need or a conflict for the hearers which is related to the topic of the sermon and then offers a resolution of that need or conflict which is realistic and effective for the hearers. Often, this method uses an inductive presentation to explore the problem and a deductive presentation to experience the resolution. The common mistake of preachers is to be long on the problem and short on the solution.”
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on 1 Kings 17:8-16.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching 1 Kings 17:8-16.
Text Week-A treasury of resources from various traditions to help you preach 1 Kings 17:8-16.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
Lectionary Podcast- Prof. Walter A. Maier III of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN walks us through 1 Kings 17:8-16.
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