Sunday November 10th, 2024 Worship

Fear is a powerful motivator. Fear can get us to do something that we never thought that we could, and it can cause us to act in ways to protect what we think is going to be taken from us. Fear can bring our communities together, but it can also tear our communities apart. Fear is what tells us that we don’t have enough, that we never will, and that because of this we will never be enough. Fear has a rightful place in our lives. It can keep us from hurting ourselves and others, it is our bodies’ way of protecting us from the things that might wish to harm us. And it can be so draining when we only know how to live in this state of fear. Fear isolates what we are focusing on, amplifying it so that we tune out the rest of the world around us in the process.
I would argue that one of the biggest feeders to our fear today is this sense of scarcity that is pushed upon us day after day. It’s this scarcity model that is at the heart of our economic system, why we will pay so much more for something if there are only a few for sale. This scarcity mindset is what tells us that there isn’t enough food or other necessities, or that it might run out, so we need to stock up. Think about how this looks whenever there are weather reports of a storm or impending natural disaster. It’s what falsely tells us that human rights are like pie, that if others gain more, we will have less. This scarcity model that is pushed onto us with and without our knowledge is what tells us that we must be better than the people around us, that creates a hierarchy we just can’t seem to notice or escape even when we do notice it. It is the air that we breathe, and it’s hard to see that around us unless we are intentional about critically looking at it. It has been designed to function in that way, so that we keep buying and we keep dividing.
This isn’t to say that there are times when resources are actually scarce, like in our story of Elijah and the widow today. This woman is gathering sticks to prepare her final meal. While it seems dramatic that she tells Elijah that she and her son are going to eat this meal and then die (1 Kings 17: 12), it was her reality as a widow at this time. See, the chapter before tells us that God got angry with King Ahab and forced a drought to cover the land of Israel (1 Kings 16), except this drought didn’t just impact the Israelites. It also would have affected the neighboring lands, including the land of Sidon where this story takes place today, and as a widow dependent on the generosity of her neighbors, this woman wasn’t receiving what she needed in order to support herself and her son. She is preparing to go cook the very last morsels of food that she has and then she knows that she is sending them to their deaths because she and her son will starve. And, what we know about humans is that we have a tendency to hoard resources in the midst of natural disasters, so what already would have felt impossible before seems downright hopeless to this widow.
In today’s story, we continue our streak of women actually getting to express their anger because I think she was angry with both Elijah and Elijah’s God. She would have been so scared, and I think it took a lot for her to accept the fate that lay before her and her son. She has finally come to terms with this last meal she is preparing and then Elijah has the audacity to come ask her for food. Of all the people that he could have gone to, he chose her, and if we could hear her thoughts, I’m sure it was something like “you’ve got to be kidding me!” I’m also willing to bet that she was wondering why it was her responsibility to take care of this man when no one had been taking care of her. It would have been the final straw for a woman who is exhausted and grieving. It feels like she just wants to go die in peace. To grieve and cry about the fact that she couldn’t provide for her son, and die likely feeling as if she failed, even though it was the community that failed her.
But there is also more happening in this story too because the land of Sidon is where King Ahab went and found his wife (Chapter 16). And, we have to remember that at the time there was so much hatred and contempt for the neighboring tribes. Especially in today’s case when the land of Sidon is known for worshiping the god Baal, and the Israelites want to blame Ahab’s wife Jezebel for introducing him to Baal and causing him to turn from God. This wasn’t a friendly, let me borrow a cup of sugar from my neighbor, kind of situation. But God still sends Elijah to this widow in Sidon, despite the fact that there would have been many widows among the Israelites too. But, in this story, God is starting to break down these false divisions among the people, allowing the widow to be seen as she is, a woman trying to feed herself and her son who is losing hope. This story is meant to humanize the woman from Sidon for the Israelites who have only ever been afraid of them, and who are even more angry with them now that King Ahab has done everything that he did to cause God to be angry and send a drought. These were the people that were blamed for the Israelites problems, but here we see the way that at least one of them is struggling too.
And, then we follow this up with Jesus watching the people put money into the Treasury. When I was in high school, my dad was obsessed with Dave Ramsay and his teachings on money, so much so that we would usually have to listen to his radio show whenever we were in the car. Even in high school, I had a lot of pushbacks on the way that Dave was teaching about finances, especially in churches, because it often focused on this concept of building your wealth and then you can be generous. But, isn’t that exactly what Jesus is critiquing here?
Also, if it is only the wealthy who are allowed to be generous, then that gives us such a narrow vision of what generosity can be. I will say again and again, it doesn’t matter what is given or in what amount. Like the widow in Jesus’ story, I was once in church when someone came in and put the change that was in their pocket in the offering plate. I don’t think it was even a dollar, but it was done with so much more intentionality and thoughtfulness than most people exhibit in their giving. Generosity shouldn’t be limited to money because it causes us to overlook so many ways in which people around us are generous, with their time and their passions. I don’t know about you, but I want to live in a world where those things matter too and we pay attention to them. Where we pay attention to what our communities need to survive and thrive, not just how we pat ourselves on the back and make ourselves feel better by sending money from a distance.
These stories today really focus on this idea of scarcity and abundance, so it is especially important to recognize all the manufactured scarcity that surrounds us, just as it is really easy to read ourselves as the Israelites instead of their oppressors. How we tell the story matters! I remember being a kid and the classic phrase was always, “there’s nothing here to eat,” even after my mom had just gone grocery shopping if there wasn’t something my sister and I really wanted. But, the reality is that we didn’t know what we had, and how so many of even my classmates and definitely kids and families today are living without much food, just trying to make it to their next meal. The story of this woman and Elijah is not just the story of the Israelites from 2000 years ago, it is the story of today too. We get to decide how we respond to that.
I also want us to begin flipping the story on what it means to live an abundant life because society would tell us it’s once we have a certain amount of money, once we buy that bigger house, once we buy the fancier car, then we have made it. Until the next day when the next new thing comes out and we need to have that too. We live in a world that’s entire marketing plan is to get us to buy more things and the next new shiny thing. Yet, when we become so focused on leveling up our status, it becomes so much easier to not see the people actually living in scarcity that surround us and also the scarcity that exists in all of us that is deeper than just money when we only focusing on seeking the world’s idea of abundance.
We are told that God desires us to have life and to have it abundantly. The search for abundance isn’t inherently a bad thing. But, if we continue in this quest for abundance, may we choose a different path forward than what the world tells us we should seek. May we seek an abundance of hope. An abundance of love. An abundance of joy. And, an abundance of community. And, may we continue to seek to live in a world where all may be fed. Where all may be safe. Where all may be loved. A world where we can express anger and grief when this isn’t happening, and then join together to keep working for it.