THE story of a widow in the Book of Kings in this Sunday’s Scriptures touches the heart. Here was a widow who was preparing a last meal for herself and her son and yet still was willing to respond to Elijah’s request to give him “cupful of water” and a “crust of bread”.
Now, we would admire this widow further in her generosity and trust in God once we know the context of her life and second part of her story.
The widow and her son were living in a time of drought when every drop of water was precious, especially for them who have no one else to rely on but themselves. The handful of flour and small amount of oil was not even enough for the two of them to sustain them for a few days. How could they even share this little provision with another person? They would die of hunger.
Instead of guarding the little they had the widow trusted in the assuring words of the prophet, Elijah, “The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”
The prophet’s words became true: “She had enough to eat for a long time—he and she and her household.”
The second part of the story, which we don’t hear this Sunday, continues in the Book of Kings. The widow’s son got sick and died. The woman then asked Elijah why he allowed this to happen and then blamed Elijah for the child’s death. Elijah did not understand why God had done this, and asked God why he would punish Elijah’s host.
Elijah then asked the woman to give him her dead son. He cried out to God, saying, “Lord, my God, let the life breathe return to the body of this child.” Elijah then proceeded three times to breathe the breath of life back into the child, and the child revived. The woman said to Elijah, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the Lord that you speak.”
Fast forward to the time of Jesus when he was in the temple, observing how the crowd put money in the treasury. Many rich people put in large amount. A poor widow, however, came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Upon seeing this, Jesus called his disciples and said, “Amen I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
Like the two widows in these scripture stories, many times we face the challenge of trusting our Lord completely in times of poverty and loss. It’s so easy for us during these tines to despair, to get angry, and to guard the rest of the things we have. We become blind to the providential acts of God.
The truth is that God never allows the wells of our lives to run dry. We may not have any surplus of wealth or goods, but we have our basic needs. We may have lost someone we love, but we have others who care about us. We may not have reached our goals, but we’re near them. We may not be a perfect church, but we’re trying our best. We may see evil elements in this society, but the goodness, kindness and love of many people supersede these dark forces.
Our constant challenge is to trust in the power of God, constantly spoken by those who preach his Word and minister to us with love and hope!
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Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas attended St. John Seminary in Camarillo, California and earned his Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. For twenty years, he has been in the parish ministry of large multi-cultural communities. Since 2002, he has been the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Angeles. Please email Fr. Rodel at [email protected].
