First Presbyterian Church
Hope In Hospitality
Sermon for June 10, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

In the 17 th chapter of First Kings, the prophet Elijah has told evil King Ahab that God, Yahweh, controls the rain in the land, and was sending a drought. Elijah followed the instructions of Yahweh his God and is in hiding from King Ahab. Elijah lived east of the Jordan, where he drank from the creek and ravens fed him. The creek dried up, and God gave Elijah more instructions. This time, Elijah is supposed to go to gentile territory, where they worship Ba'al, rather than Yahweh. You may follow along on page 324. We'll be reading from my translation. Listen for the word of God as it is found in 1 Kings 17:8-24.

8 Then the word of Yahweh came to him, 9 “Arise, Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon , and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to nourish you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath and came to the town gate and he saw a widow there gathering wood chips and he called to her saying, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”

11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her saying, "Bring me a bit of bread in your hand."

12 And she said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a 1 jar, and a little oil in a 2 jug; Look, I am gathering a couple of wood chips. I will go and make it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a tiny biscuit of it and bring it out to me, and afterwards make something for you and your son. 14 For thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: The jar of meal is never used up and the jug of oil is never empty until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the face of the ground."

15 She went and did as Elijah said, and she ate it, she and her household for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not used up, and the jug of oil was not empty, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by Elijah.

17 After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; his sickness was so great that no breath remained in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, O man of God? You have come to me to recall my guilt, and to cause the my son's death!"

19 And he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up to the room on the roof where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He called to Yahweh, “Yahweh, my God, have you brought more evil upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself over the child three times, and called to Yahweh, “Yahweh my God, please let this child's life-breath come into him.”

22 And Yahweh listened to Elijah's voice; and the child's life-breath came into him again, and he lived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him from the room on the roof to the house, and gave him to his mother and Elijah said, "See, your son lives."

24 And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth."

This ends our reading from 1 Kings. So we see here that the drought, even in Sidon , is from Yahweh; it is Yahweh who controls the weather, not Ba'al. It is Yahweh who cares for widows, not Ba'al. It is Yahweh who is the source of truth.

Our unison psalm reading is on page 581. Psalm 146 is a Hallelujah psalm, because it begins with the Hebrew word Hallelujah. Hallelujah means Praise Yah, or praise Yahweh, or praise the Lord.

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Psalm 146.

1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul 3!

2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.

4 When their breath 4 departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.

5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; 8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.

9 The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!

This ends our reading of the Psalm.

May God help us understand these words, and may they help us appreciate and care for God's creation. Amen.

Our gospel lesson comes from the beginning of chapter 7 of Luke. You may follow along on page 65. In chapter 6, Jesus spoke to the disciples about loving your enemies and bearing good fruit. Then Jesus healed a Roman centurion's slave. Our gospel reading is about something greater than a healing. It carries with it echoes from our story in 1 Kings. Listen for the word of God as it is found in 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.

This ends our gospel reading.

The psalmist sings praises to God's power, to the one who made heaven, earth and sea, the one who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry; sets the prisoners free; who opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up those who are bowed down; who upholds the orphan and the widow and watches over strangers.

If God truly does do all these things, and rules over all the earth, it's easy to figure that everything that happens must be what God wants.

236 years ago Benjamin Franklin wrote about his faith. In his youth, he thought of God as a God who just lets things happen; everything which happened was the will of God, so Ben and his friends made no attempt to treat people fairly. For if everything that happens is the will of God, then why bother being kind or fair? Whatever you get, by whatever means you get it is the will of God. After losing money to his friends in business, Ben changed his mind.

He wrote:

“I though vice and virtue were empty distinctions.” [I]“grew convinced that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between…[people] were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life, and I resolved to practice them ever while I lived.” He had thought “certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden…[us] or good because it was commanded …[us but that they] might be forbidden because they were bad for us or commanded because they were beneficial to us… And this persuasion, with the kind hand of Providence , or some guardian angel, or accidental favorable circumstances and situation or all together, preserved me through this dangerous time of youth…. 5

So Ben was preserved from his errors and realized that fairness was a virtue.

But fairness isn't everything.

In my husband's family, when they had unexpected guests for a meal, their mom would whisper “FHB” to the kids. That meant “family hold back.” Don't take much food, so there would be enough for the guest. Sometimes the importance of hospitality overshadows fairness.

I used to study with a Lutheran pastor named John. He had been a traveling missionary in Africa. He told me once that he came into a village and stayed with a family. They wanted to be hospitable, so they butchered their chicken. John knew it would be the only meat they would see for months. He knew that his meager annual stipend was more income than this family would ever see. He also knew that he, as the guest, had to receive their hospitality and not refuse it. So he ate it and said thank you. And then later he gave some money to their church, so that the church could give them money anonymously. John wanted to participate in Christ's coming rule, where everyone would have enough to eat, foreigners and natives alike.

There are glimpses of that heavenly hospitality, even in unlikely places.

In August and November 1999, earthquakes hit Turkey and killed thousands and left tens of thousands homeless. Leslie Nettleton, a church worker, wrote about her visit to Turkey in 2000, with the project coordinator for TACT, (Turkish Action by Churches Together).

She wrote:

“As soon as we got out of the car, we were immediately surrounded by women. They welcomed us and asked us to sit and chat with them. Chairs were quickly procured and soon there was a large group, sitting in a circle and talking. Even though it was Ramadan and they were abstaining from food and drink, they offered us tea and biscuits. We were treated as honored guests. They talked about the earthquakes and the people they had lost. They expressed gratitude towards the people who had helped them, and they talked of normal things. They were sincerely glad to have us there, and proud to show us their tent city.

After tea, they showed us the day care, the kitchen, and the cafeteria. While much had been lost and much is still needed, what they have is well cared for and the object of obvious pride.

…. I later learned that for the first half-hour none of those women knew who we were. They were just being friendly. They had no idea that we were with the organization that had helped supply their tents. When they found out who we were, they were, if possible, even more friendly. One woman kept repeating, ‘As long as I'm alive, I will pray for and I will never forget, all those people who helped us.'

Many of those people have lost everything—family, friends and possessions. But they have not been beaten. They still live, eat, sleep, laugh, and lend their hospitality to visiting strangers. The earthquakes didn't beat them. 6

Hospitality is an important part of Middle East culture and of village culture. So why, in our story in First Kings, was the widow so inhospitable to Elijah in the beginning? I think it was because she thought she was going to die. Why go through the niceties of society if nothing mattered anymore? Why bother to wash your face, change your clothes, do the dishes, sweep the floor, go to work, if you are going to die?

Elijah gave her a reason to begin doing those ordinary things. Perhaps she was so weak with hunger she didn't have the energy to protest his commands. It was easier to do what he wanted than not to. And what this foreign prophet told her to do was extraordinary. She was from Sidon , and worshipped Ba'al. But even so, Elijah made sure she had enough to eat and her son was well.

In our story about the widow in John, we see another miracle.

Another way to translate Luke 7:16 “God has looked favorably on his people” is to say “God has visited his people.” 7 Jesus raised the man who had been dead. The widow was no longer bereft. God acts with power and compassion to save people. The people are not alone, bereft of God -- God is at work.

The one who raised the dead is himself raised.

And the one who has this power over death is the one who invites us to the communion table, where we might find nourishment for our body and soul. Showing hospitality engenders hope in the host and gratitude in the guest. Hospitality breaks the power of hopelessness and turns it into hope and gratitude. So today, we share this table in hope and in gratitude to our Savior Jesus Christ.

1 Maybe “the”

2 Maybe “the”

3 life-breath; pronounced in Hebrew ‘nephesh,' it refers to the throat area, encompassing the carotid artery and the throat: the place where breath moves and where food goes. “Nephesh” is life: blood, food, and air. It can also be translated as appetite.

4 ‘ruah' which can mean breath, wind, or spirit

5Franklin , Benjamin, Autobiography, London : J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1908, 48, p. 52.

6 Nettleton, Leslie, “The Earthquake Didn't Beat Them,” Good News, Global Ministries of United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 2000, p. 5.

7 This was pointed out by Cousar et al in Texts for Preaching, Year C, p. 380.