1 Kings 17:17-24
We are told in the First Book of Kings – in the section of that book that immediately precedes the verses that were read as today’s Old Testament lesson – that during a time of severe drought, the Lord told the prophet Elijah:
“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
So, Elijah went to the house to which the Lord sent him, which was inhabited not only by the widow but also by her son. But this widow didn’t have enough food for herself and her son, let alone for another mouth that needed to be fed.
They were, in fact, preparing themselves to die of starvation. When Elijah asked her for a piece of bread, she replied:
“As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
Elijah assured her, however, that God would provide for all of them. He told her:
“Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’”
And, miraculously, things turned out as Elijah had said. We are told that
“She went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he, and her household, ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.”
One would think that this would have made a very deep impression on the widow, so that she would be very grateful for Elijah’s presence as a guest in her house, and would understand that God was working good things for her and her son through him. But then the events that are described in today’s lesson took place, and the widow’s attitude changed.
“Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, ‘What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?’”
This reminds me a little bit of a time many years ago, when I called a parishioner and said that I would like to stop by for a visit. Her response, which I could tell was full of fear and trepidation, was:
“Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?”
She was originally from Germany, where the state church system in some ways turned the clergy into bureaucrats and enforcers, rather than true shepherds who watch over souls and who establish and maintain caring relationships with their sheep.
A pastor simply wanting to stay in touch with his members, and to spend some relaxed time with them, is not the first thought that comes to mind in such a context. What does come to mind, at the minister’s suggestion for a visit, is, “Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?”
In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul said: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” And when Paul was addressing the elders, or pastors, from the church at Ephesus, in the Book of Acts, he said:
“You know…in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials…; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul is here speaking to public ministers of the church, even as he was a public minister of the church. They should imitate him and follow his example in how they provide pastoral care to the members of their flock.
As Paul taught publicly, so too should they teach publicly, in the worship gatherings of the congregation. St. Paul solemnly charged Timothy, in his First Epistle to him, to
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
In his Second Epistle to Timothy, Paul severely criticized false teachers, who have no proper call from God, for how they build up a following.
He describes them as “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” And he observes that “of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women.”
This does not mean that genuine pastors, whom God has called to preach and teach His Word among His saints, should not visit the members of their congregation in their homes, in addition to their public teaching. Remember that Paul, in the example he sets for pastors, not only taught publicly, but also taught from house to house.
But a genuine pastor does not creep into the households of his members. He is not trying to hide the fact that he cares about them, and is eager to spend time with them: encouraging them, teaching them, comforting them, and simply getting better acquainted with their life circumstances – so that he can better serve them with God’s Word.
After his resurrection, Jesus forgave Peter for denying him three times. He also renewed St. Peter in his apostolic office when he gave him this threefold commission: “Feed My lambs.” “Tend My sheep.” “Feed My sheep.”
There is an intimacy pictured here – the kind of affection that a literal shepherd has for the sheep and lambs of his flock – that certainly does move beyond the public preaching of a clergyman. And as Jesus teaches elsewhere, a shepherd not only feeds his flock, but also guards it against the attacks of a wolf.
You should want your pastor to visit you from time to time, and should welcome him to do so. Sometimes there are special needs that call for special attention.
If you are sick or injured, planning to have surgery or recovering from surgery, grieving over a loss, or distressed over a disappointment in life, your pastor wants to visit. Please invite him.
If you have a theological question or are struggling with some aspect of your faith and how it applies to the issues you are dealing with in life, your pastor is the primary person you should go to for help, clarity, and guidance. If you need to speak with him in confidence about a secret failing, a secret doubt, or a secret shame, that confidence will be kept. Please call him and set up a time when you can talk.
Sometimes your pastor may want to have a visit for no particular reason, except maybe for a cup of coffee, and an opportunity to see how you are doing. Visits like that are also okay – and maybe even better than simply okay – because they help build a relationship of trust. Go ahead and invite him to come over, or to meet you at the café for that cup of coffee.
And yes, sometimes the pastor will want to speak with you because there is a problem that needs to be addressed. A wolf may be attacking you – perhaps from inside of you. If I call, and you ask with fear and trepidation, “Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?” the answer might be yes.
But be assured that in such a case, if it ever happens, everything that would be discussed would be discussed in the light of God’s Word in Scripture, and not on the basis of anyone’s opinion. Holy Scripture is the primary tool that God uses in exercising his authority in the lives of all of us. St. Paul accordingly writes in his Second Epistle to Timothy that
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
When Elijah was at the house of the widow, God used him and his presence physically to feed the widow and her son, with the miraculous multiplying of the supply of flour and oil. Now, if I were to come to your house, I wouldn’t expect God to cause the coffee to appear miraculously.
But there would be a supernatural nourishing of your mind and heart through the thoughts from God’s Word that we would share on that occasion, as we would recall the Lord’s teaching “that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”
We do indeed live – eternally – because of the forgiveness, life, and salvation that God bestows upon us through his Word. This salvation was won for us by his Son, Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again for us.
And this salvation is delivered to us in a divine message of hope and healing that calls for faith, but that also creates the very faith that it calls for.
Jesus says that if you abide in his Word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Abiding in his Word – dwelling in it and letting it dwell in you – takes place not only in church, but also in your home.
Indeed, it takes place anywhere where you might be, whenever you have an opportunity to meditate on God’s gifts and promises, to reflect on God’s instructions and admonitions, and to ponder God’s protection and guidance.
This is why the pastor wants to come to your house from time to time, or to spend time with you in other places when that is what is set up. He wants to speak God’s Word to you, in law and gospel, as the circumstances would require. And he wants to pray with you, in accordance with what God’s Word has said.
While Elijah the prophet was with the widow, something else happened that seems to have been more traumatic and jarring to his hostess even than her previous lack of food and impending starvation. It was the death of her little boy.
But Elijah had something to say to that, too, as God called and enabled him once again to be a conduit of God’s miraculous grace to this family. We are told that
“He stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.’ Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. And Elijah took the child…, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, ‘See, your son lives!’ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.’”
It would seem that the widow was not a believer in the God of Israel before this happened. Remember that she lived in the land of Sidon, which was not Israelite territory.
And remember what she said to Elijah when he first showed up, and asked for a piece of bread: “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread…”
Elijah’s God was not her God – at least not at this point in her life. Yet at the same time, her conscience was telling her that she had a sin problem in her soul that her idols were not able to solve. So when her son died, she asked Elijah, in exasperation and deep honesty:
“What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”
Today, a comparable anguished cry might be: “Will God ever stop punishing me for my sins?” Or, “Is there any way for me to be free of my guilt?”
When Elijah raised the widow’s son, however – through the power of God that was working through him and through his prayer – that was a faith-creating event for this woman. Deeply embedded in this act was an image and a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Christ – on behalf of the humanity for which he had died on the cross – and also an image and a foreshadowing of the future resurrection of all flesh on the last day.
Jesus’ resurrection was his victory over sin and death for all people. And your resurrection on the day of the Lord will be the sealing of that victory to you personally, forever.
Elijah had not come to curse and punish the woman for her sins. He had come to do something that testified to God’s forgiveness of her sins.
A God who has power over bodily death, and who can reverse it, is also a God who has power over the spiritual death, and the offense, of sin; and who can reverse that – and bring spiritual life, and reconciliation, to a soul that had been dead in trespasses and sins, and had been at enmity with God.
And that kind of blessing could also be the result of a visit from the pastor to your home, if your own faith is floundering. Or it could be the result of a visit to the home of a friend who does not know the Lord, which you may help to set up for that friend.
It is unlikely that the Lord would use me to raise someone from bodily death. That’s not what I have been called to do – although it is not completely impossible that something extraordinary like that could conceivably happen.
But what can definitely happen, through the power of God’s Word, is that a resurrection of the soul can take place for someone who is spiritually dead in unbelief, or close to it. In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the spiritual resurrection that penitent believers, through Christ, experience already. He says:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”
The special and personally-focused blessings that come with the Lord’s absolution, and with the Lord’s Supper, might also be part of a visit from the pastor. He is the steward of the mysteries of God – for your benefit – when God would want you to be strengthened in your faith by his mysteries; and to be assured that your sins are forgiven, and have been removed from you as far as the east is from the west.
But in any case, don’t assume that the pastor calling on you is something to be feared and dreaded. If he suggests a visit, don’t assume that you are in trouble.
And if you ever want to talk with him or have him pray with you, feel free to call him. God has given you a pastor for your good, and not as a burden. He is always – I am always – willing to serve and be of help. Amen.