I am Elijah Too!
1 Kings 17:10-17; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44
Late Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor said that each time one meets an Irish who needs to defend his Irish identity, such an Irish person must be living outside of Ireland. Analogously, to have a prophet whose name is Elijah: EL (God) – i (my) – Jah (Yahweh) – “my God is Yahweh,” there must be people or situations that contest and challenge the kind of God or the name of the God he worships.
King Ahab turns into a worshipper of Ba’al after his marriage to Jezebel (1 Kings 17:31-34). Elijah – “my God is Yahweh”/”my God is alive” – begins his prophetic ministry as one who restores the dignity and respect due to Yahweh. In the aftermath of his prediction of a drought, Yahweh asks Elijah to leave, first, for the Wadi, then, to Zarephath (1 Kings 17:1-9).
A drastic famine follows Elijah’s prediction of a drought to prove that Yahweh provides food for Israel, not Ba’al. This event starts an open contest between Yahweh and Ba’al. But for the worshipper of Yahweh, the prophet Elijah, God provides food for him through a widow in Zarephath. Although the drought challenges the Israelites to understand that there is but Yahweh as the God who provides food, yet only the widow of Zarephath understands that fact – she believes the word of Elijah, “For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth” (1 Kings 17:14). The absence of faith in Yahweh in the king of Israel, Ahab, God finds in his servant, Elijah; the lack of faith in Yahweh among Israelites, God finds in an outsider, a widow of Zarephath.
When everything was okay for Israel, she abandons her faith in Yahweh. When life turns rough for a widow – the very fact of being a widow means she had nothing – coupled with a responsibility of looking after a child with no apparent means of livelihood, she still believes that the God of Elijah, a total stranger to her, could provide for her material needs! Of course, Yahweh does not fail her!
Another contest of faith pits a widow against the Scribes and the Rich in our gospel reading today (Mark 12:38-44). Against the fixation of the Scribes on earthly glories and the Rich with the display of wealth in the Temple/Church, a poor widow does not only give up all she had, she also gives up her whole life to God. The Scribes and Rich prove willing preys to the temptations of earthly goodies and money, but a widow triumphs gallantly against such temptations!
Each one of us goes through some temptations that threaten our faith in God – wealth, illness, addictions, poverty, politics, power, etc. How pathetic to abandon God when he is so near to us! One sure way of keeping faith alive, in spite of temptations, is what our second reading speaks to – God is ever alive and not death. With faith, he comes to live mightily in our times of need as we see with the two widows of our readings!
According to our second reading, “and just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27), this does not mean that after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he (Christ) is no longer interested in human affairs: he is very much interested in our affairs! In fact, Jesus is not on vacation in heaven – he is working around the clock interceding with God for our faithfulness and salvation. Hear what the second reading says: “For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24). Consequently, Jesus Christ is alive and actively interceding for us before the throne of God. We do not worship a dead God but a living God! In fact, “Yahweh” means “he is” or “he exists.” Show him your faith, and he will display to you that he is always alive, as he did for Elijah and the widow of Zarephath!
The fact that faith and trust in God is possible in a hopeless situation, the widow of Zarephath proves it in our first reading today; that when God is challenged he rises to the occasion for a faithful servant of his – the prophet Elijah proves it in our first reading; that for those who have faith in God, he proves himself as being alive to them, we can confirm in the first reading of today; that by faith, we can give God a spiritual sacrifice, even when we are materially poor, the widow’s mite proves it in our gospel reading: she gave her whole life to God! Yes, “I am Elijah too” or “My God is Alive”, as the theme of our homily challenges us to believe that God is alive even today!
We are sometimes discouraged that Christians behave poorly; hence, it is not worth the while. However, we need to remember that God does have good people, like the widow of Zarephath, outside the confines of where we are looking! Like Elijah, the only prophet of God left in Israel in his day, if you can become the Elijah of today, it is worth it! By the way, whether as an outsider like the Widow of Zarephath or an insider like Elijah, it is imperative to believe in God and act accordingly!
Assignment for the Week:
Could you seek out a needy person/widow in your neighborhood/family and show them that God exists through your act of charity to them?
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