"According to the Word of the Lord..." I Kings 17: 8-16

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Old Testament lesson, 1 Kings 17:8-16.

What would you have done if you were in this would a woman's shoes?

Elijah has spoken the word of the Lord against King Ahab, king of Israel. He “did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.” That’s saying something. The Scriptures then add, “Then, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam…he took for his wife Jezebel…” Combined, their sins against God, and leading the people of Israel against God, were so great that the Lord commanded Elijah to prophesy that a drought would come across the land. The rivers dried up. The creeks dried up. The wells dried up. The fields were scorched. Crops died. Famine was widespread. The people of Israel suffered tremendously for their sins and the sins of their king. If Old Mother Hubbard were alive, not only was the cupboard bare, so was the water jug.

There was no FEMA. The Red Cross, UNICEF, World Health Organization - none of these things existed. The National Guard wasn’t going to show up with cases of MREs and bottled water. If you were out of food and water, and didn’t have any way to acquire more – remember, there wasn’t any food - you would die. Remember, also, she was a widow so she was without support. Her son was apparently too young to be the man of the house. Even if there were family members around, how could they help? They were busy trying to survive, too. The situation was desperate, to put it mildly.

So, what would you have done?

That was this woman’s plight. We might describe her as a glass half empty kind of woman, but that would be giving her way to much credit: the jar wasn’t even half full. All she had was a handful of flour and a drizzle of oil left and she planned to make a little snack-sized bread to share with her son. Did you catch the detail about how little there was – she only needed to gather a couple of sticks for enough fire to bake it. That’s it. And then they would have to sit and wait to starve to death. Miserable plan, I know, but what would you have done? I know what I would be doing…I would be pacing the floor, then stop and measure and re-measure the flour and the oil to make sure I had it figured right. I would have lost sleep for days, trying to figure out how I would make this work. I would probably cry, pound my fist, and rub the beard right off of my chin.

And then this stranger shows up and tells her to bake him the bread, first? Who is this guy? A stranger, a traveler, a bum? He’s some kind of itinerant prophet, apparently, invoking the name of God – which is a rarity itself in Israel under King Ahab – and saying the flour and oil won’t run out. Still, he thinks he’s more important, more special than her own flesh-and-blood son? Feed him before giving her son a final meal? Now, what would you do?  Show him the door, right? Tell him to go down the street and ask the next family – maybe they have more to spare. What would you do?

This woman, who is a glass-half-empty kind of woman, thankfully listened to Elijah. We don’t know what she was thinking. She might have been mixing, rolling, patting, and baking that little loaf with a lump in her throat and a knot in her gut fearing what was happening; her eyes may have been wet with tears knowing what awaited her own son; she may not have been rejoicing, “Oh, good! This is a prophet of God!” But she did as she was commanded. She poured, she mixed, she patted, she baked and she fed Elijah. And, wonder of wonders, joy of joys, miracle of miracles, when she looked there was just enough flour and oil for her son and she to eat as well. “The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.”

“According to the Word of the Lord…” When the Lord speaks, that which seems impossible is done. It creates from nothing. It multiplies the meager. It blesses that which is imperfect and makes it beautiful. When the Lord speaks, that which seems impossible is done.

“According to the Word of the Lord…” Don’t ever forget how powerful that Word is. That same Word of God, that same voice of God which spoke light into the darkness, that created everything from nothing, that made man in His image, that same voice of God speaks to you as well. The word of the Lord spoke into the darkness of sin and death and called you with water into a baptismal relationship with Jesus. The word of the Lord is preached through the voice of a sinful man, yet that voice is used to create and strengthen faith in Christ.  The word of the Lord declares to you that all of your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The word of the Lord speaks with a piece of bread and a sip of wine and you receive Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for you, for forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of your faith. The word of the Lord is spoken to you in blessing, encouraging you as you go home, enabling you to begin and end each day trusting in His name and His promise.

People have argued for centuries whether the glass is half full or half empty. The answer isn’t in it’s relative fullness or emptiness. The answer is in it’s ability to be refilled.

Luther said at the end of his life, “We are all beggars.” It’s the truth. Before God, we are as empty as that poor widow’s flour jar. We have nothing to offer God. Yet He does something with His Word that we cannot do for ourselves. He forgives us. He baptizes us, joins us to Jesus’ death and life.  We stand in the presence of Almighty God, by grace through faith in Christ, and in the midst of Sin’s famine, to our utter lack and emptiness, to our spiritual hunger and thirst for righteousness, God in Christ fills our sack. He gives us the Bread of Life, Christ, living Bread come down from heaven. He fills our empty sack so it’s slopping over and overflowing. And, as we go through the week, the sack is slowly emptied. Some gets used when we argue with our spouse. A little more gets consumed each day at work and at school. A whole bunch is used up following that car down Navarro at lunchtime. A little more is used up at the doctor’s office, and at the bank, and at the principal’s office. And by Saturday, you’re looking for the crumbs at the bottom of the bag. With repentance, knowing you are a sinner who deserves nothing at all in that sack, but with faith that trusts Jesus is going to refill it, you come back here to the Lord’s house, empty sack in hand. And you see something remarkable…you’re surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ whose sacks are also emptied. Nothing in your sack you bring, simply to the cross you cling, knowing Jesus is going to fill it again. Why? Because it’s His promise…according to the Word of the Lord.