Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity (B C P). Series

1 Kings 17:17-24, Psalm 102:12-17, Ephesians 3:13-21, Luke 7:11-17.

A). ELIJAH RAISES THE WIDOW’S SON.

1 Kings 17:17-24.

Lest the widow of Zarephath should imagine that she was singled out in preference even to the Israeli widows on account of her own merits, she was sent a trial of faith, which both made her aware of her own sinfulness, and of the possible source of potential sin: “the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” (1 KINGS 17:17-18).

Her reaction in blaming Elijah was a knee-jerk reaction against the God of Elijah, such as any of us might make on the initial impact of a hard providence. Notice that she is no longer calling God by his name, the LORD, nor is she calling Him the living God!

Yet in the end, she placed the blame on her own shoulders. She had not been sinless when called by God - none of us are - and she may well have been in danger of idolising her son who she was so concerned to protect, placing him alongside or even above God in her present life?

Elijah also questioned the LORD, but he did not lose sight of his faith, and put that faith into action in a manner God revealed to him: “And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived” (1 KINGS 17:20-22).

Now, indeed, prayer was being answered in that household, and having both her son - and her faith - restored to her: “the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth” (1 KINGS 17:24).

B). THE TIME TO FAVOUR ZION.

Psalm 102:12-17.

Man in his affliction may feel that his days are racing away from him (cf. Psalm 102:11). Yet, before our legitimate prayer (cf. Psalm 102:1) disintegrates into despair, it is well to remind ourselves that “thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all generations” (PSALM 102:12). And that “thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, the set time, is come” (PSALM 102:13).

The Jews “took pleasure in” the stones of Zion, and “favoured the dust thereof” (PSALM 102:14). This is out of reverence for the place where the LORD was worshipped. In like manner, ministers of the Gospel take pleasure in nurturing converts to Christianity, ‘as lively stones, built up a spiritual house… acceptable to God by Jesus Christ’ (cf. 1 Peter 2:5). “Dust” could stand for the multitudes of Abraham’s spiritual sons (cf. Galatians 3:7).

So this anticipates more than the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. It anticipates the gospel age, when "the nations shall fear the name of the LORD, and all kings of the earth thy glory" (PSALM 102:15; cf. Psalm 72:19; Revelation 11:15).

It also anticipates the glorious coming of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ (PSALM 102:16; cf. Titus 2:13).

All this is in answer to the prayers of His people (PSALM 102:17).

This should encourage us to keep on praying. ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ (cf. Psalm 122:6). Pray that ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea’ (cf. Habakkuk 2:14). Pray for revival (cf. Psalm 85:6).

C). A PRAYER FOR GENTILE BELIEVERS.

Ephesians 3:13-21.

In Ephesians 3:1-12, Paul related how he had been called to preach the gospel among the Gentiles.

Since this was his calling in life, he exhorted the Ephesians that they “faint not” at the ongoing “tribulations” which he was suffering “for” them, as the Apostle to the Gentiles (EPHESIANS 3:13). In fact, it was for their “glory” that he should so suffer.

The “For this reason” of EPHESIANS 3:14 echoes Ephesians 3:1, and picks up the thread of thought that was left there. This follows Paul’s contemplation of the reconciliation accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Ephesians 2:11-22). Jesus, by His own blood, had resolved the estrangement between God and man, and had broken down the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile.