Today’s 1st reading presents us a scene that is very human and… very inspiring too (1 Kings 17:10-16).
Elijah, the prophet – a man of God, in the mind of pious Jews – arrives at a poor widow’s home.
We see him asking immediately for a drink and, before the woman goes, he adds also a request for food.
The woman’s reply is very touching:
“As surely as the Lord your God lives, I don’t have any bread –
only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug.
I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son,
that we may eat it – and die.”
Absolute poverty, total penury – the text describes the woman’s complete destitution.
She is ready to die a terrible death which will take her son as well.
The prophet’s reply comes as a promise, wonderful but enigmatic…
the how and when of his words remain unknown…
“Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said.
But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me,
and then make something for yourself and your son.
For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry
until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”
The widow hears these words of comfort as the request for food from Elijah remains unchanged.
What is asked of this poor woman is to rest assured that God will provide.
God will take care of her and her son when she has no longer anything to help herself.
To be certain, to be completely sure of something, when there is really no sign that it will happen.
To be convinced, to have no doubt whatever, to entertain no fear, that a promise will be realized.
This is to venture into the unknown, into darkness, into… some would whisper ‘foolishness’…
Some people – like this widow – are ready to credit God’s faithfulness to his word to this extent!
There are people ready to walk surrounded by mist, blinded by puzzlement, yet they make one step after another…
They CANNOT… NOT rely on God, whatever the situation, no matter the troubling circumstances…
Such a trust is an amazing experience – it can test our human resources to the utmost.
But it gives God the occasion of revealing himself as the God he is: ever present, unfailingly reliable!…
Note: Another reflection is available on a different theme in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/32e-dimanche-de-lannee-b-2024/
To me, the first line of today’s 2nd reading (2 Cor.5:6-10) is a perfect example of this.
A fertile imagination can place before us wonderful situations that we could only dream of.