God's sovereignty has no boundaries

The Lessons for the Third Sunday after Pentecost continue from last Sunday's reading. Last Sunday we saw God's sovereignty over kings and rulers. There were the stories of King Ahab and King Solomon in the Hebrew Bible readings and the Roman centurion in Capernaum, in the Gospel Reading. All were shown to be under God's sovereignty.

In this Sunday's First Reading from 1 Kings 17:8-16 (17-24) there is the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, one of the most familiar stories in the bible. A widow in the bible lies on the opposite scale of a king or a ruler. It is the lowest position in society. Widows, orphans, strangers, the infirm, are the weakest and most vulnerable in society.

Then there is also the story of nature woven into the account. There is a drought, a calamity, because it brings about hunger. Add to that, death. A widow, without a husband, is dependent on her son. Take away the son and it is the end of life for the widow. The widow of Zarephath, already in a precarious position, also has famine and hunger to deal with, then the death of her only source of support.

Yet, she is not without help. That is the thrust of the story in the First Reading. The Psalm for the day (Psalm 146) reinforces that where it says, "Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;...Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow..."

Indeed those words of the psalmist summarize the story in the First Reading.

The Gospel Reading (Luke 7:11-17) is a replay of the First. Indeed, the crowd that witnessed the Lord's miraculous raising of the son of the widow of Nain could recall the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

Thus, what we see in these lessons is the Lord's sovereignty over kings and rulers, over nature and its forces, including death; and the Lord's care and protection for the least and the most vulnerable in society.

One more thing: Zarephath and Sidon were in Phoenicia, in present-day Lebanon. Nain, about 20 miles south west of Capernaum is in today's Shomron – or Samaria – today's West Bank. So, these are stories about the Lord's dealing with strangers.

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