The Cycle of Dependence

“Then the Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.’ So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks and he asked her, ‘Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?’ As she was going to get it, he called to her, ‘Bring me a bite of bread, too.’ But she said, I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal and then my son and I will die.’ But Elijah said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!’ So she did as Elijah said and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse and finally he died. Then she said to Elijah, ‘O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?’ But Elijah replied, ‘Give me your son.’

And he took the child’s body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying and laid the body on his bed. Then Elijah cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die?’ And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.’ The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer and the life of the child returned and he revived! Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. ‘Look!’ he said. ‘Your son is alive!’ Then the woman told Elijah, ‘Now I know for sure that you are a man of God and that the Lord truly speaks through you.’” (1 Kings 17:8-24) (Also read Psalm 146; Galatians 1:11-24; Luke 7:11-17). We live in a cycle of dependent relationships. A cycle of dependent relationships rises from our text to meet us. Elijah is dependent on the woman who provides him with shelter from the world and with a haven from Ahab. The woman is dependent on Elijah, who provides her with the promise of sustenance during the famine. They are both dependent on YAHVEH, who brought them together and who offers ongoing provision. At first this cycle of dependent relationships is working out fine; Elijah has shelter, the woman has food and YAHVEH is providing it all. Because of the drought and the resulting famine, the woman had expected that she and her son would die of starvation, but they were spared that fate through the intervention of YAHVEH through Elijah. Suddenly though, the boy becomes ill and dies.

I.) The cycle is threatened when a crisis arises. The woman’s newfound stability is now rocked by instability; her gain is marred by loss; her sense of favour is shattered by a sense of judgment. So threats have landed in the woman’s life and when the threats land, the accusations fly! They fly toward Elijah: “What have you against me?” The implication is clear: “Had you not come into our lives this would not have happened.” She exhibits the human tendency, when things go wrong and pain comes into our lives or the lives of those we love, to lash a third party with the blame. They fly toward the woman herself: “You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance.” In times of pain and loss, our sharpest barbs are often reserved for ourselves. In the woman’s eyes, the prophet represents YAHVEH; therefore, Elijah’s presence provides an opportunity for YAHVEH to know about her sin, sin of which she is all too painfully aware.

So the woman blames herself: “My son is paying the price for the sin of which I am guilty.” They fly toward YAHVEH: “What have you against me, O man of YAHVEH?” This accusation is implicit; the woman does not directly blame YAHVEH for what is happening. Again though, she does associate the presence of Elijah with the presence of YAHVEH; thus she accuses Elijah as the “man of YAHVEH,” thereby blaming YAHVEH, too. Here is another human habit: we blame YAHVEH for what happens in our lives. Clearly then, the cycle of dependence that had developed between the woman, Elijah and YAHVEH had broken down. It broke down because tragedy had disturbed the equilibrium of the situation; it broke down further because, in her pain, the woman blamed everyone in the cycle for what was happening. She blamed Elijah, she blamed herself and she blamed YAHVEH.

II.) We sometimes practice the art of “taking for granted.” We can understand how things got to this point. Still, we must note that the woman practiced a selective forgetfulness. Clearly, she interpreted the death of her son as a judgment upon her by YAHVEH for things she had done. Not clear is how she interpreted the positive events that she had previously experienced, for she makes no comment on them. This is not unusual, for people are all too quick to blame YAHVEH for the bad and all too slow to thank YAHVEH for the good. But must we not interpret the previous positive events as an act of sheer grace on the part of YAHVEH? Did the woman and her son deserve to be spared the effects of the drought, whereas others in the area did not? Did they deserve the presence of YAHVEH through His prophet, whereas others did not? Did they deserve the miraculously perpetual grain and oil, whereas others did not? There is absolutely no indication that they did, so what we have here is the operation of YAHVEH’s grace in the lives of the woman and her son.

Is it possible then, that the woman had come to practice the art of “taking for granted”? Is it possible that she had come to associate the presence of Elijah and YAHVEH with good times and abundance and blessing so that when things changed, she suddenly saw no good in them and in their presence? Is it possible that some of us are practicing the art of “taking for granted,” having come to take those in our cycle of dependence for granted? We are dependent too, on our spouses, on our children, on our parents, on our extended families, on our friends, on our church family and ultimately on YAHVEH. This is a mutually beneficial cycle of relationships when the cycle is working, for through it we are blessed and helped by each other. In a sense, we are even helpful to YAHVEH and a blessing to YAHVEH. At its best, this cycle of dependence is also a cycle of grace, everybody loving and helping the others and freely giving what is needed for no other reason than that we feel love and grace in our hearts.

III.) There is the danger of withdrawing from the cycle of dependence. But what happens when something occurs that no longer allows us to take each other for granted? What happens when some bad creeps into the good and some curse creeps into the blessing and some pain creeps into the comfort and some lack creeps into the abundance? What then? Then we sometimes lash out toward those around us in the cycle. We blame people; we blame ourselves; we blame YAHVEH. How could they; how could we; let this happen? And we begin to withdraw from the cycle of dependence. This is a dangerous predicament, for dependence is a matter of life and death for human beings. Some people never get that far, though; that is, they never get far enough into the cycle to have the chance to withdraw. Those are the people who have, from the outside, observed the potential for pain and loss in relationships and who therefore choose to attempt to live independently from other people. They may stay away from relationships as completely as possible. Or they may live alongside people in the usual settings as spouse, parent and grandparent, but never really let others into their lives and never really let themselves into the lives of others.

IV.) We can know the touch of YAHVEH through the touch of others. Dependence is a matter of life and death for human beings because access to the power of YAHVEH is a matter of life and death for human beings. At its heart, this story is about the power of YAHVEH; its purpose is to show that the power of YAHVEH is present in the person of Elijah. It is a matter of ultimate importance; a matter of life and death; that we know the presence of the power of YAHVEH. Sometimes we know that power directly. But sometimes; oftentimes; YAHVEH chooses to communicate YAHVEH’s powerful presence through the presence and the touch of people. We sympathize and some of us empathize, with the woman’s pain. She had lost her only son, the only family she had. But the accusations that emerged from her pain threatened to cut her off from the only source of help she had: the presence of YAHVEH through YAHVEH’s prophet, Elijah. Elijah felt that pain too. So he took the boy in his arms, laid him on his bed and stretched himself out over the boy’s body three times, praying for the reviving of the child.

And YAHVEH answered the prayer! But do not undervalue the truth that YAHVEH worked through Elijah’s very personal touch. Then Elijah, the prophet of YAHVEH and the friend of the family, gave the woman her son back. You see, being open to the sustaining, healing, helping power of YAHVEH in our lives requires being open to the fact that YAHVEH often sustains, heals and helps us through the presence and through the touch of the people who are around us. We dare not cut ourselves off from the help that YAHVEH wants to give through other people. When the woman’s son came back to life, the truth was underscored that YAHVEH is the One Most High who gives life. But the fact that YAHVEH did so in this instance through the touch and prayer of Elijah, who had become in essence a part of that family, underscores how vital is our openness to YAHVEH’s channelling of His power to us through the people in our cycle of dependence. It is a matter of life and death, for how much more alive we will be when we learn to accept the healing touch that YAHVEH offers through the touch of others.