An Irish folktale recounts the story of a poor widow who sold her soul
to the Devil for the money to raise her children. With the money the devil gave
her, the widow educated her children. The eldest son became a priest. The
second son became a doctor. And the daughter became a lawyer. Many years passed,
and the Devil returned to collect the old widow’s soul. The priest pleaded for
his mother’s life, and the Devil granted her one more year. When the Devil
returned the next year, the doctor pleaded for his mother’s life, and the Devil
granted her one more year. The following year, when the Devil returned, the
lawyer asked that their mother be allowed to live until the candle by her
bedside burned away. The Devil readily agreed. Then the lawyer walked over,
blew out the candle, and pocketed it. Since the candle would never burn away,
the Devil never got the mother's soul.[1]
Although separated by a thousand years and living in rather different
cultures, the widow of Zarephath about whom we heard in today's first reading
and the widow of Nain about whom we heard in the Gospel[2]
faced grim prospects akin to a bad deal with the devil. Their problems were
much greater than grief at the loss of a son. Both widows lived in
male-dominated, subsistence economies that lacked a social safety net. Widows
had three grim choices: quickly marry a new husband, regardless of the man's
character; depend upon the tenuous, ongoing charity of family and friends;
become a prostitute in spite of its inherent physical risks as well as facing inevitable
moral condemnation and social ostracism.
At least three principles should guide our interpretation of today's texts.
All three have broad applicability, but the third is especially connected to
today's readings.
First, God cares equally for all people. The Bible, read chronologically,
charts an expanding circle of ethical concern. The circle started small, centered
around one family, expanded to include an entire clan and tribe, stretched to
encompass an entire nation, and then extends to all creation. Scripture
repeatedly affirms God's equal concern for all. The Torah, illustratively, instructs
Jews to treat both fellow Jews and resident aliens the same. Jesus emphasized
that loving our neighbor has no national, religious, or gender boundaries. The
Book of Acts reports Peter's discovery that God loves all persons equally through
a vision. Any hypothesis about what actually occurred in the healing of the two
widows' sons should recognize that God's concern for the well-being of everyone
in the present matches God's concern for the well-being of the widows of Zarephath
and Nain.
Second, God acts today in ways that are broadly consistent with how God
has acted throughout history. Conversely, God acted two and three thousand years
ago in ways that are broadly consistent with how God acts in the present. Sound
biblical interpretation requires openness to the Holy Spirit and in depth study
of the entire Bible informed by insights from multiple disciplines. These
include not only archaeology, art, and history, but also the social and physical
sciences.
Almost annually, I hear of a child or children dying needlessly and tragically
because misguided Christian parents insisted that God heals exclusively through
prayer and not medical care. Similarly, I occasionally read reports of people
who refused to allow a deceased loved one's burial, mistakenly believing that
prayer, offered with sufficient ardor and the right beliefs, will prompt God to
resuscitate their loved one. God's alleged failure to heal the dying and to resuscitate
the dead reflects an appalling misinterpretation of today's texts. Although we
cannot know with any certainty the actual historical events that the readings
chronicle, we can safely trust that God acted two and three thousand years ago
in ways that are generally consistent with our perceptions of how God acts in
the present.
Third, God acts to bring life out of death. God's actions are rarely,
if ever, flashy and flamboyant. Instead, God's equal love for all and the temporal
consistency of God's actions reveal that God acts in subtle, undramatic ways and
that God often uses a person or object as a channel of grace by which to bring
life out of death. This is the message of the cross. I have personally
experienced and repeatedly witnessed God bringing life out of death in this way.
I have seen people discover life's meaning, broken relationships healed, their strength
sustained, and hope renewed. I have seen persons who lived in bondage to drugs,
alcohol, and anger set free. I have watched the hungry eat and the thirsty
drink. I have seen priests, physicians, lawyers, and many others defeat evil
and bring life out of death. I chose the Irish folktale to begin this morning's
sermon because it portrays God acting in a very ordinary, yet unexpected way,
to defeat the devil. The priest did not perform a miracle nor did the physician
use heroic medical measures to save his mother; instead, and in a reversal of
widely held stereotypes, a female lawyer simply and creatively pocketed a
snuffed out candle.
The nursing aides for an 89-year-old active and alert retired doctor
planned a surprise party for him. Family, friends, and volunteers filled the
brightly decorated room. He looked at the group and signaled a sweet
six-year-old girl, the grandchild of one of his aides, to come over to him. He
reached out and put his arm around her. He introduced her and announced,
"She is my mascot!" He went on to say that he would never forget her
first visit. He had been feeling sorry for himself, struggling to adjust to
life with only one leg, and spending most of his time in a wheelchair. She came
in, looked at him and his folded up pants leg in the wheelchair, and in her
charming voice asked, "Where is your prosthesis?" He was astounded
she knew the word. She showed him her prosthesis and told him her story. When
she was three years old, a man broke into her home, killed her 17-month-old
brother and, with a machete, cut off her leg. He said this young girl taught
him not to complain and to be grateful for the 88 years during which he had two
legs. They share a very special bond.[3]
Recognizing that God's actions express equal love for all people and are
broadly consistent across time, may we experience God's healing love and may we,
like a six-year-old girl, and like Elijah and Jesus before her, be channels of
grace for others. Amen.
[1] “A
Bargain is a Bargain,” Irish folktale recorded by Sharon Creeden. Fair Is Fair: World Folktales of Justice
(Little Rock, AR.: August House Publishers, 1994), pp. 114-115.
[2] 1 Kings 17:8-24; Luke 7:11-17.
[3] Jack
Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Barry Spilchuk, Chicken Soup for the Soul, 1996, accessed at http://www.soupserver.com/.
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