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June 5, 2016 - Pentecost 3 - Pastor Timothy Berg
1 Kings 17:17-24
Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse,
and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did
you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
19
“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room
where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God,
have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21
Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let
this boy’s life return to him!”
22
The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the
child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said,
“Look, your son is alive!”
24
Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the
LORD from your mouth is the truth.”
Theme: God controls death
A. Death brings out our weakness
B. Death shows us God’s power
Introduction:
From last week we learned that we can trust God’s word, no matter what his plan. In
today’s sermon we are entering a time of Israel’s history when God’s words were being set aside
because of the king and queen’s Baal worship. God would preserve his precious word in the midst
of the hostility of unbelief. Our account today takes place after Elijah the prophet was instructed to
pray that the rain stop. Now the land was in the midst of famine and drought. Elijah is living with a
Gentile. Elijah is eating daily from a miraculous providing of the Lord when trouble comes. In the
house of the widow of Zarephath we see today that God controls death. In the presence of death
we see our weaknesses. In the presence of death we also will learn about the power of God.
In the account which we read earlier we heard that the widow of Zarephath’s son became sick and
he progressively got worse until he died. That gradual or quick declining of health reminds us all of
us are weaklings. How many of us this morning took medicines? How many of us deal with a
constant regime of vitamins and diets? The body is so weak. One day we remember ourselves in the
prime of life and the next moment it seems we are going to the doctor, we are nursing injuries and
pains that once were not there. And then there are some of us who deal with a recurring illness. We
gets cold and our lungs can’t handle the weather and cold and pneumonia come. Or it is a disease
that has invaded a portion of our bodies and it will be a part of our lives until we die. Everything
about this body screams it is perishing. If some of you youngsters think you are not there and are
not weaklings, ask yourself, “Do you get tired?” If you are so strong, how come you get sore when
you run or do a lot of physical work? It’s because your body is weak.
What happened in our account is what could happen to all of us. Because of the fall into sin God
tells us our bodies are mortal. Mankind was taken from dust and will return to dust. In the time
between we are a-crumbling. Sin’s effects cause every pain, sickness, and disease upon our bodies.
We know it gets worse than sickness, death is also close to us all.
The widow of Zarephath had already lost her husband. In that time the husband was the main
provider. Without the husband, life would have been difficult. Then her son becomes sick and dies
while this so-called prophet is in her house. This death brought out some raw emotions from this
mother. We listen to her words, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to
remind me of my sin and kill my son?” Now we don’t know what sin this widow was thinking of, but
she was willing to hold Elijah and God accountable for her misery and misfortune. In the time of
death sin is brought before our eyes.
Death shows us we are more than weaklings, we are really powerless. We know the truth from the
prophet Ezekiel that the soul who sins will die. All of us here are guilty of sin. We have inherited sin
from our parents who inherited sin from their parents. Then as we confessed this morning we are
sinful throughout our lifetimes in our thoughts, words, and actions. The truth continues: death will
come to each of us unless Christ comes.
We are truly weaklings before death. Like the widow of Zarephath, death can tear down the
strongest wall and expose the insecurities of our hearts. Death shows we are unable to stop the
curse which God told us would happen because of sin. Because none of us are righteous before God
each one of us has sins which death reminds us of. God placed in our hearts a conscience which can
be soothed and salved but death makes us all remember life will not continue as it always does.
There will be an accounting. Could God be punishing you for your sins with sickness? Could God
want to kill you or a loved one because of your sinful rebellion? The answer humans have come to
across time has seemed to be yes. It is a sin to draw the conclusion from the deaths we see that
God must be punishing some unseen sin. The natural order of things in this world reveal to us a
wrathful God. There is true weakness, we don’t know God is also merciful. Elijah teaches us this
today.
Elijah the prophet didn’t know why God brought death to the boy, but Elijah was brought in the
time of death to look to God. He would say, “O Lord, my God, let this boy’s life return to him.” Elijah
did not hesitate in the face of death to realize it is a tragedy of sin that death comes. We call it a
tragedy when it comes to a young person, but it is a tragedy at any age. It is a tragedy because it is a
result of sin. But Elijah shows us who has control over death. He goes to the Lord God who alone
has control over death.
We know how awesome this account is because God shows power over death. On this day there
was not going to be a funeral. There were not going to be tears of grief which would take time to
stop. Instead we see the restoration of the boy’s life. Elijah was granted a yes reply to his prayer.
God returned the life to the boy. Think of the joyous reunion back in the house when the widow is
able to embrace a son that was breathing, able to speak, and able to smile back at his mother. What
a joyous day that day was. God shows his power over death.
The joy of the widow is ours as well. The Lord has power over death, and we see that every time we
recount what Jesus did. Don’t dare to rejoice, do rejoice in Jesus. Don’t be the one who is ashamed
of his joy in the face of death, shout it out and proclaim it to everyone today. Jesus became sin for
us so that he might die. When Jesus took on flesh and became a person Jesus was telling us God is
going to show you his power. Jesus could reverse any sickness or disease. Then he could also
restore life as he did for the son of the widow of Nain, but where the clear power of God is found is
at the cross. Though the Father forsook him because he was our sin, Jesus became that sin because
he wanted to destroy death’s power. So he died and three days later Jesus rose again. Here is the
powerful thing, Jesus said, I am going to allow myself to die and then in three days I will raise myself
back to life. He did! He did it. I can’t stop a cold from invading my body, but Jesus could. I can’t tell
you the day or way I will die, but Jesus did. I can’t die and then raise myself, but Jesus did. Jesus is
our God who is powerfully in control of death.
Today is a day for joy because the widow of Zarephath confessed the truth about Elijah and God’s
word. She said, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord from your
mouth is the truth.” Death and the resurrection brought a gentile to confess her faith in God’s
words. By God’s grace today’s review of this account does the same for us.
Remember Jesus was standing next to the bier of the son of the widow of Nain and he brought that
son back to life. Remember Jesus telling a dead man to come out of a tomb and the next moment
Lazarus came out alive. Jesus speaks and what he says will happen. In the face of death Jesus has
the power to deliver. That’s why he said, if you believe in me you will live even when you die. Jesus
holds our lives in his hands, now and forever. The widow’s joy is to be our joy as well because
Jesus’ words are truth. He has power over death.
In the season of Pentecost we start our summer talking about faith. Our faith can remain constant
even when faced with our death or the death of a loved one. It doesn’t matter if it is sickness or a
disease, a government or a terrorist, an accident or a natural disaster that brings death before us,
this section before us reminds us that God controls death. Death can rattle us and reduce us to
think about our mortality and sin, but we also have the true words of God to hold onto. Then we
put into proper perspective all the events of our lives. This truth will stand out, God is in control,
even over death.