In what appears to be an obscure story in the Old Testament book of 1 Kings, we find Elijah the Prophet being fed by ravens (the only bird known to hoard food); he is then by a starving widow from a place called Zarepheth. She obeys the prophet’s orders, as the Lord directed both of them to be tested in order that they might trust in the Lord’s provision and power.

It’s an odd tale. The widow has only enough flour to make a small cake for her last meal with her son. Yet the Man of God directs her to feed him first, then herself and her son. Ironically she complies. It sets up the first miracle for them. The meal and oil never run out and they eat of it for ‘many days’. The ‘wall’ of trust is being built with the ‘bricks’ of testing. But the widow’s faith in the Lord’s power and provision through this man of God is soon put to the ultimate test.

And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to him, ‘What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?'” 1 Kings 17:17-18.

The rage which arises from her shock and grief is understandable. It’s a visceral reaction to an unjust punishment: a widow’s only son ‘killed’ because of his mother’s sin? Though reasonable, her accusation says more about her than about the man of God. What sin would justify God’s killing of her son? Had she so quickly forgotten how the Lord, through Elijah, delivered them from the brink of starvation? Does God visit the sins of the parents on the children? More to follow!

So now the real test starts. Elijah carries the dead boy’s corpse up to his room. What will they say if he fails? The Lord’s power was being put to the test. If the boy stays dead no one would ever hear the name of Elijah (as a witness to the Lord’s power) again. But we know how it ends. The man of God descends the stairs to declare what only God can do, “And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

God’s credibility is tested every hour of every day. Will God keep his promise to widows, orphans and pilgrims, to us? Jesus embodied the title ‘Son of Man’ as well as ‘Son of God’. With Jesus as our brother and God as our Father–those of us who are born again (born anew) will have the gloom, the sentence and the guilt of our sin exchanged for the unspeakable joy of a mother’s heart whose empty arms were filled again with her fully alive, formerly dead only son! Happy Mother’s Day: the Son lives!

— The Rev. Kelly Wasberg