Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on June 9 & 10, 2007
(Proper 5, Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   1 Kings 17:17-24
Psalm 30
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

I really enjoy our Wednesday morning Bible studies. We look at the following Sunday’s lessons and just start talking. Sometimes we get off target a bit but it seems that we usually get back on track before it’s over. Over the last year, I have noticed that certain themes or lessons keep emerging from our studies, and a couple of them came up this week after reading the Old Testament lesson for today.

Here’s the background. Elijah, at the Lord’s request, has prophesied that there would no longer be any rain or dew in the land until he said so. This was because the people were putting more faith in the local Canaanite god than they were in the Lord. It was thought that the local Canaanite god controlled the amount of rainfall, and the Lord wanted to put an end to that rumor once and for all. After his prophecy was made, the Lord sent Elijah east of the Jordan on a little camping trip and then west again to Zarephath where he was directed to stay with a widow who would take care of him. Unfortunately, the Lord had failed to tell the widow about her new job because when Elijah showed up she was gathering kindling in order to cook her final meal from the last of her meager supplies. When that was gone, she and her son were going to starve to death. But Elijah told her not to worry. If she shared her supper with Elijah, the Lord would not allow her supplies to dwindle at least not until the rains came again. Now the widow probably wasn't sure whether she was being conned or not but since Elijah claimed to be a man of God, she does what he asks because she literally has nothing to lose. But what Elijah has promised proves to be true. Each time she goes to make bread, there is always enough meal and oil to feed the three of them.

But then tragedy hits! The son becomes so ill that he quits breathing. The widow becomes most upset because now without the chance of her son growing old enough to support her she knows that she will be at the very bottom of the social ladder; only a little above those who have been physically outcast from the community. Her first reaction is to wonder what sin she had committed and forgotten about, that Elijah's presence has dredged up before God and caused the death of her son. And even Elijah, questions God as to why He is rewarding this widow for taking care of him by taking her son from her.

This is one of the themes that keep occurring in our Bible study. Why does God let bad things happen to good people? If God is such a loving God why does tragedy have to happen to anyone? Why doesn't He prevent bad things from taking place? And one of the members of the class asked me if I get this question a lot. And the answer is yes, people ask me this all of the time. And here is what I tell them.

Only good things come from God! God does not cause bad things to happen to people. Look at today's collect. It begins, “O God, from whom all good proceeds.” It doesn't say, “from whom all bad proceeds.” God only causes good things to happen. Anything good that occurs in this life has its roots in God because He is the source of all goodness.

So then why do bad things happen? The widow wanted to know what sin she had committed to cause the death of her son. And the answer is there is no particular sin that she committed which caused the death of her son.

However, bad things do happen because we are fallen creatures living in a fallen creation. But that wasn't God's intention. In the Book of Genesis we find that in the beginning, everything was perfect. When God created light, He saw that it was good. He created the earth and saw that it was good. He created the Sun and the Moon and saw that they were good. He created every living thing in the air, in the water and on the earth and saw that it was good and blessed them. Then He created man in His own image, male and female, and saw that it was good and blessed them, too. And when God saw all of His creation working together in total harmony, behold, He saw that it was very good! Excellence had been achieved in creation.

And then God gave us a choice. Obey me and live forever or disobey me and die. Now this appears to be a no-brainer but unfortunately we chose to disobey. And this was our original sin.

It's like that commercial on television where everything is working like clockwork in a food court at the mall. Happy music is playing; the cooks are flipping fresh burgers which are landing right on the bun right on the plate right on the tray held by each customer. Everyone is smiling because all is good. All aspects of the operation are working smoothly including the payment of services which happens by swiping a debit card through a machine; that is until some idiot, some old fashioned dinosaur such as myself, pulls out his wallet and wants to pay cash. And not just cash in the correct amount. He has the audacity to expect change from the cashier. Well when this happens, all hell breaks loose, the orderly operation comes to a screeching halt with people running into each other and food falling on the floor and even the background music runs down as if someone pulled the plug on the record player.

That is exactly what happened when we first chose to disobey God. When we chose to disobey, all of creation fell. And when all of creation fell bad things began to happen. Cain murdered his brother Able. Lying, stealing, greed, pride, adultery came into being. Floods, famine, fire, earthquakes, tornadoes; everything we consider as a natural disaster came into being. Only they aren't natural. They are the farthest thing from natural because perfection is what God had originally planned. Suffice it to say that God doesn't cause these bad things to happen but rather he allows them to happen as a result of our choice. And He continues to do so. But He also allows good things to happen in spite of that choice.

When the Widow of Zeraphath was nearly out of supplies, God allowed her enough food to sustain three people until the drought was over. When her son died, God answered Elijah's fervent prayer and allowed her son to live again. In the today's Gospel when the son of the widow of Nain died, Jesus allowed him to live again, echoing the story of Elijah that we heard today. And when the Risen Jesus revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, he allowed for Paul's zeal to murder Christians to be transformed into a zeal for evangelizing Christians.

Now granted, things aren't always this dramatic. Fr example, when our family business was forced to close, God allowed me to go to seminary. And when our house didn't sell right away causing our budget to crumble, God allowed Jane and I to stay in a farm house rent free which allowed the family of the deceased owner the necessary time to figure out the estate. You see, no matter what happens in life, God remains consistently good. When we find ourselves at rock bottom and can't figure out what to do next, if we give our problems over to God, He will allow for something good to happen in our life.

As we begin to take notice of these good things that happen in our lives, the bad things won't necessarily stop happening but they also won't appear to be that bad because we will be looking for the good which only God provides.

Again, as our collect says today, we ask God to inspire us to think of right things, and then to guide us into doing those right things. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of even thinking of something good. But by believing in Jesus Christ, and asking him for help, not only will he direct our thoughts towards good things; he will empower us to accomplish those good things.

Which is the other lesson that reoccurred in Bible study this past week: God doesn't promise that bad things won't happen to us but He does promise to be there with us as we make our way through the aftermath. God is always there! That is the Good News of the Gospel message and the Good News of our Salvation History. So let us not dwell on the bad things that happen in life but rather ask for, look for and give thanks for all of the good things that God provides for us.

Gloria Patri