1 Kings 17:17-24

Elijah Revives the Widow's Son

17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" 19 But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." 22 The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." 24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth (1 Kings 17:17-24, NRSV)

Some background for today’s reading is presented in comments for Wednesday, September 16, 2005 (Wednesday of the week of the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, using references from Proper 18), some of which is repeated here:

Elijah begins by dropping a bomb, as it were: “As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word” (1 Kings 17:1). The full effect of this drought is reported later: “The famine was severe in Samaria” (18:2), but in the meantime Elijah’s living conditions picture the LORD’s care amidst the drought conditions. He is fed by the ravens (17:6), then by the widow of Zarephath (vv. 13-16), though the “jar of meal” which “was not emptied,” and the “jug of oil that did “not fail” (v. 16), predicted by Elijah (v. 14) were the LORD’s doing.

When Elijah brings the widow’s dead son (vv. 17-18) back to life (v. 22)–again, of course, the LORD’s doing–it becomes clear that a prophet is on the scene who represents the LORD, the God who controls life and death. The widow has befriended him–fed him, but then her son falls deathly ill. In her despair, she as much as accuses Elijah of returning evil for good. “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” (1 Kgs. 17:18). But he immediately takes the child from her, and carries him up to the upper chamber (v. 19), where, after a prayer that seems to blame the LORD–“O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” (v. 20)–he prays earnestly for restoration of the child’s life (v. 21). The LORD answers by reviving the child (v. 22), which restores the widow’s faith in Elijah as a true prophet (v. 24). The incident is also a significant encouragement to Elijah’s own faith before his encounter with the 400 prophets of Baal (chap. 18).

3 John 1-15

Salutation

1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

Gaius Commended

2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. 3 I was overjoyed when some of the friends arrived and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, namely how you walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; 6 they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on in a manner worthy of God; 7 for they began their journey for the sake of Christ, accepting no support from non-believers. 8 Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

9 I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing in spreading false charges against us. And not content with those charges, he refuses to welcome the friends, and even prevents those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Everyone has testified favorably about Demetrius, and so has the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greetings

13 I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; 14 instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk together face to face.

15 Peace to you. The friends send you their greetings. Greet the friends there, each by name. (3 John 1-15, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from April 16, 2005 (Saturday of the third week of the Easter season):

The author of 2 John and 3 John calls himself “the elder” and though 1 John does not name it’s author, the church has traditionally accepted the three of them as from John, the author of the Fourth Gospel. The three letters reflect circumstances within what scholars call the Johannine community, probably a group of house churches separated by some distance and requiring hospitality for traveling missionaries–something Diotrephes has refused to offer (3 Jn. 10). Gaius, on the other hand, to whom Third John is addressed, is commended for his “faithfulness to the truth” (vv. 3-4), which appears to mean especially the emphases of First John and Second John. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child” (1 Jn. 5:1). “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him” (1 Jn. 3:18-19). “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist!” (2 Jn. 7). Gaius–probably not the associate of Paul (cf. Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 1:14), since it was a common name–is also commended for his “love before the church” (3 Jn. 6), and urged to provide missionaries with the needed hospitality (vv. 5-8) that Diotrephes refuses to provide. Strong testimony is offered in behalf of Demetrius (v. 12), “who may have brought the letter to Gaius” (Pheme Perkins, NOAB, 3rd ed.). Third John “may well have been a letter of commendation for Demetrius, to be carried by Demetrius himself” (Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green and Marianne Meye Thompson, Introducing the New Testament, 551).

John 4:46-54

Jesus Heals a Royal Official's Son

46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." 49 The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies." 50 Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him." 53 The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live.' So he himself believed, along with his whole household. 54 Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. (John 4:46-54, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from January 8, 2005 (Saturday of the first week of Epiphany):

The references to Cana, including the wedding (Jn., chap. 2, yesterday’s reading) and Jesus’ return to Cana (Jn. 4:46) bracket one of his trips to Jerusalem (ch. 3) and his return through Samaria (4:1-42). The healing of the royal official’s son, like the healing of the Centurion’s son (Mt. 8:5-13; Lk. 7:1-10), is at a distance (Jn. 4:50-51; Mt. 8:809, 13; Lk. 7:6-7, 10). These accounts all refer to the official’s/centurion’s faith. “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him” (Jn. 4:50, cf. v. 53), but the centurion’s faith is commended. “In no one in Israel [Mt.], Not even in Israel [Lk] have I found such faith” (Mt. 8:10; Lk. 7:9). John’s account notes that the royal official (“a Gentile military officer,” Elwyn E. Tilden and Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Jn. 4:46) “himself believed along with his whole household” (Jn. 4:53). So far, John is still counting: “Now this was the second sign” (v. 54). John calls miracles “signs” and records them so that we may “believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you [we] may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31, cf. the reference to “signs” in v. 30).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com