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Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Mike Moffitt, November 7, 2021


God Knows the Heart


Text: Mark 12:38–44

Last week’s elections in Virginia and New Jersey were an extremely important indicator reflecting the general attitude of our whole country. On Tuesday evening a friend from Florida texted me several times about the apparent outcome of the Governor’s race in Virginia. He wanted to share with me his joy in the outcome. After the election results, I had friends in Washington State, California, and Kentucky express their opinions on the results and how they might reflect next year's elections.

In the coming 2022 United States’ mid-term elections all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested. Thirty–nine state and territorial gubernatorial and numerous other state and local elections will also be contested. There is no doubt that there has been a deep dissatisfaction with the direction that our country is headed morally, educationally, financially and, of course, spiritually.

Just out of curiosity I decided to find out the top 10 fears of the American people. So, I went online where there are answers to just about anything. According to “The Champion University Survey of American Fears of 2018” here are the things Americans feared the most:

1. Corrupt government officials

2. Pollution of oceans, rivers, and lakes

3. Pollution of drinking water

4. Not having enough money for the future

5. People I love becoming seriously ill

6. People I love dying

7. Air pollution

8. Extinction of plant and animal species

9. Global warming

10. High medical bills

I would agree that each of these categories should be of concern, but I find it troubling that none of these have anything to do with the spiritual condition of our lives and how much each of these items have become concerns because God and his word have not been honored and obeyed as of first importance.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not suggesting that who we elect to public office is not important, because it is very important. What I do want us to see this morning is that the government is not the solution to the problems that we are experiencing as a nation, even though there are many in government who would like you to think that.

This morning I want to compare the stories within our Old Testament reading and our Gospel. Each of these stories happened during a time of national apostasy within Israel and yet God was still present in the lives of those within the story.

As I focused on these lessons I remembered the times when God has taught me about his provision through the lives of those who had very little and yet were not worried but were exceptionally grateful for what they had. In 2013 during a trip to Rwanda, we were taken to Nkombo Island which is on Lake Kivu between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s one of those places where the only way to get there is on a longboat that holds around 25 people. The Island itself is beautiful but the poverty is overwhelming.

Initially, Bishop Nathan Ammoti, then the Anglican Bishop of the Cyangugu Diocese, had taken a team from our church to see the poverty, especially amongst the several hundred orphaned children there. The conditions were very primitive, and the hearts of our team were touched enough to come back and begin raising money to help bring a better life to the residents—which were around 25,000. The orphaned children there were only fed once a week and were very sick much of the time. Our people could hardly bear seeing these dear little ones cry because they were so hungry.

I’m glad to tell you that since then, our home church in Roanoke has been able to build a clinic and hire a doctor to attend to the needs of the people and the children are now fed every day and are being cared for and taught in a school. The island didn’t have electricity then, but they do now.

When we arrived people were so excited because the Mzungu had come. The assumption is that the “white people” are rich, especially the older ones like me. Usually one of the children will run up and grab your hand to walk with you. I think they were often hoping you would take them back to America and raise them. One little fellow, probably 5 or 6 was more pragmatic than that. He decided to use the old “brother can you spare a dime” method but he had elevated it quite a bit. He ran up, grabbed my hand and said in fairly good English, “give me $100." I have no idea what he would have done with it if I had given it to him as there were no stores to buy anything, but I had to laugh at the hopefulness of the request.

When I was there in 2013 there was now a school and a Rwandan pastor living on the island with his wife and children. I’m sure he wasn’t paid much but that pastor was so honored to have us to his small home for lunch. There were 7–8 of us but they had prepared us a meager meal that was likely to leave them without enough to feed their own family. I felt bad eating their food and drinking their soft drinks which were considered a luxury, but I also knew that to turn down the meal would be to shame the pastor and his wife.

We ate while they watched with delight and gratefulness to God for his provision. Their joy was genuine because they had absolutely no doubt that their loving heavenly Father would provide, he always did. They had come to the island in faith that the God who called them would also provide for them. The pastor and his family were full of joy because they understood that joy comes from the Lord no matter what circumstances they found themselves in. I saw that in this I was the student, they were the teacher.

Let’s turn our attention to our Old Testament story from 1 Kings 17:8–16. The lead-up to our passage is that Ahab has become the king of Israel. He married Jezebel a Phoenician princess who encouraged him to lead Israel into Baal worship. Baal was the dominant deity in the Canaanite religion. Baal was considered the deity who brought blessing through providing the rain and fertility that kept death away from the land, livestock and the people.

In 1 Kings 16:32–33 we read,

He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33And Ahab made an Asherah (a female deity). Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

This led to a confrontation with the prophet Elijah who delivered God’s message of famine to Ahab. Elijah’s name meant “My God is Yah” which is the shortened form of Yahweh. In Elijah’s name we can see the major theme of his ministry: My God is the Lord and there is no other.

During the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, who worshipped and honored Baal, it is Elijah who stands as the defender and voice of Yahweh. That leads Elijah to confront Ahab and then leave him to face the results of his sins. Basically, Elijah is saying, “Well if you believe that Baal will provide you rain, and fertility then call on him to prove himself.”

Listen to 1 Kings 17:1–4,

Now Elijah…in Gilead, said to Ahab, “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.” 2And the word of the Lord came to him: 3“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 

This actually sounds kind of gross to me but, the ravens brought Elijah bread and meat every morning and every evening, much like God had done for Israel when he delivered them out of the land of Egypt. I have no idea where the ravens got the meat and bread and I’m guessing Elijah didn’t want to know either. However, due to the lack of rain in the land, the brook dries up and God sends Elijah to another place. Let’s read again 1 Kings 17:8–9,

“Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

In the ancient Near East widows had very little protection under the law and often others took advantage of them. God through his law had commanded Israel to bring their tithe into the storehouse to show mercy to widows and orphans, even those who were alien yet lived in their midst. Here God told Elijah to go to a Gentile widow and receive provision, it probably seemed to make more sense to wait beside a dry brook, but the prophet knew that trusting in God was what he needed to do.

When He was rejected by His own people, Jesus used this example of Elijah’s coming to the widow of Zarephath as an illustration of God’s right to call a people to Himself, Luke 4:24–26,

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

This story has so much to teach us, and I absolutely love the irony here. In 1 Kings 16:31b we read,

he (Ahab) took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

God has Elijah leave Ahab and Jezebel in Samaria reigning over Israel who are ironically dwelling within the Promised Land, but sends his prophet, Elijah back to Sidon where Jezebel was from, and her father reigned as king. God sends him right back into the pagan world, the enemy camp where Baal is worshipped.

Does this ring a bell with you? Does this sound familiar? It’s giving clues to the reader of the future event in God’s redemptive plan where Israel will reject Jesus as Messiah and after his death, resurrection, and ascension will send his prophets to the pagan Gentile world with the Gospel to make him known to those who have no knowledge of Jesus. In Matthew 17:2 Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on the Mount of Transfiguration and they see Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Elijah, the very one who in his life pointed to what Jesus would be, there on the mountain comes to likely encourage him. Elijah, who doesn’t die but is taken up in a whirlwind in 2 Kings 2:11, comes back to the very one he had pointed to in his life.

Don’t you love the continuity of scripture? I love going back and seeing how God fulfilled his promises, every one of them. Let’s get back to our story.

Let’s read 1 Kings 17:10–12,

So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”

The wording of the widow's response is interesting because it represents an oath. The widow of Zarephath possibly recognizes Elijah as a prophet of Israel’s God and because of that would normally be willing to grant his request, but her circumstances are such that she feels she isn’t able to. She is assuring Elijah (As the Lord your God lives) that she has nothing baked and very little left, and he can be certain of her words because His God knows she isn’t lying. Her situation is dire, and she is at the end of her provision and the means to help herself and her son. She has lost hope and has resigned herself and her son to starvation. The famine had not only affected Israel but the neighboring nations too.

Elijah’s next words on the surface seem very bold and self-centered, but he is asking her to look past the circumstances of her life and instead of fear, have faith in God. Let’s read verses 13–15,

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” 15And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.

Elijah’s response deals with the more pressing issue surrounding her which is not hunger but fear. The prophet had been told by God that this widow was going to feed him, but she doesn’t know that just yet. He promises her something that was not in the realm of her experience. He promises that if she will use what she has to make him bread to eat, her jar of flour and jug of oil will not be empty until rain falls to the earth again. Elijah is giving her the opportunity to experience the supernatural provision of God, but it would be dependent on her willingness to step out in faith.

There is an important lesson for us to consider in this story. I imagine that from the woman’s perspective there wasn’t really much to lose. She knew that what she had wasn’t enough to sustain her and her son for long. So she decides to do what the prophet asked of her, and that decision brought her, her son, and Elijah the food they needed, every day until the rains returned.

What she didn’t know is that God had already put within her heart the faith that she would need to step away from her fear and find provision in a miraculous way. Also, the way that God chose for her instruction was not a huge supply of flour and oil, but that every time she returned to her little jar and jug of oil there would be enough to feed herself, her son, and the prophet for another day.

Jesus taught us to pray like that in the Lord’s prayer: “Lord give us today our daily bread.” The story of this poor widow and God’s provision for her is still being read and discussed for over 2,500 years later. Little did she know what God was prepared to do in her life when she trusted in the word of the Lord spoken through the prophet Elijah.

Let’s turn now to our gospel reading from Mark 12:41–44,

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

When Teresa and I first came to Light of Christ one of the members gave me these actual small copper coins that were called lepton although many translations call it a mite. Its worth was 1/64th of a denarius, the average daily wage. To give you some perspective. In today’s dollars, if a person made $10 an hour and worked 8 hours he/she would make $80 for the day. 1/64th of that is $1.25. There aren’t a lot of things that you can buy for that but if it’s all that you have, you would likely hold on to it. Jesus said that the poor widow put all that she had to live on. The ancient Greek word lepton literally means “a tiny thing,” and so in the Old English was translated mite, which comes from the word for a “crumb” or “very small morsel.”

Two mites: The wonderful thing about this widow’s giving was that she had two mites and gave them both. She might have kept one coin for herself, and no one would blame her if she did. Instead, she gave what she had as an offering to God.

You’ll notice that Jesus’ evaluation of her was not that she had given more than the others but that she had given more than all of them combined. The others who gave large gifts were giving out of their abundance and it didn’t really affect their lifestyles. But the widow who had no one to provide for her had given everything she had, and Jesus saw her heart and was moved by her example.

For all the great wealth that came into the temple treasury that day Jesus judged the poor widow as the most pleasing. Jesus’ principle here shows us that God does not need our money. If God needed our money, then how much we give would be more important than our heart in giving. Instead, it is our privilege to give to Him, and we need to give because it is good for us, not because it is good for God.

Both of the examples that we’ve briefly discussed this morning point us to a common lesson. In the case of the widow of Zarephath, she was suffering from a severe drought that was brought about by the idolatry and unfaithfulness of the king of Israel and his pagan wife towards the God of Israel. Her pain and suffering were caused by something that she had no part in. She may have been a worshipper of Baal, which was common where she was from, but she had not turned away from the God of Israel. It was God who sent his prophet as an introduction to her which resulted in her being given the chance to trust God’s promise made through Elijah. The result was life instead of death.

In the case of the poor widow in the temple at Jerusalem, she lived under religious authorities who were committed to their religious practices but didn’t even realize that their God had departed the temple many years before because of the godlessness of their hearts. She lived under the rule of Rome, a pagan nation, but her faith and devotion to God remained even though she may have been the exception to the rule. Jesus was able to see into her heart and what he saw touched him.

I saw the same devotion and love of God through the example of a Rwandan pastor and his family who gave us the precious gift of a meal in their little home that wasn’t much bigger than our living room. They were servants of the terribly poor folks of Nkombo Island, and I was humbled before such kindness and selflessness. If God’s people in America want their country back it will require that we be prepared to lay down our lives and resources so that God might miraculously move in and through us. We certainly do need godly leaders but God doesn’t seem to be limited if his people are faithful to his commands, even in a pagan culture. Let us be found faithful.

Let’s pray.


©2021 Rev. Mike Moffitt

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