June 6, 2010 Communion Sunday

June 6, 2010 Communion Sunday 1 Kings 17:8-16
Luke 7:11-
17 “Why Not
for Us?”
Dr. Ted H. Sandberg
When I served as pastor in Kansas City before coming here to Chico, one of the men who served as a
deacon of the congregation there, one of my friends, suffered what appeared to be a stroke. John was
in his early 50's at the time. The symptoms didn’t last all that long, but in a month or two, John
suffered a debilitating head ache and had to go back into the hospital. The doctors discovered that
John had what’s called an Arteriovenous Malformation, an AVM. This “is an abnormal tangle of
blood vessels in the brain which can cause bleeding in the brain, seizures, or stroke-like symptoms
(weakness, numbness, tingling). The cause of AVMs is unknown.”1
John and his wife flew to NYC to see a specialist in AVM. There they decided that because one of the
vessels could rupture at any moment, the best thing to do was remove the tangle of blood vessels.
Because the mass was so large, and because it was such a complex procedure, the surgeon determine
that it needed to be done in 3 operations, each a couple of months apart.
Before the first operation, John and his wife came over to our home for dinner and before they left we
had prayer, asking God that the operation in a couple of days would go well, and that John would be
healed. The first operation went fine, as did the second. Unfortunately, during the third operation,
something went wrong, there as a major bleed and essentially, John suffered a massive stroke on the
operating table, leaving John in a coma, unresponsive and on life support. The surgeon did say that
there was a chance that John’s brain would heal itself. John was flown back to Kansas City and
placed in a hospital while they waited to see if he would come out of the coma.
I visited John often. Each time, I prayed that God would heal this good man, that his brain would be
restored, and he would return to his family healthy.
But it was not to be. Early one Sunday morning, I received a phone call from John’s wife saying that
during the night, John had suffered another stroke, and the family had decided to remove John from
life support and wanted me to be there when they did that. I went to the hospital immediately, and
was there when the machines were turned off and John died.
I remember driving home asking God why John hadn’t been healed – questions I assume many if not
all of you have asked at some similar point. We’ve read this morning of 2 different healings, one in
the Old Testament, one in the New. We’ve heard many stories of miraculous healings happening in
the world, both to good people and to bad. We very well may ask, “Why not for us, God? Why are
others healed, but not the one I loved?”
Or maybe, the one you’ve loved has been not just healed, but miraculously healed. Maybe you
yourself have been healed by a miracle. Maybe then you ask, “Why me? Why mine and not all the
thousands of others who pray for healing? Why was I healed but not people like John?”
Now, before I get your hopes up, know that I can’t answer those questions. I wish I could. In fact, I
don’t know anyone who can answer why some are healed and some are not, why one receives a
1 1. “AVM,” Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida web site,

http://www.neurosurgery.ufl.edu/patients/avm.shtml
1
miraculous cure and another doesn’t. As someone said recently in a different context, “That
knowledge is beyond my pay scale.” So I can’t answer the whys: Why Elijah insured that the widow
and her son in Zar'ephath had food when others around them probably didn’t, why Elijah would
eventually save the son, why Jesus raised the widow’s son from death but didn’t do that for all
widows. I have no answers.
I do have a couple of reflections, however, to share. These aren’t answers to why, but reflections on
what we may learn from the account in 1 Kings and the account in Luke.
Notice first, that in the account in 1 Kings and in Luke’s account, the miracles help outsiders. The
widow and her son lived in Zar'ephath in Sidon which was in the god Baal’s home territory. They
were most likely Phoenician, probably wealthy (the widow owned her house, a house large enough to
have an upper chamber), and undoubtedly they worshiped Baal. They were foreigners, and thus
unclean, according to the Jewish religion, and therefore, not worthy of God’s help. Yet God – through
Elijah – provided food for the widow and her household, and then in the next passage, again through
Elijah, God healed the widow’s son who became deathly ill.
It’s the same in our story from Luke. Widows were at the bottom of the social ladder. “Having no
inheritance rights and often in want of life’s necessities, [a widow] was exposed to harsh treatment and
exploitation. Widowhood was perceived by some to be a disgrace; death before old age was probably
viewed as a judgment upon sin, and the reproach extended to the surviving spouse.” 2 This woman had
first lost her husband, but her son could take care of here. Now, with the death of her son, she’d lost
that support too. She would have little choice but to become a beggar. That this was a great tragedy is
shown by the fact that a large crowd from the town was a part of the burial procession.
In both of our stories then, it’s those who are outside “good” Jewish society that God helps. It’s one
of the “least of these,” a worshiper of Baal, that Elijah feeds and then heals. It’s one of the ‘least of
these” that Jesus shows his great compassion by raising the son of the widow. The message isn’t that
these are the only ones whom God heals. The message isn’t that it’s only the “least of these” that
receive miracles. Rather it’s that the “least of these” are not excluded from God’s miracles. Miracles
are as apt to happen to widows and orphans as they are to the rich and powerful. Miracles are as apt to
happen to the Taliban as much as they are to happen to devout Christians – as hard as that is for us to
hear.
This is the first hard lesson to be learned from our texts today. We like to think that God is on our
side, and God is on our side. But just because God is on our side doesn’t mean that God isn’t on all
the other sides as well. God is God of all people, because God created all people. God created
Christians and Jews and Muslims and Sikhs and Buddhists and New Agers. God even created
atheists. Because God has created all people, all people are special. We tend to think that those who
oppose us are evil, are the enemy and can’t be redeemed, but God loves our enemies just as much as
God loves us. God has compassion on those who we see as outside our circle just as God had
compassion on the widow in Zar'ephath, the worshiper of Baal, just as Jesus had compassion on the
widow as she processed to the cemetery to bury her son.
A second, but this time much nicer lesson. Because God has compassion on all people, we can and
should pray to God for healing, healing in even the most hopeless situations. This is a welcome lesson
from the story in Luke. Jesus had compassion, and the son who was dead was raised. “Jesus said,
2 2. Price, James L., “widow,” Harper’s Bible Dictionary, Paul J. Achtemeier,
General Editor, Harper & Row, Publishers, San Francisco, 1985, p. 1132.
2
‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his
mother.” God wants us to ask. “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and
the door will be opened for you,” Jesus says in Matthew.3 We’re to ask even for the miracle, though
there is no guarantee that our requests will be answered as we want them to be answered.
Because, even if our prayers for healing are answered, at some point we all will die. At some point,
the widow’s son died once again. It may have been years later after his widowed mother died – which
is the natural order of life. It could’ve been before his mother died. We don’t know. We do know
that all of us will die. But, we know God’s compassion, God’s will, God’s love is for all to live
eternally. Life on earth ends, but life everlasting, life with God is eternal, is never ending. This then
is a miracle greater than the raising of the two sons of whom we’ve read this morning. You and I will
be raised from death into life with God when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We’ll be
raised into life everlasting.
I prayed that John would be healed, and he was healed – not as I wanted, not even as God wanted,
because I believe that God wants all people to lead long, full, rewarding lives. But that wasn’t to be
for John, and so John was healed as only God can heal – through the power of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. We can and should pray for miracles. But ultimately, we know that because God loves
us, we can all be healed eternally. This is what we celebrate as we gather at Christ’s table. We
celebrate God’s love for us, shown to us in the death and resurrection of God’s only Son. Thanks be
to God.
3 3. Matthew 7:7
3

June 6, 2010 Communion Sunday

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June 6, 2010 Communion Sunday 1 Kings 17:8-16

1 1. “AVM,” Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida web site,

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