After this the son of the (the widow of Zarephath), the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 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!’ 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. 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?’ 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.’The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 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.’ 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.’
This scene happens immediately after Elijah has performed a miracle for the widow and her son that they won't starve: their jar of meal and jug of oil will not be emptied. The woman, who told Elijah she was preparing to die before he came and provided her with sustenance, now has a way to eat thanks to the prophet.
And then immediately her son gets sick.
You can sense in the woman's response perhaps that she just wishes Elijah had left well enough alone. She was prepared to die with her son, only to have hope come into her world fleetingly (so she believes) just to be snatched away again.
Hope is a funny thing. We often live in fear of it being snatched away. We give into it and then wait for the bottom to fall out. In this case, it seemed to the woman that the bottom had indeed fallen out.
How quickly she'd forgotten the hope that Elijah had given her.
Yet can we really blame her?
We live in a world where anxiety seems to have more power over us than hope. Countless people have taken anti-anxiety meds - myself included. I know the feeling that comes when you think the bottom is going to fall out.
There's an uneasy connection between anxiety and control. We often want control of our lives rather than the hope that comes with letting go. In moments of panic and the need for control, we forget the freedom that comes though God's sustaining mercy.
This woman was given her son back - life was given to her by Elijah once again, despite her forgetfulness. God's sustaining love was greater than the fear that ruled her life.
Panic and anxiety will come. But God's mercy and love and hope is greater than fear, even when the bottom drops out in our lives. The pain and hopelessness that comes with that bottom dropping out must be gone through and not avoided: our valley of the shadow. But hope remains. St. Paul reminds us that "hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."
God of hope and mercy, lift me up and carry me through those times when hope seems to allude me: when the bottom has dropped out and I can't see my way on the path that is put before me. Remind me always of your unfailing mercy and that while fear may come, I can trust in you always to provide hope and love to sustain me. Amen.
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