Scripture Readings from 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C - Victory of God over Devil

This Sunday’s readings (1 Kings 17:17-24; Galatians 1;11-19; Luke 7:11-17) address two main themes:  (1) victory of life over death, as well as, victory of life in Christ over sinful life, and (2) God’s mercy and compassion for those who are in need, symbolized with a widow.

In the First Reading (1 Kings 17:17-24), Prophet Elijah raised the only son of a poor widow, who lost the son upon faithfully following God’s command to feed Elijah. Clearly, this is about life’s victory over death. In the Gospel Reading (Luke 7:11-17), Jesus raised the only son of a widow out of compassion, manifesting not only life’s victory over death but also God’s compassion through Jesus’ compassion. 

In fact, it was God who raised the dead through Elijah’s hands as he was God’s servant in the First Reading.  In the Gospel Reading, God acted out of His compassion for a widow in raising her son through Jesus’ compassion and his hands. Jesus is not only in service for God the Father but he himself is God in Trinity, Jesus is God incarnate. Thus, Jesus Christ is God the Son. 

Before God incarnated in Christ on earth through the birth of Jesus, God’s mercy and compassion were made evident through those appointed and anointed by God, as Elijah raised the widow’s son, saving the widow’s dignity and hope – though God also directly demonstrated his mercy, as He provided water and manna to the Hebrews on Exodus. When God manifested in the human flesh as the Son, Jesus Christ, during the years described in the Gospels, God directly demonstrated his mercy and compassion by Himself through the Son, Jesus Christ, as Jesus himself raised the son of a widow out of compassion.  After God’s physical presence through Jesus’ flesh was gone with Jesus’ ascension, God’s mercy and compassion were demonstrated through the works of the Holy Spirit, by the hands of the Apostles, who were empowered by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. So, as Jesus did, the Apostles healed the sick. But, in the New Testament, besides Jesus, Peter (Acts 9:36-43) and Paul(Acts 20:7-12) raised the dead, while  Elijah (1Kings 17:17-24) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:8-37) raised the dead in the Old Testament. 

The Psalm Response (Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13) to the First Reading (1 Kings 17:17-24) includes, “Praise you, Lord, for you raised me up and did not let my enemies rejoice over me”(v.2), “Lord, you brought my soul up from Sheol; you let me live, from going down to the pit” (v.4), “Hear, O Lord, have mercy on me; Lord, be my helper” (v.11), “You changed my mourning into dancing; you took off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness”(v.12). It is about praising and thanking God for raising our souls from the dead. It can also be applied to conversion from a sinful life to a new faithful life, as sinful life is associated with death (i.e. Romans 5:12; Genesis 2:17), while the faithful life is associated with the everlasting life brought through the resurrected Christ (i.e. 1 Corinthians 15:21). 

Life with sin is just as good as being dead.  From this perspective, this Sunday’s  Second Reading (Galatians 1:11-19), which is about Paul’s own account on his conversion, fits in the same pattern of the First Reading and the Gospel Reading, reflected in Psalm 30:2, 4, 11-13. Through the grace of God, Paul turned from the old sinful life against the people of Christ into a new life in Christ to serve him with his people.  

Exergesis – First Reading

To better understand and appreciate the Sunday’s readings, let’s explore the First Reading and Gospel Reading with a “Sitz im Leben” contextual exegesis. 

Before Elijah came, the poor widow had thought she and her only son would die after baking and eating the very last batch of bread out of the last portion of their meager flour and oil left. The famine was prevalent in the Northern Kingdom (Israel) that King Ahab ruled because of his defilement to the Baal worship. It was Elijah who prophesized to King Ahab that there shall be no rain, no dew, except for the word of God through His servant, Elijah’s mouth. 

As days of without rain and dew continued, people suffered. Certainly, the severe draught affected the poor widow. That was when God sent Elijah to this widow to be fed by her. God moved around Elijah away from Ahab and his devilish wife, Jezebel, to protect him. 

The widow “lost” her only and last small batch of flour and oil to God by feeding Elijah instead of herself and her son before dying from starvation. As a result of her following God’s command for her to feed Elijah in spite of her poverty, God rewarded her that she and her son never run out of bread to eat.  Then, the widow lost her son to death. This made her think that her loss was God’s punishment for her guilt inside.  She was upset to God and projected her resentment to Elijah. So, Elijah prayed to God and demonstrated that God was not punishing her by raising her dead son back to life. 

Not Sola Fide but Fide et Opus

This widow emptied all she had left for Elijah as he was a man of God, and it was God’s command for her to take care of him in spite of her poverty. This invokes another poor widow, who emptied all she had for God in the Temple’s treasury (Luke 21:1-4; Mark 12:41-44).

The poor widow demonstrated exemplary conducts as a person of faith. Though Paul’s view, such as in Romans 3:28-30 may allude that faith is enough to be justified, and the Protestant Reformation emphasized the sola fide (faith only) principle, from the Pauline theological view,  James, in his Epistle, strongly challenges this view. James argued that it is not just faith but both faith and work are necessary to live as Christians (James 2:14-26), faith must be demonstrated through the works and behaviors of the faithful. Furthermore, Paul asserted that work must be done with love and motivated by love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Thus, it is fair to say that it takes not only faith but also work with love to be justified. And, the First Reading (1 Kings 17:17-24) gives a good example of this important theological concept, as God assures that she has no sin obligation to God because of her suffering of grief over the loss of her only son, by restoring the son to life, through the hands of Elijah, His servant.  For this, the widow’s concern about her inner guilt (1 Kings 17:18) is resolved completely. 

The important theological theme on not only faith but also work with love for justification, siphoned from the First Reading is also applied to the next Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 7:36-8:3), as a sinful woman’s act of love for Jesus led to her justification by Jesus, with his words, “So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little”(Luke 7:47); “Your sins are forgiven….. Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:48, 50).  Jesus was pointing out that more forgiveness (justification) is given to those who demonstrate their work with love, such as a sinful woman,  than those who are righteous with faith, such as a Pharisee. 

Kenosis – Act of Faith with Love

The poor widow’s act of giving everything she had for herself and her only son to Elijah, her exemplary faith and act of love also invokes Jesus’ story on a poor widow, who poured all the coins she had into the Temple treasury (Luke 21:1-4; Mark 12:41-44).  These poor widows exhausted everything they had for themselves to greater causes – God’s needs. They held nothing back to themselves. And this selfless act of faith also hints Christ’s self- offering to the Father’s will (Luke 22:42;Matthew 26:39;Mark 14:36  ) to save us, the sinners, on the Cross, the ultimate κένωσις/ kenosis. 

God’s Mercy and Compassion  for “Anawin” – God’s Blessings on the Acts of Faith with Love

Because God is gracious and merciful (Psalm 145:8), God does respond to the vulnerable, such as widows and orphans, and to acts of faith with love, such as the widow’s faithful act to care for Elijah. 

This Sunday’s First Reading (1 Kings 17:17-24) certainly describes how God rewarded the poor widow , who sacrificed her last batch of flour and oil for Elijah, who was on survival mode then. Because of her faithfulness through her charitable action for Elijah, God through the hands of Elijah made sure that this widow would not run out of bread to eat (1 Kings 17:15-16).  But, her life faced another challenge, since her only son became sick and died (1 Kings 1:17), as this Sunday’s Gospel Reading begins. 

This tells that we never live a life completely free from challenges and adversities – even though we enjoy having a blessed life with God’s grace. This fact of life also echoes that we still face sufferings and death even though we have been born into the eternal life with Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism. Salvation is not just a one-shot matter with Baptism – though some “Christians” argue so. In fact, salvation is a natural consequence of our daily earnest work of faith with love, in praising and thanking God, no matter how our life circumstances may turn. 

So, the widow in this Sunday’s First Reading suffered from a loss of her only son. Her psychospiritual suffering from this loss was not only painful grief as it was further complicated by her feeling of guilt and anger as 1 Kings 17: 18 indicates. 

When we experience a great tragic loss, a loss of loved one, we have a tendency to blame ourselves, thinking our own hidden guilt and sin were already seen by God and being punished for this. The widow’s guilt in 1 Kings 17:18 reflects this typical clinical phenomena in grief. 

As Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and other psychologists have theorized, anger is another typical response in grief, including anticipatory grief.  The widow certainly experienced and projected it to God through Elijah, because Elijah was God’s representative. 

Of course, God, who is merciful and compassionate, did not treat her in grief, complicated with guilt and anger, inconsiderately. In fact, in the Old Testament theology, the poor are considered as “clients of Yahweh” as the Hebrew word, “ebyon” which is translated as “the poor”, has a connotation to piety, indicates so.  This is an essence of the Old Testament theological concept of “anawin”, the poor of God, whom God cares. 

That is why care for the poor, especially widows and orphans who are vulnerable and tend to be isolated, is God’s declaration and command, through the words of Moses. It is written, “For the Lord, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving them food and clothing”(Deuteronomy 10:17-18); “At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithes of your produce for that year and deposit them within your own communities, that the Levite who has no hereditary portion with you, and also the resident alien, the orphan and the widow within our gates, may come and eat and be satisfied; so that the Lord, your God, may bless you in all that you undertake”(Deuteronomy 14:28-29); “The land will never lack for needy persons;  that is why I command you:’Open your hand freely to your poor and to your needy kin in your land’”(Deuteronomy 15:11).

God declares to defend and care for “anawin” (Deuteronomy 10:17-18; Psalm 146:9; Isaiah 54:4) and commands His people to take up this act of God, act of compassion (Deuteronomy 14:28-29; Deuteronomy 15:11) to assure the dignity of “anawin” in the community. 

Thus, Luke 7:11-17 offers an example of how God protects and cares for “anawin”, demonstrating his declaration in Deuteronomy 10:17-18; Psalm 146:9; Isaiah 54:4, through the acts of compassion (ἐσπλαγχνίσθη/splangchnon). This Gospel passage for this Sunday describes how God fulfills his promise for “anawin”. But, the way Jesus cared for the widow is powerful enough to hint his own resurrection, showing how great and awesome God’s power of love is.

Exergesis – Gospel Reading in Comparison to the First Reading

The Sunday Gospel reading follows the narratives of Jesus healing a dying servant of a Roman centurion in Capernaum (Luke 7:1-10). This event took place after Jesus appointed the twelve Apostles on a mountainside (Luke 6:12-16) and came down with them and gave the sermon on the plain to a large crowd (Luke 6:20-49). In his sermon on the plain, Jesus said, “Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh (Luke 6:21, which echoes Isaiah 61:2-3 and is echoed in Revelation 7:17).  Jesus’ compassionate care for a widow in this Sunday’s Gospel is as if to echo these compassionate words for those who grieve, including widows. 

After giving the sermon, Jesus, once again, returned to Galilee, the region of his home, Nazareth, where he was hostilely rejected before (Luke 4).  In this area, Jesus was in Capernaum and Nain, this time.

In Capernaum, Jesus encountered the messengers from the Roman centurion, requesting to heal his servant, whose welfare he is responsible. Impressed by the centurion’s faith, Jesus healed the servant. After this, Jesus walked to another city in the area, Nain, to encounter the funeral procession of the young son of a widow.

The widow in the town of Nain, near Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, could be as devastated as the widow in Zarephath from the First Reading (1 Kings 17:17-24), as they both lost their only son, in addition to being widows. 

Pretty much the same as the time of Elijah, being a widow was, in way, like being an orphan, feeling cut off from the most intimate object of love in object relations theory of psychodynamics. Such a significant object loss could not only lead to major depression but also existential crisis, which could lead to despair and even suicide, as such a loss could subjectively mean a loss of a purpose of life. 

Not to mention, loneliness is pervasively painful to widows and orphans.  The patriarchal nature of the biblical time of Israel made the pain of grief more complicated. 

Although the Gospel narrative does not provide the widow’s psychological state, it is likely that she was going through anger and guilt, typical psychological reactions to grief. 

On top of loneliness and socially awkwardness of widowhood, the mother just lost her only young son. To such a woman, the son is her last hope. But, now, this hope she was clinging to has been taken with her son’s death. In such a loss after a loss, what else is left for her to discern hope? 

God, who is full of compassion, who is love (1 John 4:8), cannot leave her in such a devastating state, as it was the case in the First Reading. As Elijah cried to God when he was raising the dead son of a widow in Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-24), how can God let such suffering of grief be left unaddressed?

Though Elijah had to go through a ritualistic procedure to raise the dead, Jesus, on the other hand, only needed to touch the dead man’s coffin to raise him from the dead.  While Elijah was raising the dead more with his resentment to God for the tragedy to the widow, Jesus was raising the dead purely out of compassion. 

Restoring the dead only son of a widow to life means alleviating the psychospiritual and psychosocial hardship of the widow.  Having her only son back, the widow can once again have a hope.  Because the social and cultural setting of this story is a patriarchal society, having good object relations with male figures is very important. For widows, therefore, having male children meant more for them to be integrated into the society.  Thus, the fact that Jesus brought the widow’s only son to life means bringing the widow’s social status back. 

God’s Compassion – Jesus’ Compassion – for Anawin is Visceral is ἐσπλαγχνίσθη/splangchnon

 

As I mentioned, the Greek word used for “compassion” in Luke 7:13 is ἐσπλαγχνίσθη/splangchnon. It is not the same as ἐλεος λεος /eleos, which is often translated as “pity”, though some English bible translations use “pity” for Luke 7:13, in describing the motive of Jesus to raise the widow’s son.

“Pity” has some nuance of patronizing from a higher status, thus alluding to a certain emotional distance between the one who offers care and the one who receives the care. However, “compassion”  indicates that the one who offers care and the one who receives the care are more on the same level, as “compassion” literally means sharing painful feelings, pathos, together. 

In Greek, ἐσπλαγχνίσθη/splangchnon, “compassion”, etymologically means “feeling to the extent of moving one’s guts (bowel)”.  By using “ἐσπλαγχνίσθη/splangchnon” in his original Greek text of his Gospel, Luke wanted to tell that Jesus responded to the widow’s grievous sorrow out of his visceral emotions toward her. Psychologists know how powerful such guts feelings are, compared to emotions played in the head. Physicians and biologists know how quick humans respond with visceral feelings, compared to reasons in the head. So, we can imagine that Jesus approached the coffin of the dead son of a widow so quickly, upon sensing the grieving widow on the funeral procession.  And, this is how God’s care for “anawin” can manifest. 

In the New Testament, God’s care for anawin is reiterated by Jesus’ sermon on the plain, “blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20 ) and James’ Epistle (James 1:27). This has further developed into the Catholic moral theology’s preferential option for the poor that the Church must strive for – through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. 

So, this Sunday’s First Reading (1 Kings 17:17-24) depicts how God cares “anawin”, the poor widow who lost her son.

It must be so sad for God to see this poor widow losing her last hope, her only son. In the Jewish social context at that time, being widow was very difficult enough, but losing her last hope, her only son, was far more devastating than we can think, because it could mean that she was reduced to nothing socially. In other words, the poor widow became” socially dead” or “existentially dead” ,upon her only son’s death. But, luckily, she did not seem to have died spiritually. And, God sure intervened through Elijah’s intercession.

Now, in regard to the Gospel Reading (Luke 7:11-17), God’s mercy and compassion for “anawin” was practiced by God Himself through Jesus. 

Luke’s Christological Plot in Connecting Jesus with Elijah and Elisha

If you recall the Gospel Reading of the 4^th Sunday of Year C (this liturgical year), you remember these words of Jesus,” Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon” (Luke 4:25). Jesus said these words, making reference to Elijah in Zrephath , the scene of this Sunday’s First Reading (1 Kings 17:17-24). Jesus did this in response to  the hostility toward him by the people of his hometown.

Through Luke 4:25-26 and Luke 7: 11-17, Luke seems to intend to portrait Jesus as a prophet like Elijah and his successor, Elisha, who also raised the dead (2 Kings 4:32-35).

This time in Luke 7, Jesus was not treated as hostilely as he was before in Luke 4. 

Upon his return, first, he met two elders sent by a Roman centurion, asking him to come and save a dying servant of the centurion.  As Jesus was impressed by the centurion’s faithfulness, he cured centurion’s servant.  This Sunday’s Gospel reading follow right after this healing incident. 

Then, after Jesus raised the widow’s son, people in town thought of Jesus as a great prophet by saying, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst”(Luke 7:16), perhaps thinking of Jesus in an image of Elijah in the First Reading (1 Kings 17:11-17).

Final Thoughts - "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" (1 Corinthians 15: 55)

The narratives of widows’ only sons being raised in this Sunday’s readings echo the son of Mary, who was a widow at the time of Jesus’ death, being raised by God the Father.  

Jesus was Mary’s only son. And she was a widow when her son was crucified, as Joseph was death by then. As the widows in this Sunday’s readings did, Mary also lost her only son. And, God raised the sons of these women – through Elijah for the son of the widow in Zarephath, through Jesus for the son of the widow in Nain, and by Himself the Father for Jesus.  God’s love sure raised the dead only sons of widows.

Of course, it is difficult to take literally, as there is known case of a dead man being raised back to life, except for the cases in the Bible.  So, this is what we take figuratively – at least for now.  Eventually, the dead will be raised (1 Corinthians 15:52; Revelation 20: 4-6), and it is Christian’s eschatological hope. This Sunday’s readings certainly hint this hope. 

This Sunday’s readings certainly alludes to the eschatological vision of God’s victory over Devil in the Book of Revelation, through the narratives of life’s victory over death (First and Gospel Readings)  and God’s grace’s power over sin (Second Reading). God is the source of life and grace, and these are brought to us through the love of God, because God is love (1 John 4:8). God’s love comes through the mercy and compassion of God, as this Sunday’s readings reflect. 

Death has been an inevitable reality ever since Adam and Eve ate a fruit of the forbidden tree – the Tree of Knowledge (Genesis 2:17).  The loss of the paradise through the Original Sin also means the entry of death into the human life, biblically speaking.  Ever since then, the humans have been dealing with and struggling with life-and-death issues.

While life is what God has given us (Genesis 2:7), it was us, the human, who brought death to ourselves by cooperating the devil (Genesis 3).  Dealing with the reality of death means dealing with a consequence of this sin, Original Sin.  However, God of mercy and compassion never leave sinful humans in death – just as God did not leave widows bereft, as the First and Gospel Readings describe.  God do not leave us in the state of sin, either, as the Second Reading witnesses.  The love of God for us, through His mercy and compassion, always bring us back to where God want us to be – life rather than death, faithfulness rather than sin. 

Devil, sin and death are associated. But, the association of  God, faith and life is much stronger than the devil’s association with sin and death. Because God is love (1 John 4:8), the power and victory of life over death and of faithfulness over sin also means the power of love, which never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8). 

We are called to follow God’s example through the footsteps of Christ (Ephesians 5:1). It means that we, too, are to bring life over death, to faith over sin – to cooperate God’s winning battle over devil. And our weapon is love. 

In our practice of love, we strive to make our love more like God’s love, so that we can show our faith through our works of love more powerfully, as Elijah and Jesus cared for widows by raising their only sons.