Welcome back, class. Again, keep in mind that in this section of the class we are discovering who God really is. And so, if you remember last week, we learned that Jesus went into the synagogue of his home town, and read the prophecy from Isaiah in which the future Messiah, the Anointed One of God, will bring good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. Then Jesus startlingly declared that that prophecy, the long-awaited coming of the Messiah, had been fulfilled in their midst. In other words, Jesus declared Himself to be the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Before I go more into today’s lesson which describes who God is, first, let’s look at how the people responded to Jesus’ declaration that He was the Messiah, “all were amazed at his gracious words that came from his mouth”. Amazed at his gracious words, I’m hoping I’m misinterpreting how Luke meant it. But if not, what a reaction! In other words, ‘oh good, thank you for being the Messiah’, oh, gee, thank you for being the One who brings good news and freedom’. Gosh, I sure hope they didn’t get it, or really did not fully understood the magnitude of what Jesus was saying, because I’d expect jumping up and down for joy, I’d expect they would be running to tell everyone who they saw, or at the very least a little more heartfelt gratitude, anything other than a passing thanks without much meaning. But wait, that rings familiar to me, isn’t that how you and I can sometimes approach God? With so much indifference, like we don’t really recognize the magnitude of who He is, and we don’t really know or fully understand all that God has done and is doing for us.

If what Jesus said first was met with indifference at best, then what Jesus said next brings up great hostility. Jesus said, “Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when no rain fell for three and a half years and a severe famine spread throughout the entire land. But it was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath- a widow who was a Gentile. Do you think the crowd understood what he was saying? In other words, God sent His prophet to a Gentile widow, who they considered undignified lower- class people, before He sent his prophet to one of them, his own people; and in return, that widow was saved from the famine before them. That must have been shocking, for those were fighting words. But as we know Jesus is always purposeful in what he says or teaches. So, let’s see what this says about who God is. To do so, let us look back at this story of the widow and the famine, and see why there was a three-and-a-half-year drought. There was a famine and drought over the whole land of the Israelites because as 1st Kings 16:32 says Ahab, King of Israel, “erected an altar for Baal and did more to provoke and anger the Lord, God of Israel, than all the kings before him”. It is because the king and people were worshipping Idols, and the persecution against the Lord was so bad that Elijah had to flee from being captured and killed by the evil king. The Israelites did not have faith. They did not believe in or give their allegiance to God, their God, who had revealed Himself and saved them in countless ways. They turned their back on God and He did not bless them. The Israelites wanted to be distant from God, and so reluctantly God allowed them to feel distant from Him.

But in our discovery of who God is, even though His people remained distant, let us look at who God did save. This is the lesson of Jesus’s story. First, let us look at this poor widow. God had such compassion for Elijah, his prophet, but also of this innocent widow. In fact, 1st Kings 17 says that because of the famine and drought this poor widow was about to make the last meal for her and her son. But when Elijah encountered her and told her that God would save her and her son if she would first give something for Elijah to eat, she obeyed. God saw this poor woman, who yes, was a Gentile, but a woman out by herself with no one care for her and her son. This woman probably hadn’t even heard of the God of Israel, the God who saves. This woman was innocent, poor, and in need, but did not know God. However, God knew her, and undoubtedly heard the cries of her heart, wanted to come to her. And when she encountered the God who saves, she obeyed. This story shows that God is a God of love and compassion, who sees the poor and needy, and wants to reveal Himself and save. But it also teaches how we should react when we encounter the living God, we must obey Him first as our Lord and God, in order to be healed and saved.

Likewise, Jesus mentions another healing in which Naaman, a Syrian was healed instead of one of God’s people. 2nd Kings 5 describes Naaman as commander of the army of the king of Syria. He was a great man in great favor, but also had leprosy- an incurable disease at the time. However, a little maidservant girl, who came from Israel, saw that such a good and important man as the commander of the army, and she believed that God could heal him. I love that Jesus uses the example of children as he teaches, it reminds us that children can teach us too. Children often hear the voice of God and respond faithfully which should encourage us to help them cultivate their own special relationship with God. Now, back to the young girl, she let him know about the prophet, Elisha, who had the power of the God of Israel, the God who saves. So Naaman set out to go to Elisha with all this wealth to buy his healing. Elisha instead, seeing the heartfelt longing of the king of Syria, sent word to have Naaman wash seven times in the Jordan river, and the Lord would heal him. However, Naaman, not having met Elisha didn’t listen at first, but after his servants persuaded him by saying, ‘what do you have to lose’, Naaman, the commander of the army, humbly listened to his servants, and went to wash in the Jordan, and so was healed of his leprosy. After being healed, Naaman then went to meet Elisha and said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel”. And although Naaman tried to repay Elisha with the riches he brought, Elisha would not accept it. My brothers and sisters, this story shows us several things about who God is. First, it shows what God can do when someone with a little faith, as the little servant girl did, reveals the power of God to another. It also shows that the healing and love of God cannot be bought, it is a free gift, but it has to be humbly accepted.

And finally, my brothers and sisters, this story about Naaman also reveals another truth we must learn, that we should not have an expectation of how God will work in our lives. To have faith in God does not mean that we treat him like a magic genie, in which we get so many wishes and can tell God how we want him to work in our lives. No, to have faith in God, it means to let God be God. I know that it challenging, but it is what it is truly about. Faith means that we believe that God is the God of compassion who sees and wants to save the poor, captive, and oppressed. To have faith in God means that we humbly submit to His authority, to His power, to His ability to set us free. Faith is not meeting God with indifference, but with joy-filled and heart-felt obedience. Faith means that we let Him bring His love, and healing power however He wants. Faith means that we do not have an expectation of how God will work, but an absolute confidence that God will work in our lives, that He will bring- not just good, but amazing out of bad even though we might have no idea how. To have faith in God means that we surrender, obey, and let Him do whatever He wants, which is far more and better than we could ever expect or imagine. So, let us review the truths this Gospel reveals about who God is and how He saves. God saved those who believed in Him, those who did not distant themselves from Him. And God heard the cry of the poor, but to be saved and healed everyone must humbly obey the Lord- treat Him as God. And finally, God saved how and when He wanted, all that He asked for was obedience and trust. So, let us ask our Lord for a renewed gift of faith, a faith so firm and strong, that we have full confidence and trust in Him working in our lives. A faith that we will not limit the God who has unlimited power and love, but let Him work however He wants to and do amazing things if we just have faith.