Tuesday – 10th Week in Ordinary Time – A

In today's readings, we hear from our Lord, our God, who speaks to us through His Word about trusting in Him so that we can follow His ways, where He will lead us into paths of righteousness and faith, so that we can become the salt of the earth and the light of the world, as Jesus describes in the Gospel. But in the first reading, we hear about how the brook near where Elijah was hiding ran dry because no rain had fallen in the land.

So the Lord said to Elijah:

“Move on to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you.” (1 Kings 17:9)

And we recall, my brothers and sisters, that in the Gospel, when Jesus was being persecuted by His own people, and when His own people in Nazareth were not treating Him with charity, with respect, with dignity, He spoke about how prophets are not accepted in their own hometown.

And so He quotes this story from the Book of Kings. In the Gospel of Luke, in the fourth chapter, Jesus says:

“There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and a severe famine spread over all the land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow at Zarephath in the land of Sidon.” (Luke 4:25-26)

So Jesus uses this very story in today's first reading to make a very powerful point, and that is that God sometimes bypasses those who presume to have His favour, to have His bias turned towards them, and extends His grace to outsiders who respond in faith.

The widow at Zarephath was a Gentile, and she was living in pagan territory. And yet she trusted God's Word as sent through Elijah.

But Elijah needed to take the leap of faith as well.

We're told that the brook ran dry. The exact description is that the brook near where Elijah was hiding ran dry.

Now God does not perform a miracle and just make water issue from that brook, because most likely He knew that there was a woman of faith waiting in Zarephath, a widow who would obey the inspirations of the Holy Spirit within her.

And so Elijah needed to trust because God didn't explain things to him. He simply gave a new command.

And we read in the Book of Proverbs:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” (Proverbs 3:5)

My brothers and sisters, isn't this what we're trying to perfect within us as we continue to pray and walk with the Lord day by day? That our trust in Him will grow, just like in any other loving relationship.

For He reminds us through the prophet Isaiah:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8)

And just think of how, in Genesis chapter 12, Abraham leaves his homeland without really knowing where he was going, but he just obeyed.

Because, you see, sometimes God removes a source of security in our lives so that we can learn to depend on Him rather than on His gifts.

So intimate does God wish us to be in this relationship with Him, that He just wants us to give Him everything and trust in Him, and He will work wonders, beautiful wonders. And He'll involve others so that they too can grow in their faith, like this widow in Zarephath.

And notice that God does not send Elijah to a king or a wealthy family. He sends him to a widow, a foreigner, a woman on the verge of starvation.

In fact, she says to him:

“There is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug.” (1 Kings 17:12)

Notice how God, even with very little, can do great things.

David, the youngest, smallest, tiniest, weakest of all his brothers—he is the one that God chose to overthrow the Philistines and Goliath, and to lead a great nation, to honour God and live by His commands.

Gideon, in the Book of Judges, says:

“My clan is the weakest.” (Judges 6:15)

And if we look at our Blessed Mother, for example, who was this young, docile handmaiden, through her the King of kings would be born.

We are reminded by Saint Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians that:

“God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)

Do you feel weak?

Do you feel insignificant?

Remember, you are the salt of the earth.

And with God working in you, you will become the light of the world.

And as Jesus says in today's Gospel:

“Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:16)

My brothers and sisters, did you know that the earliest followers of Saint Francis of Assisi—and we keep in mind that by the time he died there were already 5,000 men trying to walk in his footsteps—yet the earliest of these were his best friends, and they had once called him crazy.

They thought he was losing his mind.

He put aside all his wealth that his father had helped him accrue, and the honours of the world, and he began to trust wholeheartedly in God.

And you know what happened?

Because he let God's light shine through him, through good works, through loving the poor, a joy began to radiate from him, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit within us.

And we are told by the biographers that his friends saw his joy and wished to possess it themselves.

And so lawyers, poets, doctors left everything in order to humble themselves and say yes to God as well, and try to live His will in their lives.