June 5, 2016 Sermon: "A Place in the World"

Stephen Baldwin

OT: 1 Kings 17.17-24

NT: Luke 7.11-17

A Place in the World

                In the ancient world, people didn’t have retirement accounts; they had children.  Their children were their retirement.  With short life spans, no nursing homes, and no 401Ks, the only thing you could count on to care for you late in life was your child. 

                So who would care for the widow in today’s story?  Her husband had already died.  Jesus happened upon her son’s funeral as they were carrying the body in a casket through a small town.  Since they’re following Jewish burial customs, the town must have been Jewish.  Anybody paying attention would know what this woman now faced.  She was on her own.  That’s probably why the crowd in the funeral procession was so large.  The whole town came out to support her.  No job.  No spouse.  No children. No retirement account or savings.  She was destitute. 

                You might expect her to ask Jesus for help.  That’s how most healing stories go.  But she’s so blinded by grief that she doesn’t even see him.  He sees her.  He sees her situation.  He heals her son, he restores her fortunes, he gives them a house, he provides the boy a job…no, he doesn’t do those things.  This isn’t television and Jesus isn’t Oprah! 

He restores her son’s life.  That is something important and powerful and miraculous, but that is all he does.  He doesn’t give her the world.  He just gives her a place in it.  The rest is up to the boy and his mother. 

I officiated a wedding several months ago, and the groom said his own vows to the bride.  He made heartfelt vows that were quite beautiful, but one particular line caught my attention.  He told her, “I want to take care of you.  I want to provide for your every need.”  And when he said that, she melted.  Her eyes welled with tears, her face grew bright with a smile, and she melted. 

While I appreciate the sincerity of that vow, I question it.  As much as we’d all like to be taken care of by our spouse or our parents or our employers or by God, there is a blessing in limits. 

When Jesus encounters a destitute widow, he does not give her the world.  He gives her a place in it once again.  His assistance to her is limited.  It leaves a hole which she must fill in, which her son must fill in. 

I thought I knew how to handle money…until I went away to college.  After my first semester, I’d blown through my checking account.  Life in the big city is exciting after growing up in a small town.  There’s a blessing in limits.  I learned how to handle money after that.

Craig Barnes is the dean of Princeton Theological Seminary.  Last week he spoke to graduates about the blessing of limits.  He reminded them that when God created us--before we fell from grace--we were given a limitation.  Do anything you want…just don’t eat from that one tree.  Limits are supposed to be a blessing. 

So the next time you’ve had a bad day…the next time your joints creak a little louder…the next time you see that new thing you want so badly…the next time you have to wait in line longer than you’d expected…remember that God gave us limits from the start, for our own good. 

How do we know that?  Because the widow, her son, and her community didn’t expect Jesus to give them the world; they thanked him for giving them a place in it.  Thanks be to God for having a place in the world.  Amen.