The Possible - 1st Kings 17:8-24

It was not a religious movie…in fact very little, if any, reference to God was made throughout the movie.  However, it was from this movie that the title of the sermon was derived.  Anita, Davey, and I watched the movie about two weeks ago.  It is the true story of one family caught up in the December 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand as this family of five traveled for a holiday vacation.  The family had just settled in to their ocean front villa and moved outside to the pool area when the birds began flying off and a dull roar turned into the massive set of waves that devastated the resort and all the rest of the area.  We watch as the dad and two sons are swept one direction, the mom is pushed through a class barrier, and the oldest son dives underwater in the pool.  It is unthinkable that any of them would survive, yet we soon see the mom and eldest son as the disaster film, The Impossible, fully gets underway.  While not about a tsunami, it was this movie that first came to mind as I read the Old Testament scripture passages assigned for this Sunday. 

In the verses just prior to our passage this morning, we are first introduced to the prophet Elijah.  We don’t get a backstory or even his call story, we are introduced to Elijah as he stands before King Ahab, who had turned from God, marrying Jezebel of Sidon, and began worshipping her false god, Ba’al, and leading the people of Israel astray in their faith.  Seemingly out of nowhere Elijah confronts Ahab, pronouncing a drought upon Israel as punishment.  After pronouncing the judgment and announcing the drought, Elijah hides out by a stream for water, while God sends ravens with food.  However, with a drought set in, the riverbed dries up, and Elijah is forced to relocate.  God gives him directions.  Ironically those directions do not send him to a wealthy Israelite to provide for him. 

Instead, and this is where our reading began this morning, God directs Elijah to leave Israel and travel to Jezebel’s home country, Sidon…and not to a wealthy ruler in Sidon, but to a poor widow.  Arriving in Zarephath of Sidon, Elijah sees that the drought has left this region as bad as Israel.  Finding the widow that God had directed him to, Elijah asks her to bring him some water.  The widow stops her stick-gathering and heads off to get him some water to quench his thirst, probably feeling somewhat obligated to do something in a culture where hospitality to strangers was considered a true reflection of a person’s character.  However, Elijah did not cease his requests with a plea for water.  He followed it up with a request that stopped the woman dead in her tracks.  Elijah had already asked for water, and as she made her way to probably get a drinking vessel filled with the precious commodity, Elijah says, “Hey, since you have to go back by your house anyways, will you bring me back a bite to eat—in fact a morsel of bread would hit the spot.  With that request the woman froze, we soon learn her whole story, and so we can almost hear her shout inside her head, “You’re expecting “the impossible.”  The widow turns back to Elijah, preparing to violate all hospitality codes, and refuse, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have any bread made.  In fact, I only have a handful of meal left at home and just a bit of oil.  I was going to go home and use it to fix the last meal for me and my son, so we can eat it and prepare to die.”

Elijah, either realizing the way he had put his request had been insensitive to the woman’s needs, or, more likely, having set the whole scenario up, was ready with his response, “Ma’am, don’t be afraid…go and prepare that final meal, don’t even worry about my water, but before you prepare y’all’s final meal, make me a little cake.  If you will trust me and offer me the cake before preparing the bread for yourself you will see my God at work. You will witness 'The Possible'!  If you will place your trust in the One you call my God, and see that He is also your God, you will see that the jar of meal will not be emptied, not the jug of oil run dry until the Lord send rain upon the land again."  The widow did exactly as Elijah told her, and to her amazement, "the impossible" became "the possible," for as long as the skies stayed shut, neither the jar of meal, not the jug of oil emptied.

Elijah, considered foremost among Israel's prophets repeatedly reveals that with our God the presumably impossible is possible.  The very next scene, included in our reading today continues the theme of moving from impossible to possible. The woman and her son survived the threat of starvation because of the drought, only to find illness creep into the household and take hold of the woman's son and he dies.   The grieving widow, already familiar with the taste, pain, and finality of death cries out to Elijah, "My son and I were content to have died from starvation, we would have died together, but you came into our lives and drew the attention of your God to my sin and now I've been punished by the death of my son."

From the Scripture we read that after she confronts Elijah with this terrible calamity, Elijah simply asks for the child and takes the child up to his room. We don't know what, if anything else, he told the mother. Maybe he said nothing and she just assumed that this man of God was going to perform some Jewish burial preparation to the body.  The idea that her child might not be dead, our might live again would have been declared "impossible."  For most Jews and other cultures of this time, dead was dead...the only thing left for anyone to do would be to become worm food.  Yet after a very strange prayer ritual with Elijah crying out to God on behalf of the child and his mother, we witness "the impossible" becoming "the possible."  The next thing we know Elijah is carrying the formally dead child, and presents him alive to the widow.

Over and over again in God's Word we read God taking what the world would call "impossible" and making them "the possible."

The Hebrew people found themselves trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army.  Anything other than sure and certain capture and a return to slavery would have been declared "impossible."  Yet Moses lifted his staff and the people gather on the shoreline saw God take the impossible and make it "the possible" as the waters pushed back and the Hebrews walked through on dry land.

Joshua and the people of Israel came up against the super-fortified city of Jericho. Taking this city would be impossible with their outnumbered forces. Yet as the trumpets bless and the people shouted, they saw the walls come crumbling down God made the impossible, possible.

It had been declared an impossible fight to go against Goliath, but David, his sling, and that single stone showed what God could make possible.

Death should have surely meet Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the fiery furnace and lion's den. Survival was impossible.  However the impossible became possible with God.

Then the God of "the possible" did the impossible and took on human flesh becoming one of us...and saw the impossible became possible through Him: the hungry were fed, the lame walked, the possessed became free, the blind saw, the dead heard, and the dead lived.  He was crucified, placed in a tomb, and when the disciples who had thought the Messiah had come, but now believed it was impossible, found an empty tomb, as the impossible became possible...the One who declared that with God "all things are possible" had been resurrected.

My Brothers and Sisters, the God we worship is the God who takes the impossible and makes them possible.  With the prophet Elijah, the people of Israel alongside both Moses, then Joshua, Daniel and his friends, and those who gathered around Jesus, when they placed all their faith, their complete trust in God, they witnessed the impossibilities in their lives turn into possibilities.

Where are the impossibilities in our lives?

Do we struggle with an addiction that we think it is impossible to overcome?

Is there a relationship with a family member that is so strained reconciliation appears to be impossible?

Are we battling physical or mental illness and recovery seems out of reach?

Does it appear impossible that we are going to be able to survive financially?

Does taking up our cross and following Christ impossible with our limited abilities?

My friends, when we are faced with what everyone, including ourselves, considers impossible…let us remember Elijah, the widow, and her son…and placing our complete trust in Him, surrender to the God who makes “the impossible” become “the possible.”

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.