by Jamie Roussie

Here, we see Elijah visit a widow from a foreign town, in a foreign land. This Sidonian woman and her son aren't among the chosen people of God within Israel. Yet, God sends his prophet to her—not to anyone in Israel, among the chosen people—and provides food to these particular individuals during a time of famine. I wonder why God sends Elijah, along with sustaining provisions, to outsiders and not insiders.

Comments Jesus made about this story helped me answer my own question. I see hints of God's unfolding plan to reconcile both people within and outside Israel. God brought a famine on the land to discipline his people in Israel. But out of this discipline emerges hints of what God is doing through his movements in history. I see God provide physical provisions to outsiders through Elijah. Later, God provides spiritual “provisions” to both those in and outside Israel through Jesus. Pointing to Elijah's residenhttp://tools.browncroft.org/route365/edit.aspxce with the Sidonian widow, Jesus says these “provisions” have come to the outsiders. I'm struck by the fact Jesus makes this statement in the context of continued discipline on Israel. But I'm also struck by the amazing, intricate unfolding of God's plan of salvation—seen in a small glimpse here.

A fellow traveler,
Jamie