Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 10 November 2024.
• First Reading: 1 Kings 17: 8-16 ()
• Epistle: Hebrews 9: 24-28 ()
• Gospel: Mark 12: 38-44 ()
In May 1940, the German attack on France through the Ardennes hills and forests, separated the British and French armies. The British forces fell back on the channel ports, mainly Dunkirk, and were at the mercy of the German army and air force.
And the people of Great Britain, facing complete defeat went to church and led by the King, prayed in desperation as they had not prayed for many a year before. Those prayers were answered in a strange and mysterious way: the German army rested while the air force was fog-bound and could not fly.
And so a fleet of ships and pleasure boats crossed the then calm waters of the channel and evacuated some 300,000 British and French troops. They had lost most of their equipment, all their vehicles but the troops lived to fight another day.
Without those weather conditions, they could have been bombed and strafed to destruction. That was the miracle of Dunkirk.
Yet our readings show us two important lessons.
First, in the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. She also was on the point of giving up. One last meal and she and her son would starve to death.
Yet Elijah was able to ask her to risk all for him – and she did. She put her trust in God and she was vindicated, far beyond anything she could possibly have expected. God did not let her down – and yet it was her trust in Him that put her in the way of that blessing.
In that place of desperation, she was willing to look to God – even the God of Israel, a foreign people – and He met her in her need.
But second, there are the comments of Jesus when faced with the showy and self-conscious religiosity of the teachers of the religious law.
They loved the trappings of privilege, the respectful greetings in the public places and the places of honour in the public gatherings.
They were full of their own self-worth but were indifferent to the needs and sufferings of others. It was all show – there was plenty of display but nothing underneath. Inside they were empty.
And yet there was another widow making a sacrificial offering in the charity box. Not much in money terms but it was all she had just then. This was a generous and costly offering.
But again she was willing to use that offering as a way of trusting God and indeed of worshipping Him in the details of her life.
Both stories are tales of complete trust in and dependence on God. Neither relies of their own qualifications, good works or reputation in the community.
Yet today we are also remembering those whose devotion to duty cost them their lives – maybe not always willingly offered. But they still went forth anyway. They may not have felt very brave, or have been equipped or led as well as they might. Their supplies may have been poor and scanty.
Yet there was a calling to something more than their own direct and personal interest. The discipline and the dangers will have tested them severely, yet they continued in their duty.
At a time when our interests are more in safeguarding the NHS, supporting our welfare needs or managing the environment, the idea of remobilizing, rearming, re-equipping and resupplying our forces may be far from attractive when there are so many other causes and demands on our resources.
I do not say that all this would guarantee our safety, but if they put us in the way of self-denial and of duty then we also may learn a little bit more about depending on God when our resources run out.
And if we do that then we also may read again about the widow of Zarephath and the widow’s tiny offering and find hope.
