"Now indeed I know that you are a man of God,

and it is truly the word of the Lord that you speak."

Woodcut for "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860, by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794–1872), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

We continue to follow Elijah in his journeys. In our present meditation, we find him still living with the widow of Zarephath and her son. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck the home of the widow as her son suffers from a mysterious illness and dies. The prophet is called to account. Will Elijah be able to do something about this horrible situation in the life of this widow, who has shown him such great hospitality at the command of God?

The Widow's Son Dies:

I imagine the woman sitting in a room of her house on the lower floor. Her child lays upon her lap. She attends to every breath in his illness. The breathing becomes more labored and then there is the death rattle. Her pain is to watch her child struggle for life and to die there in her arms (the widow seems almost a type of Mary who at the foot of the Cross watched her Son Jesus suffer and struggle until he breathed his last breath).

Elijah remains in his room on the upper level. Perhaps, the suffering of the woman and her child is too much for him to bear. Is he afraid of breathing in himself the illness of the widow’s son? Does he feel helpless? Maybe, he just wants to give the woman space in her great suffering. He finally comes down the stairs and is greeted by the woman's anger. He is a guest in her house and she understands that the "man of God" has brought disaster upon her for her guilt. She asks, "why?" It is a challenge: "Why have you done this to me, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?" Elijah does not respond. There are no words because he too does not understand these tragic circumstances.

The Heart of the Prophet is Moved with Compassion:

The prophet is moved to take the child from his mother in an act of compassion. He is lifting the burden, the weight of the dead body which is the widow's son. He will carry the lifeless child to his room and present him to the Lord God. Only God has power over life and death. It is the God of Elijah who has the ability to restore this son to his widowed mother. After all, this widow has nothing else in this world. Her son was the only thing between her and total destitution. Elijah feels responsible. He calls upon his God. Remember, Elijah's name means "the Lord is my God." Elijah, trusting his intimate ties to the Lord, prays in supplication: "Lord, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?"

The prayer of Elijah is revealing. He bears in his heart the burden of having caused affliction not only in this widow's home but also in all the land of Israel. Although it was Elijah's duty to pronounce sentence over Ahab and his kingdom by calling a drought upon Israel and the surrounding region, the prophet cannot but help to feel the pain of that sentence. It is a kind of vicarious suffering which is reparative. He suffers on behalf of the people. The change of heart which we will see in Israel will be the result of the miracles, the prayers, and the sufferings of Elijah. All these work together to make the ministry of Elijah truly effective before the people; such that, he will come to be known as a man of God. There is no greater distinction than to be known as God's friend and servant.

Elijah's actions are mysterious at this point. He stretches himself three times over the child who is lying lifeless on his bed. It almost seems as if the man of God wants to lay down his life for the life of the child - to exchange his life for the child. He prostrates himself over the child in an act of extreme distress. He has no other way to demonstrate to God his total inability. "If only the child would rise!," is Elijah's thought as he removes himself each time from the child. (Jesus would eventually lay down his life for us and take it up again in order to bring us to new life with him. Jesus states: "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep... I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep... This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father." cf. Jn 10: 11, 14-15, 17-18). Elijah is not God but a man of God. He cannot restore life himself, but his word is powerful enough to find a hearing in the presence of the Lord.

The Breath of God:

The Prophet Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son from Death by Louise Hersent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Elijah calls out to the Lord: "Lord, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child." The Lord hears the prayer of Elijah and the life breath returns to the lifeless form of the boy and it gives him new life. In the Genesis account of man's creation, we hear how God forms man out of the dust of the ground and blows into his nostrils the breath of life. God's own Spirit is in the divine breath and enters into the man to make him a living being. Man's life then is not only natural but above all supernatural - not just physical but spiritual. The life breath is the principle of man's being. When the sins of men increase beyond repair, God decides to withdraw that breath: "My spirit shall not remain in human beings forever, because they are only flesh." (Gen 6: 3). The consequence of God's withdrawal is that the lifespan of man decreases dramatically: "Their days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years." (as opposed to the 969 years of Methuselah, cf. Gen 5: 27; 6: 3).

There are other instances where the divine breath is imparted to give life to the human person. We could recall for instance Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. The Lord God commands the prophet to prophesy over the bones: "Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Listen! I will make breath enter you so you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put breath into you so you may come to life. Then you shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezek 37: 5-6). Ezekiel prophesied and the bones came together with a thunderous rattle. The bones were then embodied but they did not come to life because there was no breath in them. The Lord instructs his prophet once more: "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy son of man! Say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: From the four winds come, O breath, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life." (Ezek 37: 9). Ezekiel did as he was commanded and the breath entered them and the bodies of the slain came to life and stood on their feet as a vast army!

Jesus, after his resurrection would breathe upon his disciples in?... where?... the upper room! He imparts the power to forgive sin to his disciples with the words, "Receive the Holy Spirit" so that they might bring those who were dead in sin to life in the Spirit. Elijah's miracle points to this event, showing us where the source of all life for the children of men comes... the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God.

A Man of God:

We are now at a turning point in the narrative. Miracles demonstrate the power of God. They often accompany the word of the Lord to confirm its truth. The legitimacy of a prophet was determined by two factors: 1.) their predictions were fulfilled; and, 2.) their prophecy conforms to the known revelation of God. ( Catholic Bible Dictionary, ed. Scott Hahn, PhD, "Prophet"). Deuteronomy illustrates the issue: "Should you say to yourselves, 'How can we recognize that a word is one the Lord has not spoken?', if a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the word does not come true, it is a word the Lord did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not fear him." (Dt 18: 21-22). Every word Elijah has spoken up to this point has had its fulfillment. The woman is convinced: "Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the Lord that you speak."

I can only imagine how Elijah felt when he could say to the widow: "See! Your son is alive." There is a parallel here to the raising of the son of the Widow of Nain in Jesus' own ministry.

God is asking us also, as his disciples, to truly be men and women of God. We must be authentic, practicing what we preach. We must also show a genuine concern for those who ask for our prayers. We cannot live in isolation. The whole Church must be present to us in our times of silence, solitude, and prayer. We must exhibit the compassion of God in our lives.

The statutes of the hermitage speak well to this point:

"Our way of life is monastic and eremitical. It is ordered to the contemplation of God in silence and solitude. It is not, on that account, less fraternal or apostolic, for the whole Church is present to us in our solitude. Although we are separated in space from the congregation of the faithful, yet we are bound together with them all by love in the unity of faith; though they are absent in the flesh, they are near at hand in the mystical unity of the Church."

(Statutes of the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, #8).

With Elijah let us pray for the healing of our own world. We pray that God may raise us all up in renewal through life in his Spirit.

See Your Son is Alive!