(The following questions have been developed as a way of getting at some of the fundamental concerns of Law and Gospel preachers. To learn more about this unique genre of preaching, see my brief guide to Law and Gospel preaching, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? This story lifts up an example of faith, the unnamed widow of Zarephath. More than that the story announces the provision of God, the utter reliability of God, even in the face of scarcity. The story makes clear that God preserves and provides for God's servants. This is a gospel function.
2. How is the Word not functioning in the text? There is no "hammer breaking in pieces" the human heart in this story (i.e. the Law). No one is condemned here, and yet deliverance is needed - deliverance from starvation. The woman says that she will prepare food for herself and her son, and then die. In this way, though the text is not functioning to show guilt, it is showing us our utter impoverishment, aside from God's provision.
3. With whom are you identifying in the text? We are undoubtedly the woman and her son, starving apart from God's provision. We are the ones to whom Elijah says, "Do not be afraid." We are the ones who receive the call to trust God and give out of our poverty, trusting God.
4. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text? The call to faith is not the call to obedience, therefore the first imperative in this story - "Do not be afraid" - is not a call to obedience. The call to obedience is always the invitation to live in response to God's work. The untold rest of this story is how this woman and her son responded to God's provision for their life.
5. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? As I alluded to above, the Law could be understood here as the starvation which was imminent. If that is the case, then some likely couplets could be despair/hope, lack/provision, and death/new life.
6. Exegetical work: The first thing to notice is that this unnamed widow is a foreigner, from Zarephath, "which belongs to Sidon." Sidon is where wicked queen Jezebel is from. Sidonians worshipped Baal and Ashforeth. If God was going to use someone to provide for the needs of one of God's prophets, this would seem to be a most unlikely candidate. Jesus will later allude to this faithful widow in his first sermon in Nazareth. (Luke 4:25-26). Augustine, in commenting on this passage, suggests that "Elijah came to the widow because Christ was to come to the Church." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scriptures, OT, Vol. V, p. 103) The Church, Augustine suggests, is also an unlikely recipient of God's grace, but similarly is dying apart from God's provision. Again, Augustine says, "Why was it that no Jewish widow merited to offer food to blessed Elijah...? That widow...typifies the Church." (Ibid.) Matthew Henry, in his commentary, notes God's sneaky provision by noting that "Jezebel was Elijah's greatest enemy; yet, to show her the impotency of her malice, God will find a hiding place for him even in her own country." (textweek.com)
7. Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic? Fred Craddock was always insistent that the preacher must bring the experience of the text to the listener. Perhaps our task here will be to help our listeners experience their own desperate hunger and then rejoice in God's abundant provision.
Blessings on your proclamation!
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