1 Kings 17:8-16
8Then the word of the Lord came to him [Elijah],
saying, 9“Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there;
for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10So he set out and went to
Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering
sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so
that I may drink.” 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring
me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have
nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am
now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for
myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be
afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and
bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says
the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and
the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain
on the earth.” 15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and
her household ate for many days. 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil
fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
Naming the Nameless
Did you notice what the writer left out of this Scripture? Did you notice what WASN'T there? Most of us probably didn't even notice. In fact, it took me a long time to notice this detail. The writer left out the names of the widow and her son.
Why would the author do that? Was the writer a Patriarchal Bigot? Well, that's putting our modern moralities on an ancient text. But, being God-Inspired Scripture, I think it's a lot deeper than that. The widow and her son were left without names because they were forgotten by their society.
Look at their situation. When Elijah showed up, she didn't want to give anything away. She was afraid. She was going to go home, make a last meal, and she and her son were going to sit around and watch each other die. Even more disturbing - She accepted this. She stated it so "matter of fact-like" to Elijah as if she were talking about the weather or last night's baseball score.
Let's bring this story into modern times now. Think of all the nameless people we see every day. We see them at work (if your work is big enough), on the street, in the store, at school, and in cars as we drive by. We don't know them; they don't know us; and we're ok with that. I suppose there's nothing right or wrong about that - in most cases, that's just the way it is.
But, what about the times when we choose not to name someone? Or, when we choose to give them a name to make their situation sound "cleaner" to our ears?
I'm going to stick to one issue here - the main issue of most of my postings lately - the humanitarian crisis in the Congo, but please, know that people do this ignoring and renaming in many contexts.
In our Scripture, this woman was called a "widow." That name gives us certain assumptions about her. In her own time, that name, or rather lack of a name, would have been even more powerful. In her time, women were known by their husband's status. Her husband was dead, so therefore, she had no status. She was a "widow." She was a person with no status. She was essentially a non-person.
Was that why she was going to cook her last meal and she and her son were going to die? Why didn't the neighbors help? Couldn't someone spare a little meal? Wouldn't human decency tell you that if your neighbor is starving to death that you would at least give them something? What about the Zarephath community at large? Someone in that community had to have extra food. Why didn't they help? Why didn't they give here even their left-overs?
Right now, in the Congo, there are hundreds of thousands of people who are fleeing their homes because armed militias are doing battle with Government Forces. These militias do not care whether they are shooting at other soldiers or whether they are shooting at civilians. These militias use rape and sexual violence as a weapon of control. They will rape an 8 year old just as quickly as they will rape an 80 year old. They will kidnap children and force them to become "Child Soldiers." - Isn't that another term that takes away a name? Doesn't "Child Soldier" have a certain sound of "nobility" to it? Why doesn't the world call them kidnapped victims of war crimes?
Even the term "militia" makes these forces seem somehow patriots fighting for a cause, when in reality, they are thugs who get a thrill out of murder, stealing, and sexual violence.
The most disturbing term we have for these victims in the Congo (and in any war in the world) is "Collateral Damage." "During the battle between Government Forces and the M23 Militia, there were X number of soldiers killed, Y number of militia forces killed, and collateral damage was high" (or so a news report may say). What is "Collateral Damage?" It is people! Why do we clean that up? Why do we not call these innocent people killed by thugs or by armies "innocent people killed by war?"
Why do we call someone fleeing for his or her life a "Refugee" or "Displaced Person?" Why don't we call them "Innocent people fleeing for their lives from murderous thugs who have no respect for human life or dignity?"
Do these real names I've proposed make us too uncomfortable? Do they hurt our ears? Do they put pictures into our heads? Do we see the pain and suffering of a mother watching her young daughter being raped? Do we see a man refusing to go with the thugs being stabbed repeatedly over and over and over - blood pouring down his whole body before they finally put a bullet in his skull?
Maybe we should see these pictures in our heads...at least for a while. But, we also need to know the story doesn't end with these pictures. The widow didn't starve. God knew her name and sent Elijah to learn her name. As we become familiar with these stories, we learn just how helpless we are. I can't stop the killing. You can't stop it either. But, God can. God knows the needs of the people who suffer. God knows them by name. God has a way of connecting us. God may give you the power to speak and name the nameless. God may give you the power to vote and vote for the nameless. God may give you the power to counsel the nameless. God may send you to the very battlefields where these horrific acts are happening. God will give you strength to do whatever it is that you are sent to do.
No matter what God calls or sends us to do for the nameless, remember this: they stop being nameless! They have names! The one whose wife was murdered has a name and a face. The girl whose parents were killed has a name and a face.
All names and all faces are sacred to God. Let them be sacred to us too!
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