1 Kings 17:8-24
Luke 7:11-17
One of the basic structural characteristics of the Christian Bible is the way the Old and New Testament echo and reflect each other. Events in the Old Testament foreshadow the New Testament, or you could say the New Testament engages in a campaign to lay claim and transform the essential elements of the Old Testament – say covenants or commandments – turning Judaism into something different.
These three passages make it clear why people thought Jesus might be Elijah (Mark 8:27-28). In the verses from Kings, Elijah first invokes the power of the Lord to cause a widow’s store of oil and meal to be replenished so she could provide the prophet food and not starve herself and her son. Then the son gets ill and dies, and Elijah calls on the Lord to bring him back to life. Sounds a lot like Jesus’ miracles – in Matthew he performs a food miracle, the loaves and fishes, and in this passage from Luke he calls on the dead son of a widow to rise up from his funeral bier. Of course Elijah calls on the Lord, and Jesus acts on his own behalf. Similar, but transformed.
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