It was a blog that broke the news. The audacity of the claim was what made it catch attention. Else, it may have gone the way of many others.
The person in question was a cleric of national repute. Some even said international.
How could he? Was the more common question. And then, how dare he? And others began to pop up.
The backlash was all over Social Media. Posts were made, people wrote treatises, comedy skits were not left out -- just about everyone had something to say.
What got to most people was the sheer callousness of it. What kind of Man of God will ask a widow to sow her last resources as a seed. The woman even explained it was all she and her kid had left to live on.
Some said he was a charlatan.
Whose example was he following? Others asked. Jesus would have had compassion on the woman and made her life better.
That is how they feed fat off gullible people -- buying choppers and jets -- was another spin.
The church and clergy should support the congregation, not impoverish them, was another assertion.
Of course there were arguments for. Some pleading for restraint -- these were spiritual matters. They got attacked.
Many Christians were caught in between. Some took a side. Some straddled the fence, unsure, sorely tempted to like and comment on some very convincing arguments.
It trended till it ran out of steam.
When the economic recession ended, after three years, the widow and her son did not look like they knew it had occurred. They'd enjoyed immunity while the nation groaned under the weight of hardship.
This news did not make as much wave as the first. People tried to make it go viral but didn't quite succeed. The world had simply moved on.
But in Zarephath, they did not forget. A story, of supernatural sustenance, that makes no sense is still told.
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"For God's nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." 1 Corinthians 1: 25
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