In this children’s sermon, the speaker tells the biblical story of a widowed mother who, fearing debt and loss of her children, seeks help from the prophet Elisha. Elisha asks her what she has, and she mentions a nearly empty jar of olive oil. He instructs her to borrow as many empty jars as possible from neighbors. The community gathers a multitude of jars, and as the widow pours her little oil, God miraculously multiplies it, filling every jar. The widow sells the oil, pays her debts, and secures her family’s future. The speaker uses this narrative to teach that worry can be overcome by asking for help, that sharing even empty resources creates space for miracles, and that collective hope and faith enable God’s provision. The talk ends with an encouragement that each listener, no matter how small, can contribute to others’ miracles.
Chapters
Have you ever been really, really worried? Like when you lose your school backpack or when you're not sure if anyone's going to play with you at recess? What the Bible tells us is about a story who— well, it was a mother who was feeling like she was facing a worry so big that it felt like there was a mountain sitting on her chest. She had No husband. And she had no money. And back then if you couldn't pay your bills, the people you owed money to could come and take you or take your children to work for them. Can you imagine that? A knock on your door and someone says, "You owe me money. I'm taking your kids." She was terrified. Her house was cold. Her cupboard was empty. And she felt like hope had packed its bags and moved out. But then she heard that the prophet Elisha had come to town. She ran to him and she begged for help. Elisha didn't give her a bag of gold. He didn't give her a gift certificate to Woolies. Instead, he asked her a question: What do you have in your house? "Strange question." She breathed deeply and thought. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Oh, except for, I mean, a tiny, tiny jar of olive oil, but it's almost gone. I mean, it's not even enough to cook a meal with." Elisha smiled. He knew that God loves to take a little bit and and make a lot. He said, go to all your neighbors and ask them for empty jars. And don't ask for just a few jars, ask for as many jars as they have and are willing to give you. So she sent her two boys to the neighbors. They knocked on the first door. Knock, knock, knock. Excuse me, do you have an empty jar we could borrow? It was a time of famine, and if there was anything that everyone had, it was empty jars. And that little town knew something that we are learning this week at Big Camp: hope works best when we work together. And so the first neighbor had only 2 jars, but they were tall jars. The next neighbor gave them 5 small jars. And they went from house to house to house and people started looking everywhere for more jars. Under things and over things and around things. And one neighbor called out as they walked past, "Hey! I just found 5 more jars under my stairs. Take them all." Didn't take long before the 2 boys collected lots and lots of jars. Heavy jars. Old jars. Chipped jars. And even some fancy jars. The whole town was concerned, was connected by these empty containers. Even though they didn't know what the jars were for, every neighbor gave what they had. Nobody knew that they were providing space for a miracle. The widow and her sons went back inside their house. They shut the door. They closed the windows. It was just them God had a room full of borrowed empty jars. Mom picked up her tiny little jar of oil. She held it over the first tall jar and started to pour. Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug. The big jar was full. Whoa! Oh! She looked inside the jar. Wow, full. She looked inside the tiny jar. Still. A tiny little bit in the bottom. "Quick," she said to one of her sons, "bring me another jar." She poured again. Glug, glug, glug, glug. Ooh, full. "Bring me another one." Jar after jar. Glug, glug, glug. The boys were scurrying across the floor sliding jars to Mom as fast as they could. Every single jar from every single neighbor was being filled with golden, beautiful oil. After they had filled a lot of jars, Mom said, "Bring me the next jar so when I finish I'll have another one to go to." Her sons looked around the room. Mom was watching the oil go. "Mom, we've used every jar that we have." And at that moment the last jar was full. And the oil stopped flowing. Not even a drip on her face. Mom went back to Elisha. She hugged him with the biggest hug she'd ever given and thanked him with so much joy in her heart. And Elisha told her, go and sell the oil and pay all of your bills and all of your debts and send all those people away who want you to come work for them. And you and your sons can live on the rest of the money, because there would be a lot. More left. That day, Mom got her family back and their future was safe. It all started because she was willing to ask for help, and it was a great success because her neighbors were willing to share what they had. You know, sometimes you might feel empty. You might feel like you don't have enough talent or enough strength or enough hope. But look around at the people sitting here today. These people are your hope and your future. We are together in hope when we share what we have, even if it is just empty jars. Whatever we share, God fills up. When we are together in hope, we will provide the space for God to do miracles. And you are never too small to help someone else receive a miracle.
