Immediate Word

This week's texts feature a pair of stories involving widows (the 1 Kings account of Elijah assisting the widow of Zarephath, and the gospel's telling of Jesus raising the widow of Nain's son). In biblical times, of course, there was no social safety net outside of the family, so widows were especially vulnerable and destitute. Indeed, they are a powerful metaphor for everyone who is down on their luck and for whom basic daily existence is a struggle.