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Institute for Homiletics

A Collaboration of The Catholic Foundation and the University of Dallas

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God’s Eye Is on the Widow

Widows were not merry in the Bible. They were not high on Israel’s scale of social importance, nor on that of other countries in biblical times. A widow was in trouble if she did not have a son or another male in the family to care for her.  God’s compassion for widows shines through here. 

There is no faith in evidence on the part of either widow. Neither asks Elijah or Jesus to do anything. If anything, the widow of Zarephath blames the prophet  for the death of her son: “Why have you done this to me, O man of God?” This could be the grief speaking or an assumption that a foreign prophet’s presence attracted divine attention in some punishing way. But the prophet’s prayer has God restore the child’s life.  

Compassion for the widow moves Jesus: “When the Lord saw her, he was  moved with pity for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ ” Jesus does nothing more than speak to the young man, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” And the dead man sits up, speaking—a nice touch by Luke. The young man returns to life speaking.  What were his first words?  

One wonders what God makes of our age, when the precarious condition of widows in the past has become the ongoing plight of so many women, young and old, across all cultures in the world. How many see their children die before them,  the cost of diseases that could be averted, even cured, or needless wars between genocidal factions? 

Consider/Discuss

  • How would you describe the condition of women in today’s world?
  • Where and how is Jesus calling us to act today to relieve the plight of women? 

Responding to the Word

Jesus, Son of Mary, you befriended the Samaritan woman as well as Martha and Mary. You heard the plea of the Syro-Phoenician woman and raised the widow’s son. You liberated Mary Magdalene from her demons and spoke out for the woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee. Bless our efforts to serve women in our world.

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Scripture Study for

As was the custom of the day, the woman in the first account offers hospitality to one in need, but then she suffers misfortune. She links the illness of her son with the entrance of the prophet into their lives. It is not the power from the body of the prophet that restores the boy, but the power of God working through the prophet. When her son is restored to her alive, the woman responds with an act of faith. Her living son is proof that God’s power works through this man of God,  in a foreign land, for the benefit of a widow. 

Paul admits that he was originally a zealous adherent to the traditions of the ancestors, probably a reference to the oral traditions that the Pharisees developed as they interpreted the scriptures to meet the needs of their time. He certainly knew about Jesus, for he persecuted some of his followers. Paul asserts his independence from other apostles, insisting that he is now a disciple of no one but Jesus Christ. While such insistence reveals a man of strong conviction, it may have been seen by some as arrogant self-confidence. Paul must have realized this, for he credited the grace of God for his change of heart.  

Jesus and his disciples encounter a funeral procession leaving the city that they are about to enter. The deceased is the only son of a widowed woman. This is an unusual miracle, for Jesus seems to have performed it out of his own deep emotion rather than in response to someone else’s request or demonstration of faith. The vulnerable position in society of this widow is the same as that of the widow of Zarephath of Sidon in the first reading. Not only is she suffering the grief of loss, she now is also bereft of a legal advocate. The miracle demonstrates the presence of the reign of God in the lives of people who believe.

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