Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 17: 17-24; Gal 1: 11-19; Luke 7: 11-17
Dc. Larry Brockman
My wife watched a movie about a widow the other day. It was set in modern day India. It seems a Hindu girl was married at just 8 years old to a much older man. But her husband suddenly died, and she was forced to live in a home for widows for the rest of her life- for the rest of her life! She was in a hopeless situation, caught up in the cultural limitations of Indian society. There was no way out for her! It is something we cannot even conceive of, how a person can be imprisoned for life at just 8 years old through no fault of their own. Imagine the hopelessness of such a person.
The movie was very timely because two of our readings today are about widows. And just like the very harsh treatment of this modern day 8 year old widow, many widows in biblical times were faced with a similar hopeless situation. You see, women in biblical times needed to be represented by a man in all matters. It could be her Father, her brother if the Father was deceased; her husband if she had one; or her son if her husband was deceased. But without this male representative, a woman was helpless, as helpless as this modern day Indian girl was. She couldn’t inherit property; she couldn’t conduct business; she couldn’t hold a job. And back then, there was no Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security- nothing at all to fall back on. So, a widowed woman who lost a son was in very dire straits, indeed. It is understandable then, how biblical widows without a son could be pitied.
Indeed, both Jesus and Elijah were moved by deep compassion for the widows in our two bible stories. It was this personal emotion that drove both men to action, compassion for the plight of widows who lost their only sons.
By contrast, in most of the Gospel stories about healings or people who had died someone always approached Jesus and asked for help, and when he acted, Jesus always said that it was their faith that saved them. But in the Gospel today, Jesus was moved by compassion; nobody asked him for help, and there was no faith involved.
Likewise, in the story from the Old Testament, the widow doesn’t ask for help either. Rather, she complains that Elijah’s presence may have somehow caused her problem; guilt by association, so to speak. Elijah responds out of compassion as his prayer to the Lord implies.
Now in both of these cases, the people who are helped are strangers and not from the mainstream. Elijah has travelled into a foreign country- so this woman who gave him hospitality was not part of Elijah’s people. Likewise, the widow Jesus encountered in the funeral procession was not part of his group of followers; he was passing by a small town in Galilee, not at all the center of Jewish society.
Also, both of our bible stories today have an element of spontaneity to them. Jesus and Elijah are going about their business and the events unfold before them in a flash. These events are up front and personal to them, and it is their immediate reaction that is recorded. And so these two miracles carry a different message than the ones where God responds to faith. Rather, the message of these two miracles is that we need to show compassion for the suffering because God’s mercy and goodness are meant for all people not just the people who follow him and are faithful. The miracles are worked by God because Jesus and Elijah are both moved to compassion for people who are marginalized by society- such as widows; and people who are not close to them.
Elijah and Jesus are acting as role models for us. We are called to the same kind of spontaneous compassion for the marginalized and strangers of our society. Not only that, but extraordinary action might even be called for. In both of these stories, someone was raised from the dead, and that’s about as extraordinary as it gets.
What about our spontaneous compassion? Can we, and do we show immediate compassion like Jesus and Elijah did, personal compassion for strangers and the marginalized right in our midst, like someone that just had an accident; the victim of a home fire; the homeless person in the street; the tourist we encounter that is in some kind of trouble; or even the stranger we meet in some unexpected manner that for whatever reason shares a tragedy with us? Yes, each of us is faced with unexpected encounters like this with total strangers. They happen so fast that we often times don’t think about them But they are God incidents; they are opportunities rather than burdens, just as they were opportunities for Jesus and Elijah.
The next time you have such an experience, remember how Jesus and Elijah responded. Remember their compassion. Remember Elijah’s sincere prayer. Be open to help out; and let God work through you to do the rest.
