The Scriptures tell us about two widows. One was a widow and single mom in a town outside the land of Israel in the ninth century BCE when the prophet Elijah was active. The other widow lived in Jesus’s Jerusalem. Widows were extremely vulnerable, for the family was the central institution of social services. That is why “the widow and the orphan (more accurately “fatherless),” who were outside the family system, became symbols of special need for care and protection throughout the ancient Near East. The prophets made caring for widows and orphans a criterion for assessing whether Israel was truly just. Widows needed protection because they had no influence, no voice; they were too powerless to count and, even less, to be models of behavior. Except in the Kingdom of God!
When the prophet Elijah met the widow, Elijah was playing a major role in keeping the worship of the Lord authentic. To performs his prophetic duty, however, he had to leave the land of Israel and flee its king, Ahab, whose lack of just governance Elijah blamed for the drought afflicting Israel. God had told Elijah, “I have commanded a widow to feed you,” which was like saying, “I have commanded a pauper to supply you with money.” That impossible command of God may be the reason Elijah speaks so abruptly to the widow “bring me some water,” and “bring me some bread.” It also makes understandable her reply, “I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour and a little oil, to prepare for my last meal for me and my son.” Elijah insists on being fed first, and then tells her something truly surprising — God will feed you and your young son too. The widow’s kitchen will sustain not only the prophet but herself and her son.
In the Gospel of Mark, the story begins with another attention-getting device – Jesus denouncing the irresponsible behavior of scribes. Far from caring for widows, the scribes end up preying on them. Jesus watches the crowds putting money into the treasury of the Jerusalem temple, and observes a widow putting in two coins of little value. On seeing her, he does something that he does only at key moments in Mark’s Gospel — he “calls his disciples to himself,” which indicates this is an important teaching moment: “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow puts in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
In these stories, silenced widows speak, and their poverty and powerlessness become models for us. The widow teaches us as memorably as Elijah does about God’s care. The second widow teaches us more effectively than the scribes about giving oneself to God. God is the orphan’s hope and the widow’s bread.