Widows

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” - Luke 7:11-13

The word ‘widow’ was a code word in ancient Israel, not unlike “the homeless” today. It had an impact, largely because the Spirit had spoken repeated through the scriptures that widows mattered a lot to God, even though they were often overlooked by society. For example:

This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow - Jeremiah 22:3

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27

Jesus is stopped in his tracks by this widow, and then he provides justice for her (that’s one important way to think about him healing her dead son, who would have been the breadwinner in the family).

Ask Jesus to awaken God’s Spirit that is in your heart so that you might see someone on the margins of society today that you have not noticed before and to take a step towards justice for them.