On April 9, 2020, I became a widow. It was Passover and the Thursday of Holy Week. My husband Bruce’s heart had been misbehaving for a few years and finally, on that special day, gave way and he was ushered into the arms of his savior Jesus. He finished well. The evening before, family gathered and sang his favorite hymns for almost an hour. Some of our children arranged a Zoom session for one last conversation with Dad that day. He had a glorious home-going. The next morning, I woke up and thought, “It’s Good Friday, and I am a widow.” The thought sent a seismic shock through my whole body.
To make matters worse, Covid had struck and we were told only ten people could attend his memorial service? What do you do when there are eight children, their spouses, and over 30 grandchildren? Months after the service, 50 were allowed to attend Bruce’s honors burial at Arlington National Cemetery—he was a Two-star admiral. The memorial service was livestreamed, the honors burial videoed. Such were the times.
After I had become a widow, I had begun to wonder—What does God’s Word say about widows?
The first verse that came to mind was James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” Just reading that verse brought new hope into my spirit. I was NOT alone! My faithful God said he would not forsake me. And his word directed my brothers and sisters to look after me in my distress! I was not to fear. He was present with me and encouraged my fellow believers to not forget me either.
James, the brother of Jesus who wrote those words, was head of the Jewish Church in Jerusalem. He would have known the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) on which he based this call to care for orphans and widows.
Orphans, and aliens too
So I dug a little deeper into the Old Testament and found three groups specifically identified as deserving God’s special care and attention: widows, orphans, and alien residents. “[God] defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18). The reason God gives to the Israelites for loving the alien is because “you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” The Israelites knew what it meant to be aliens in a strange land for four hundred years. God wanted them to remember that experience and to treat the aliens among them well.
The LORD had built into the law provisions to care for these disenfranchised groups. One of the stipulations was for the Israelite community to leave some of the agriculture and fruit harvest in the fields for the poor people to come behind and glean for themselves, since they probably owned no land to produce food. “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19: 9,10). In that same chapter (verse 18), God said “Love your neighbor as yourself” which Jesus affirmed as the second great commandment (Mark 12:31). Those of us who live in Lancaster County have the privilege of living among vast stretches of farmland. It is not hard to imagine what that would look like in our own fields where some potatoes or berries or apples could be left along field edges at harvest time for the neediest to glean what is compassionately left.
From Ruth's Fields to Lancaster
The story of Ruth stumbling into Boaz’s field to collect food is the perfect picture of how this was meant to work. Boaz, a righteous man, obeyed God’s Word. He instructed his workers to “leave the edges” of the ripened barley stalks for widows like Ruth. As a result of this righteous landowner’s obedience, Ruth had provision for her and her widowed mother-in-law Naomi. When God’s people obey his Word, the widows, orphans, and aliens are cared for. As a result, the community is brought together in love by caring for one another. Incidentally, we learn later that Boaz and Ruth became ancestors of kings—first David, then Jesus. Could it be that compassion is part of what makes us noble?
These meditations in the Word have strengthened my heart in these two years of my widowhood. I rejoice at the newly experienced levels of God’s love for me. Some in my church family have come to help fix my printer, or answer questions about my car, or assist me when the washing machine makes grinding noises. I thank God for programs like Grief Share and the widows’ group that meets at the church.
I am also blessed to see when Petra families adopt children, welcome foster kids into their homes, support our special needs community, or reach out to refugees seeking new homes from war-torn countries. To the widows, the orphans, the resident aliens God’s compassion and concern is extraordinary. And when we live in obedience to his Word that care gets acted out in church families around the world. “Let us love one another, for love is of God.”
Tags: compassion, old testament, poverty, social justice, widow, orphan, care, god's family, alien
