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RSSNovember 7, Proper 27
11/7/2004
Job 19:23-27a
2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5
Luke 20:27(28-33)34-38
Psalm 17 or 17:1-8
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother." -- Luke 20:28
A custom that may seem bizarre to us, but was absolutely necessary at the time: if a man dies, his brother must marry his widow, so that she may bear children for the family. Their prosperity and her very life may depend on her ability to enlarge her connection to them by this means: a woman alone was a vulnerable figure indeed. Have children, lots of them, so that some, at least, will live to adulthood to take care of you and enrich the family into which you have married. Cement your ties to them. Your family of origin may be far away, and may not take you back: they don’t have to. Insure your position against the many dangers that surround a widow.
Episcopal Relief and Development works in many parts of the world in which these dangers are not ancient history: in modern-day Iraq, for instance, where there are many widows: sudden widows and widows of long standing. The time after the military phase of the Iraq war was frightening for everyone, but most of all for them. Where will I get food? In all this chaos, who will even remember that I am here? How can I leave my house to find food when they’re shooting outside, when violence stalks the streets and I am old, unsteady on my feet?
A knock on the door: it is someone from the church. They have not forgotten you. They do still know you are here. He holds a paper sack, and in it is an array of food -- unfamiliar to you, some of it: milk in powder form, meat in a tin. But it is food. You will not go hungry. Someone has remembered you.
Delivering the basic needs of life to people in the midst of a war is dangerous work. It combines our Lord's basic requirement of us -- I was hungry, and you gave me bread -- with an understanding of what the cross of Christ might mean that few people experience. You and I are not over there: we are here. If we don‘t feel like cooking tonight, we can pick up the phone and order in. But, through our partnership with ERD, we are part of the courage forced on the widows of Iraq and taken up bravely by those who venture forth to find them and bring them food.
Episcopal Relief and Development saves lives and builds hope in communities around the world. We provide emergency assistance in times of disaster. When the immediate crisis is over, we rebuild devastated communities and offer long-term solutions in the areas of food security, health care, and HIV/AIDS.
