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Page Four — June 9, 2013
Scripture Reflections for
TENTH SUNDAY
IN ORDINARY TIME
LIVING
the
WORD
Sunday,
June 9, 2013
TODAY'S FOCUS:
GOD’S EYE IS ON THE WIDOW
God’s care reaches out to two heartbroken widows,
restoring to them a future that had suddenly
disappeared with the deaths of their sons. God’s ‘power
is at work through the word of the prophet Elijah; the
Father visits His people in the flesh in His son Jesus.
• FIRST READING
See! You son is alive (1 Kings 17:17-24)!
The widow had already seen the power of God working
through Elijah. Nevertheless, she fiercely challenges him
when her son dies. In Yiddish, this is called “chutzpah,” a
nerviness that will not accept “no” for an answer. Elijah’s
prayer to God is equally filled with “chutzpah” and
accuses Him of “killing” the widow’s son. This attitude
can be a reminder to us to pray with insistence and full
trust. God listens, giving the child life again.
• SECOND READING
God revealed His Son to me, so that I might proclaim Him
to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:11-19).
Jewish-Christian missionaries undercut Paul’s authority,
telling the Galatians that he was anti-Jewish and was not
even an apostle. In fact, Paul was called before his birth.
Far from rejecting Jewish ways, Paul was the fulfillment
of the promise of Jeremiah, prophet to the nations, for
Paul preached the Good News to the nations, the Gentiles.
While Paul does not specifically mention his encounter
with Jesus on the road to Damascus, his words are
consistent with what is said about that call in the Acts of
the Apostles. What is inconsistent is that Paul solemnly
Saint Anthony Catholic Church
swears that he had minimum contact with the Jerusalem
community, while Acts implies a more intimate
relationship. This emphasizes the fact that Paul’s call
came directly from God and not through the apostles.
• GOSPEL
Young man, I tell you, arise! (Luke 7:11-17)
The story of the widow of Nain is ultimately one in
which Jesus performs a miracle to show His compassion
for someone who is facing difficulties. This widow had
lost her only son. In ancient times, that was a disaster.
The only way that she could earn a living was to resort
to gleaning, gathering the wheat, grapes and olives that
the harvesters had left. This was, at best, a precarious
existence. By raising her young son from the dead, Jesus
was rescuing her from this fate. Jesus did not resurrect
the young man. He reanimated him. Resurrection means
rising from the dead with a new and glorious body that
would no longer suffer from death. Reanimation means
coming back to life, but only for the present. He would
die again sometime in the future.
• REFLECTION
Widows were not merry in the Bible. They were not
high on Israel’s scale of social importance. Nor on that
of other countries in biblical times. A widow was in
trouble if she did not have a son or another male in the
family to care for her. God’s compassion for widows
shines through here. There is no faith in evidence on
the part of either widow. Neither asks Elijah or Jesus
to do anything. If anything, the widow of Zarephath
blames the prophet for the death of her son: “Why
have you done this to me, O man of God?” This could be
the grief speaking or an assumption that a foreign
prophet’s presence attracted divine attention in some
punishing way. But the prophet’s prayer has God
restore the child’s life. Compassion for the widow
moves Jesus: “When the Lord saw her, He was moved
with pity for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’” Jesus
does nothing more than speak to the young man,
“Young man, I tell you, arise!” And the dead man sits up,
speaking—a nice touch by Luke. The young man returns
to life speaking. What were his first words? One wonders
what God makes of our age, when the precarious
condition of widows in the past has become the ongoing
plight of so many women, young and old, across all
cultures in the world. How many see their children die
before them, the cost of diseases that could be averted,
even cured, or needless wars between genocidal factions?
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday, June 10th
2 Cor 1:1-7
Mt 5:1-12
Tuesday, June 11th
Acts 11:21b-26;
13:1-3
Mt 5:13-16
Wednesday, June 12th
2 Cor 3:4-11
Mt 5:17-19
Thursday, June 13th
2 Cor 3:15—4:1, 3-6
Mt 5:20-26
Friday, June 14th
2 Cor 4:7-15
Mt 5:27-32