“Grant me justice against my adversary” (Luke 18:3). The status of a widow in Opus Lucanum

Abstract

In the present article I propose a reflection on the status (situation) of widows named in Luke’s Work in order to answer the question: can we find in the above New Testaments texts any suggestion of theoretical or practical violence towards this specific group of women? The article is composed of four parts: the first one pertains to the Greek term of “widow” and its use in Luke’s writings; the second point contains the treatment of texts from the Third Gospel where widows are mentioned: Anna the Prophetess (2:36–37); a fragment of Jesus’ inaugural address in the Nazareth synagogue where Jesus says that “there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time (4:25) but the prophet was sent to “a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon” (4:26); a widow of Nain (7:12); the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow (18:3–5); Jesus’ statement about the teachers of the law who “devour widows’ houses” (20:47) and the story of the widow’s mite (21:2–3). The third part contains the analysis of two texts from the Acts of the Apostles: the story of the choosing of the Twelve where Luke writes that the Hellenistic Jews complained against the Hebraic Jews claiming that “their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food” (6:1) and the story of Tabitha being raised from the dead where the author mentions the presence of widows who were helped by the Gazelle (9:39–41). The final part of the article is a summary and reveals a widow as the recipient of Jesus’ and Christian community’s mercy. According to Luke, a widow is a symbol of hospitality, trust in God, faith, sacrifice and unconditional commitment to God.

The analyzed fragments allow to state unequivocally that in Opus Lucanum we do not find any suggestion whatsoever of violence against women. What is more, the presented texts oblige Jesus’ followers to a specific kind of merciful gentleness towards distressed women, with widows being undoubtedly thought as such. The texts warn explicitly against any form of oppression and unfair use of widows’ weak social position. They stigmatize all instances of this type of behaviour, such as devouring widows’ houses by the Pharisees (20:47), lack of interest in widows’ plight and refusal to help them, as in the case of the unjust judge (18:4), or any form of neglect in charitable acts (Acts 6:1). The Acts of the Apostles, which show the first years of the existence of the community of Jesus’ disciples, recommend in particular a specific kind of “structural” care of widows, which was even more markedly stressed by St Paul’s tradition, especially in pastoral epistles.