I read a chapter of the Bible every morning, and this morning's chapter just happened to be James 2, James Chapter 2, which was,

don't seek to be teachers because they'll be judged most harshly. I would hope that is not an invitation.

So my name is Chris Christensen, for those of you who don't know me.

I'm not teaching a Bible study at Bethel right now, but I still do teach two Bible studies a week.

One is online on the Internet that you would be welcome to join.

The other one, I would prefer, especially those of you who might be junior high or high school boys not join,

because I teach a Bible study in Juvenile Hall in a lockdown unit for violent youth offenders.

So I know more murderers and gangbangers than I used to know. But we'll talk about that a little later. So as I looked at the lessons this morning, I was struck by the similarity between

the Old Testament lesson of the widow

and Elijah, the widow of Zarifath, and the New Testament lesson with Jesus talking about

the Pharisees devouring the houses of widows and this widow who is in the treasury.

Widows are a quite common theme in the Bible.

If we go back to the law, we find in Deuteronomy verses that say things like,

don't deny justice to the fatherless, the foreigner, or take the cloak of a widow as a pledge.

In the prophets, in the prophet Elijah, prophet Isaiah, in the first chapter, we get a verse that says,

learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless,

and plead the case of the widow. Over in the New Testament, Jesus talks about the widow who

goes to the unrighteous judge to plead her case.

And then probably the most bizarre story that Jesus talks about in the New Testament.

He talks about the man who dies and his widow marries his brother,

who dies and she marries the brother, who dies and marries the brother,

who dies and marries the brother, and marries the brother, and marries the widow is a widow again.

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