Widows and Hurt Feelings

Acts 6 reveals a problem in the early church in Jerusalem. The first problem was that there were widows in the church who didn’t have enough to eat. So the church steps up to care for them. It must have been a tremendous undertaking because for one thing it needed seven men to oversee it… so probably a lot of widows… maybe in the hundreds.

The text also implies that the church set up a place to serve the widows… not serving them in their own homes… because Peter said “we don’t have time to wait on tables”.

So think about what this must have involved… procurement of food (grains, vegetables, lamb), preparation of those foods (cooks and kitchens) and a place to serve it all with tables.

The seven men assigned to this task must have been on site and managing the whole thing.

The second problem was that the families of the Grecian widows thought their people were being neglected and that the widows from Judea were being shown favoritism. Of course in general Jews who lived in Judea thought they were superior to the Jews who were from gentile nations.

What must that have looked like? Maybe the Grecian widows weren’t seated in the most desirable locations… maybe like a table with a window. Maybe the Grecian widows were served last. Maybe the Grecian widows thought they were getting smaller portions or not getting “seconds”. Maybe the support staff didn’t smile and visit with them.

Who really knows for sure but remember that if you have been treated like you were inferior all your life it doesn’t take much to get your feelings hurt. So the 7 overseers were there to make sure everyone was treated with the same care and consideration.

Of course the same thing can happen in congregations today. If you know some members better than others or if you prefer the company of some more than others or heaven forbid if there are members who you can’t even remember their names… they will notice that… and feelings will be hurt. We have to work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Those seven guys could have been going out and knocking on doors and trying to convert more Jews to Christianity and spending all day in prayer but instead they had to go manage a job that someone else was failing at… and it was an important job.

Remember James 1:27