In the first century widows lived a precarious existence. While some possessed property and financial resources, many suffered after the death of their husband. Few jobs existed for widows, and most were dependent on family for help.

This grew into a big enough problem for Paul to address with Timothy. As the church leader in Ephesus, Timothy needed wisdom to deal with a growing crisis of widows.

Paul wrote a long list of instructions. When to care for widows, when to wait, when to encourage them to re-marry, how to charge them to spend their days.

While this at-risk group of women challenged Timothy’s congregation, they also proved a valuable opportunity. As the church supported and valued widows, people in the surrounding city noticed. The widows served others and passed on the love they received.

At a time when many widows sat ignored and grew destitute, a little church in Ephesus reached out to help. This care for the vulnerable yields one clue as to how a few scattered assemblies in the Mediterranean world grew to the world-wide body of believers we see today.

Not only was it the right thing to do, but care for the vulnerable spread the faith. It remains the right thing for us to do today, and few things we do as Christians get noticed more than how we care for the vulnerable among us.

1 Timothy 5 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Mikita Yo