This story is almost identical to a story in 1 Kings 17:7-16 about Elisha's mentor, Elijah, and the widow from Zarephath. Today's story about Elisha and the widow follows soon after the transfer of power from Elijah to Elisha when Elijah is carried off into heaven in a fiery chariot. It serves to establish that Elisha is Elijah's true successor, as emphasized by the fact that Elisha's first miracle is very similar to Elijah's first miracle.

Widows were among the most helpless and needy people in Israel. In the Old Testament, justice and mercy almost always are connected with helping widows and orphans. They were needy because in the patriarchal structure of this ancient society, women were nobodies apart from their husbands. Widowhood was a social and economic disaster (think of Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi).

The widow Elisha encounters had been married to one of the "company of prophets," of which Elisha is the leader. Her immediate need is that her husband owed money, and the creditors are going to come after her sons to make them slaves.

Elisha starts by asking her what she already has, not what she needs. Interestingly, this is where Jesus also starts when confronted with the problem of feeding the crowd of five thousand people. It shows that God's help doesn't always come from outside, but through our own resources, meager as they may seem.

The widow tells him, almost dismissively, that she has "nothing . . . except a small jar of olive oil." Elijah's first step is to engage the whole community in helping the widow. He directs her to go to all her neighbors and ask for their spare empty jars. It's not much, but God's gift of provision can't happen without this practical step.

The next step seems strange. Elisha directs the widow to go inside all by herself and begin to pour her drops of olive oil into the neighbors' jars. Why the privacy? Perhaps because this miracle is not meant to be a spectacle to elicit dramatic excitement; it's meant to help the widow.

Well, she poured and poured, and had to ask for more jars until there was not a jar left. Again, no fanfare or public announcement. Elisha tells her to sell enough oil to pay her debts, and to live on what is left. The widow's sons are saved from slavery.

This story points to how God is at work in our lives, sometimes in very hidden ways, causing what we already have (things, talents, gifts) to become the means by which we survive and thrive. We don't just look for miracles in the spectacular, but also in the ordinary.