To Visit Widows and Orphans

James 1:27    Santiago 1:27

    “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

    To visit orphans and widows. This is interesting to me. It doesn’t say to feed the hungry, to give the orphans shelters and the widows a place to lay their head. It mentions nothing of providing for the physical needs of those in trouble. So what does it mean to visit?
    The literal English definition--since I don‘t speak Greek--for the word is this: to go to see and spend time with somebody, especially as an act of affection or friendship. The importance here seems to be way more on relationship and empathy than on getting all of them food and shelter. The command here is to generally care, and to not be afraid of getting your hands dirty by reaching out personally to the outcasts.

    Something else to note about this verse is that you don’t need a lot of money to follow this command. In fact, you don’t need any. The tool of trade is instead a loving heart and a willingness to obey.

    It is interesting to me that in the New King James version of this verse the word “and” is italicized meaning it was not part of the original text; it was added for clarification. But if you take this word out it almost sounds causational.
    “To visit orphans and widows in their trouble to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
    By genuinely caring for those who are hurting, we, in a way, keep ourselves from being spotted by the world and it’s unhealthy assumptions and ambitions. By relating to and loving our less fortunate brethren we are more easily able to avoid useless materialism and keep ourselves purely focused on what truly matters--Jesus Christ.

    Application:
    I don’t know any widows, but we visit orphans almost every day here. I need to spend more time reaching out to them and loving them even though I only have a very poor grasp of their language.