The
unity of the church can be threatened in many ways—even over the
distribution of food. The church was growing as a “needs-meeting”
community of faith. And that growth brought challenges, including the
challenge of “overlooking.”
If
we enter a room full of people, we usually look first for people we
know. As a result, we can overlook others.
The
followers of Jesus knew the Hebraic widows. They were the ones
connected with families that they knew, or knew of. But the widows
who came from Greek-speaking Jewish families were relatively unknown.
So in the daily distribution of food, many of them went unnoticed—and
unfed.
As
tensions rose, the potential for church division along ethnic lines
grew. So the apostles called everyone together to address this need.
The apostles would remain focused on prayer and the ministry of the
Word of God. Seven others would serve the needy, and it’s clear
from the names of these seven leaders that they were from a Greek
background. So the church’s unity was restored, and its story
continued.
The
church is still threatened if we overlook others because of
ethnicity, gender, economics, or other characteristics today. May God
give us eyes to see so that the story of his church continues, to his
praise and glory!