Queerying Christmas Eve and Narrative Lectionaries 117 and 118

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Narrative and Revised Common Lectionary Gospel.

Luke 2:1-14[15–20]; Luke 2:8-20
¹Emperor Augustus Caesar, known as Octavian (who reigned from 27 BCE-14 CE) made a decree throughout the entire Roman empire that everyone should be counted in a census. ²This was the first census that was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria (Quirinius was governor from 6-12CE). ³All people throughout Judea went to their towns to be registered for the census. ⁴Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵He went there to be registered with his fiancee, Mary, who was pregnant. ⁶While in Bethlehem it came time for her to give birth to the child. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in blankets and laid him in a feeding trough as there was no place for them in the upper dwelling of the family home.

⁸As Bethlehem was rural, it was surrounded by fields where shepherds would keep watch over their flock by night. ⁹An angel of the Becoming One suddenly stood before these shepherds, and the glory of the Becoming One shone brightly around them. The shepherds were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid. Look! I'm bringing you great news of abundant joy for you and for everyone! ¹¹Born today in the city of David is the Anointed One, the Savior, a Master and Teacher for us all. ¹²This is the sign for you to know the child when you see him: you will find an infant wrapped in blankets lying in a feeding trough." ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel the entire multitude of the heavenly army, praising God/ess and singing,

¹⁴"Glory to God/ess throughout the cosmos,

and to all inhabitants on the planet Earth, peace for God/ess favors you!"

¹⁵When the angels had left them and returned to the ether, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Becoming One has made known to us." ¹⁶So they quickly went into the town and found Mary, Joseph, and the infant lying in the feeding trough. ¹⁷When they saw this, they told Mary, Joseph, and everyone they encountered what had been told to them about the infant. ¹⁸All who heard the news were amazed at what the shepherds had told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them deeply in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned to the fields, glorifying, singing, and praising God/ess for all they had experienced, as it had been told to them.

Queeries for the text:
What is this text building on?
What is the accompanying text?
Where is this going?
How are censuses used for harm? How are they used for good?
How is God's glory experienced throughout the cosmos?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Narative Lectionary 113

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Narrative Lectionary reading.

Habakkuk 1:1-7; 2:1-4; 3:[3b-6], 17-19
^1:1The message that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

Habakkuk's request to God:
²Hey Becoming One, how long shall I beg for help,

and you won't listen to me?

Or like cry out to you "Look at this violence!"

and you will not bring salvation?

³Why do you make me see all these awful things, all this suffering

and make me look at trouble?

Destruction, devastation, and violence are all before me;

turmoil, violent divisions, keep arising.

⁴So the laws meant to protect people are ignored

and justice never prevails.

The wicked, the oppressors, the evil surround the righteous–

therefore judgment, what little there is, comes forth broken and incomplete.

God's response to the prophet:
⁵Look at all of the nations and see what is happening!

Be astonished! Be astounded!

For a work is being done right now in your very lifetime

that you would not believe is happening even if you were told.

⁶For I am rousing the Chaldeans from their slumber,

that fierce and anxious nation,

who march through the entirety of the known earth

to seize and colonize lands that are not their own.

⁷Indeed, they bring dread and fear wherever they go;

they put the law into their own hands and bring honor only to themselves.

[…]

Habakkuk responded:
^2:1I will stand at my watch-post,

and keep watch on the ramparts;

I will keep watch to see what Shee will say to me,

and what She will answer concerning my complaint.

²Then the Becoming One answered me and said:
Write this vision down,

meme-ify it and post it to the socials

so that anyone even scrolling through their feeds will be able to read it.

³For there is still a vision for the time to come that I have appointed

it speaks of the end of all things and it does not lie.

Even if it seems like the appointed time is forever away, wait for it anyway;

it will surely come, I promise. It will not be delayed.

⁴Look at the proud!

Their spirit is not right within them,

but the righteous live by their faith.

[…]

[^3:3bGod's glory covered the cosmos,

and the ground beneath us was full of Her praise.

⁴The brightness was so bright, it was like the surface of the sun;

rays of sunlight came forth from the Becoming One's hand,

where Her power lay hidden behind the light.

⁵Before the Becoming One went out a plague,

and in Her footsteps was left a pandemic.

⁶She stopped and Her stopping shook the entire earth;

with one look all the peoples of all the nations trembled in fear.

The tallest mountains were shattered;

along the ancient pathways,

the everlasting hills sank to the ground.]

[…]

¹⁷Though the fig tree is not in bloom,

and there are no fruit on the vines;

though the olive trees aren't bringing forth olives

and the fields aren't giving forth food;

though the flock appears lost and cut off from the herd

and there are no animals in the stalls,

¹⁸I will still rejoice in the Becoming one;

I will find joy in the God/ess of my salvation.

¹⁹God/ess, the Becoming One, is my strength;

She makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

and allows me to tread upon the cliffs with no fear of falling.

To the leader: with stringed instruments.

Queeries for the text: What is this building on?
What is missing from this passage?
What is the companion text?
Where is this headed?
What does it mean to put the law into your own hands?
How does one watch and wait for the divine?
Why does a pandemic follow in the footsteps of the divine?
How bright is the light of the sun?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 19th after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

How does dealing with the past help to move into the future?

How can scripture strengthen against injustice?

How does proof-texting justify harm?

How do you persist for justice?  How does justice persist against you?

-----

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 31:27-34
²⁷The days are surely coming, says the Becoming One, when I will plant seeds of humans and animals in the two houses of my people, the houses of Israel and Judah.

²⁸And just as I've tended over them to pluck, break down, overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will continue to tend over them to build up and to plant, says the Becoming One.

²⁹In those days there will no longer be the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or the children must have the bad karma of their parents" ³⁰Rather, all shall die for their own harm, the bad apples will remain in the rotten tree that sprouted them."

³¹ The days are surely coming, says the Becoming One, when I will make a new covenant, a new unbreakable promise, with the houses of Israel and Judah. ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I, like a gentle lover, held them by their hand to guide them out of the land of Egypt--a promise that they broke, though I was and remain their committed partner, says the Becoming One. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Becoming One: I will write my law within them, bind it to their DNA, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be God, their beloved, and they shall be my people, my beloveds. ³⁴No longer shall they have to teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Becoming One" for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Becoming One; for I will wipe away the barriers that separate them, and remember their harm no more."'

Queeries for the text:
What is the context for this passage?
What is karma?
What would this day to come look like?
What else is written in our DNA?
How does one cheat on God?
What does it mean for God to be your beloved partner?
What barriers separate us from one another?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his chosen family a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to the judge and saying, ‘Avenge me against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused; but later the judge said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵yet because this widow keeps coming at me, I will avenge her, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” ⁶And the Leader said, “Listen to what the corrupt judge says. ⁷And will not God avenge her favorites who cry to her day and night? Will she delay long in having patience with them? ⁸I tell you, she will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Human One comes, will they find faith on earth?”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
Whose heart is being lost?
What do judges do?
Who neither fears God nor respects people?
Who annoys the powerful?
What happens when you continually come?
What is justice? Who cries to whom for justice? 

What are your queeries?



 

Queerying Narrative 104

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Narrative Lectionary reading.

Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29
⁵When the Pharaoh was told that the Israelites had left Egypt, Pharaoh and his officials' minds were changed toward the people, and they said among themselves, “What have we done, letting our slaves leave our service?” ⁶So he had his chariot made ready and took his entire army with him: ⁷six hundred of the elite chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with his best military commanders over them.

[…]

¹⁰As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back and saw the vast multitude of Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Becoming One, ¹¹ and said to Moses, “Why have you taken us to die here in the wilderness? Were there not enough graves in Egypt to bury us? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Did we not tell you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so we can serve the Egyptians’? For we knew if we left there would be major ramifications to our safety.” ¹³But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, remain steadfast, and see how the Becoming One will bring deliverance for you, for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. ¹⁴The Becoming One will fight your oppressors on your behalf, and you have only to keep still.”

[…]

²¹At the Becoming One's command, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Becoming One sent such a strong east wind toward the sea that it turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. ²²The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground with waters forming a great wall for them on their right and on their left. ²³The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. ²⁴At the morning watch the Becoming One, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into a panic. ²⁵Xe clogged their chariot wheels so that they could barely turn. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Becoming One is fighting on their side against us!”

²⁶Then the Becoming One said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians and their army.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Becoming One tossed the Egyptian army into the sea. ²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; all of them were drowned in the sea. ²⁹ But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

Queeries for the text:
What is this passage building on?
What's missing?
What is the accompanying text?
Where is this headed?
How are the seas affected today?
What would the parting of the sea look like?
How are justice and freedom traded for capital gain?
How does war between an oppressing force and an oppressed force play out?
When is it okay to doubt God's plan?

What are your queeries?

The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai, 1831

Queerying 7th after Pentecost C

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Tanakh reading.

Genesis 18:20-32
²⁰Then the Name said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how serious their brokenness! I must go dwell with them and see whether they have done altogether according to the cries of the marginalized that have come to me; and if not, I will know." ²²So the company turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Name.

²³Then Abraham cuddled close to God and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the just with the unjust? ²⁴Suppose there are fifty who are good within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty just who are in it? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the just with the unjust, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the cosmos do what is just?"

²⁶And the Name said gently, "If I find at Sodom fifty who are just in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake."

Abraham answered, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Infinite, I who am but finite, dust and ashes.

²⁸Suppose five of the fifty of the just are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And Xe said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."

²⁹Again Abraham spoke to the Infinite, "Suppose forty are found there." Xe answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it."

³⁰Then Abraham replied, "Oh do not let the Infinite be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there." Xe answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."

³¹Abraham asked, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Infinite. Suppose twenty are found there." Xe answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it."

³²Then he said, "Oh do not let the Infinite be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there." Xe answered gently, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."

Queeries for the text:
Have you ever argued with God?
When has God changed Xyr mind before?
What is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?
What does it mean to be just?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his chosen family said to him, “Leader, teach us to pray, as John taught his chosen family.”

²Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say something like: Mama, make your Name sacred. Enact your reign. ³Give us each day our necessary sustenance. ⁴And forgive us our wrongs, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the system of injustice.”

⁵And Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to them at midnight and say to them, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before her.’ ⁷And they answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the lights are out, and Stephen Colbert is already on; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though they will not get up and give em anything because em is their friend, at least because of eir persistence they will get up and give em whatever ey needs.

⁹“So I say to you: ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Mama give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Xem!”

Queeries for the text:
How do you pray?
Who receives their necessary sustenance?
Who is indebted?
Who is in a system of injustice?
How do you provide hospitality?
Who else is persistent?
Who asks? Who searches? Who knocks?
What expectations exist regarding prayer? How are they (un)realistic?
How could a parent give a child a snake that is a fish? 

What are your queeries?

Queerying Ascension B

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

 

First Reading: Acts 1:1-11
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning ²until the day when They were taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom They had chosen. ³After Their suffering Jesus presented Themself alive to the apostles by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the reign of God. ⁴While staying with them, Jesus ordered the apostles not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Caretaker. “This,” They said, “is what you have heard from me; ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶So when the apostles had come together, they asked Jesus, “Leader, is this the time when you will restore the dominion to Israel?” ⁷They replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Caretaker has set by divine authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ⁹When Jesus had said this, as the apostles were watching, They were lifted up, and a cloud took Them out of their sight. ¹⁰While Jesus was going and the apostles were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two beings in white robes stood by them. ¹¹They said, “People of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Them go into heaven.”

Queeries for the text:
What would the book of God’s work in the world look like if you wrote it?
Who’s writing books about God’s work in the world today?
What many convincing proofs would you need? What would you provide?
Why would the disciples need to stay in Jerusalem?
What are the times or periods of God?
What is it like when the Holy Spirit comes upon you?
What do witnesses do?
When else has the divine appeared at the feet of those who gaze upward?

-----

Guest queerier, Pace Warfield-May, queeries the Gospel reading. 

Gospel: Luke 24:44-53
⁴⁴Then Jesus said to Their chosen family, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."

⁴⁵Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and They said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Anointed One is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in Their name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And see, I am sending upon you what my Caretaker promised; so stay here in the city until you have been bedazzled in the power from on high.” ⁵⁰Then Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up Their hands, They blessed them. ⁵¹While Jesus was blessing the chosen family, They withdrew from them and was carried up into heavens. ⁵²And they worshiped Jesus, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; ⁵³and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Queeries for the text:
Where have we heard this text before?
Who else entered heaven without dying?
What is significant about Bethany?
Where is heaven?
What happens to a body when it ascends through the stratosphere?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Holy Trinity A

River Needham, M.A. queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 1:1-2:4a

At the starting point, God formed the cosmos and the earth. The earth did not have shape; and darkness was upon the surface of the deep. God’s breath hovered over the waters on the earth.

God said: Let light be. Then God saw the light and that it was Good. God pulled apart the light and the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness Night. Dusk and Dawn were in there too. The first day came to be. Then, God wanted there to be an atmosphere between the waters. Let the atmosphere divide water from the water. So God made the sky and divided the waters under it from the waters above it. And so it was. God called the atmosphere heaven. There was dusk, then dawn. The second day.

Next, God said: Let the waters below gather together so dry land can appear. And so it was. God called the dry land earth and the gathered waters God called seas. God saw that all this was good. Later, God said: Let the earth produce grass, herbs with seeds, trees that bear fruit. And so it was. The earth produced grass, herbs with seed, trees that bore fruit. God saw that all this was good. There was dusk, and dawn. The third day.

Then, God said “Let the sky have lights to divide the day from the night. Let them move about and distinguish signs, seasons, days, and years. Let them be lights in the atmosphere of the heavens to give light to the earth.” And so it was. So, God made two big lights. The biggest one ruled over the day, and the smaller of the big lights ruled over the night and stars. God set these lights in the atmosphere of the heavens so they could give light to the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that all this was good. There was dusk, then dawn. The fourth day.

Next, God said “Let the waters move with collections of living beings. Let birds fly above the earth in the open atmosphere of heaven.” So, God created the great sea creatures, and every creepy-crawly, and the waters were filled with motion; so was the atmosphere of heaven. God saw that all this was good, then God blessed the animals and said “ Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply in the earth. There was dusk, then dawn. The Fifth day.

Then, God said “Let the earth create living creatures after it’s kind. Cattle, insects, and beasts of the earth after its own kind.” And so it was. God made living creatures on the ground after its kind, and every insect after its kind. God saw that all this was good. So, God said let us make a human in our image, just like us. Let them have responsibility over the fish of the sea, birds of the air. Over the cattle and all the things on the earth, even the insects. God created the human in their own image. In the image of God they created them. Male, female, between and beyond God created them. Then, God blessed them and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and take responsibility for it, and for the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and for every living thing down to the smallest insect.

God said: Look – I have given you every herb yielding seed which lives anywhere on the earth, and every tree which produces seeds in its fruit. To you, these things are food. Likewise, to every animal on the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth with a lifeforce, I have given every green herb for food. And so it was.

God saw every thing that they had made, and Look! It was very good. Then there was dusk, and there was dawn. The sixth day.

So, the heaven and the earth were finished. The whole project. Then on the seventh day, God finished their work and they rested on the seventh day from all they had made. God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because in it they rested from all their work which God did in the course of creating.

These were the stories of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Queeries for the text:

Who is the main character in this story?
Why was this creation narrative chosen?
Where is humanity’s responsibility today?
What queeries do you have for this text?
What does it mean for earth to have a start or a birthday?
Are there multiple starting points? What was present at this starting point?
What does it mean to be beyond or between gender?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw Jesus, they worshiped Them; and some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to the disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Provider and of the Prophet and of the Protest, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Queeries for the text:

Which mountain was it?

What are the characteristics of God?  How are our songs about the Spirit disconnected from scriptural references?

What is divine authority like?
How else can we understand the Trinity?

What does it mean for God to be Provider?

What does it mean for God to be Prophet?

What does it mean for God to be Protest?

How is Jesus' great commission problematic?

How is Jesus' great commission comforting?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 19th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 31:27-34

See, a time is coming—declares the Becoming One—when I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with seed of humans and seed of cattle;  and just as I was watchful over them to uproot and to pull down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will be watchful over them to build and to plant—declares the Becoming One. In those days, they shall no longer say, “Parents have eaten sour grapes and children’s teeth are blunted.” But every one shall die for their own sins: whoever eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be blunted.  See, a time is coming—declares the Becoming One—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused them—declares the Becoming One. But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Becoming One: I will put my teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Becoming One”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares the Becoming One. For I will forgive their iniquities, and remember their sins no more.

Queeries for the text:
Who is the House of Israel?
Are humans and cows planted?
What are sour grapes?
How are teeth blunted?
How might we have our hearts inscribed?
How do we do the work of forgiveness?
Does God forget when ze forgives?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.
 

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Then Jesus told the disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ²Jesus said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to the judge and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’  

⁴For a while the judge refused; but later said to zirself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”

⁶And the Powerful One said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God grant justice to Faer chosen ones who cry to Fae day and night? Will Fae delay long in helping them? ⁸I tell you, Fae will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Human One comes, will Ze find faith on earth?”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
What kind of judge are we talking about?
What if the widow had not been just in her request?
How do we wear out the unjust?
Who is more God-like: the widow or the judge?
Where does the after explanation come from?
What does it take for the widow to get justice? 

What are your queeries?