(Homily 32nd Sunday in Ordinary
Time-Yr. B)
A generous person
will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. (Pro. 11:25)
There is
indeed, a predominant tendency inherent in the contemporary man to calibrate
the human beings along the lines of the have and the have not; the successful
and the unsuccessful, and finally the poor and the rich. This type of erroneous
tendency often times has plunged man into the clutches of pragmatism, where
those who count are the haves, the successful and the rich. On the other hand,
in today’s readings, the two
widow-protagonists educate us on the difference between being successful and being
fruitful. Certainly, in human standard, the two poor widows were not successful,
but they are fruitful because they maximized the little or nothing they had.
This no doubt confirms the dictum that ‘Nobody is so poor or destitute that he
or she cannot give anything’, the two widows are eloquent expression of that. Many
a times we ask: do I have enough? Or for our defence mechanism we say “I don’t
have enough that I will give out” But the two widows in today’s readings must
have been confronted with this question as well. But they demonstrated to us what ought to be
the authentic Christian response and reaction. The liturgy of today presents to us two poor widows, as opposed to the rich
scribes. They are widows in a pathetic social condition. Ordinarily, they
are judged to be unable to do great things based on human standard, but they
are protagonists of two extraordinary gestures.
In the first reading (1kg 17:10-16)
we see two figures: the widow of the city of Zarephate and Prophet Elijah. The
men of Ahab were pursuing Elijah, and he risked dying of hunger because of the
famine. He went towards the city of Zarephate of Sidon, and on his way he met a
widow with her son. One can imagine the plight of Prophet Elijah, who was
passing through persecution in the hands of King Ahab. He was insecure in his homeland;
as a result, he flew to another country. No person from his village was ready
to help him because they were afraid of the King. The prophet felt administered
by God to go to a pagan country. And in this country a poor pagan widow
welcomed and assisted him. She equally shared what she had for survival with
Elijah. On his way, he met the poor widow of Zarephath, he requested water from
her, and later a piece of bread, and the widow did not make any resistance, she
went and prepared a little cake for him, not minding that, that was all her
hope for survival. This story teaches us that: ●God is present in human history; he does not limit his love and
omnipotence to Israel his rebellious people, but looks with mercy on pagans. He
used them also to do wonders. ●God can
save from any situation, even in desperate
cases like that of Elijah, and can work through weak and inadequate means. ●The
story of the widow’s inexhaustible supply thereafter emphasizes on the power of
the word of God in the mouth of the prophet. In this episode the power of God’s
word is revealed in the fulfilment in verse 16 of the promise made in verse 14.
The hospitality of the widow of
Zarephath that sustained Elijah corresponds to the generous gesture of another
widow in today’s gospel.
The Gospel (Mk 12:38-44) like the first reading
presents us with another kind and generous gesture of a woman, widow and a
pagan too. Here, it was not all about
great things or great donation, just like in the case of the Zarephath widow. The
first woman gave only bread and water, and the second gave just two coins. But one thing paramount in their giving or in
their act of kindness is that they gave with their whole heart, they gave even
all they have, all that is necessary for their survival. The two widows
today demonstrated their total and undivided
trust in God, and they entered into the spirit of the evangelical beatitude:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit”, the poor in biblical sense are those who
neither confides in what they have nor in themselves, but in God. The passage
of the Gospel can be divided into two parts: the first part on Jesus’
denunciation of the scribes, and the second on the episode of the widow’s
offering. The behaviour of the scribes
is contrastingly sharp with that of the widow. The story of the widow however,
serves as a form of catechesis on the Christian duty of almsgiving.
In
the episode of today’s gospel, Jesus
took a curious posture, he sat very close to the offering box, in the
temple, he saw the rich putting in large sums, but this poor widow put in only
two coins. Immediately he called his disciples and said to them “truly, i say
to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to
the treasury”. Jesus praised her for her
generosity, irrespective of the amount she had given. Jesus was counting
the quality and confident nature of her offering, not on its quantity. Man
looks on appearance, but God looks at the heart (1Sam 16:7). God’s weighing
balance is qualitative and not quantitative. Is not quantity that counts
but the quality of one’s internal disposition, the heart. While the rich gave
from their excess and superfluity, she gave out of her nothingness and poverty.
Indeed, before God what counts is not
the quantity of the offering, or the publicity of the gestures, but the
interior motivation and disposition. God wants us to give to Him and our
brothers without calculating. God of course, cannot be deceived by mere
appearance (Jesus at the side of the
treasury penetrated the hearts of the givers). But He reads our hearts and
minds to see if we have confidence and trust in his providence, or we have confidence
in human accruements.
On
the other hand, Jesus denounces the
vanity and exhibitionistic attitude of the scribes. And he denounces the scribes, in the same
manner he denounces our apparent and superficial religiosity made up of empty rites
and exterior observances. Jesus takes a clear position against the
representatives of the official religion. In Jerusalem, according to St. Mark,
as well as Mathew and Luke, Jesus was separated definitively from the leaders of
Israel. He exposed their vanity, ambitions and greed. They love to be revered,
they are desirous of front seats in public places and they even instrumentalize their long prayers to their vanity. They
devour the houses of widows and those that are socially weak (vv.38-40). Jesus does not cover evil;
He does not tolerate falsity and double life at all. He abhors the hypocrisy of a religious observance put as a cover for an
unworthy life. The reproach of Jesus to the scribes has to propel us to
reflect a bit, because we cannot be
contended with a superficial and apparent religiosity, that does not lead us to
conversion.
Instead for the two widows, their
acts of kindness drew God’s attention to their lives; to the widow of Zarephath
God promised “The jar of meal shall not be spent, and the pitcher of oil shall
not fail, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth” (vv.15-16). And He praised the widow of
the gospel thus: “this poor widow has put more than all those who are
contributing to the treasury” (v.43).
In the words of St. Paul, “Each one should give as much as he has decided on
his own initiative, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a
cheerful giver” (2Cor. 9:7). And the
book of Malachi presents the blessings of generous givers in a more fascinating
manner thus:
Bring the tithes in full to the treasury, so
that there is food in my house; put me to the test now like this, says Yahweh
Sabaoth, and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out
an abundant blessing for you. For your
sake I shall forbid the locust to destroy the produce of your soil or prevent
the vine from bearing fruit in your field, says Yahweh Sabaoth, and all nations
will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delights, says Yahweh Sabaoth.
(Mal. 3:10-12)
Our
simple act of generosity will draw God's attention in our existence. The two widows teach us that no person is
too poor to the extent that he/she cannot offer anything. Our generosity should
not be geared towards drawing man's attention but God's. Our motivation determines the authenticity of our generosity. From
the good and courageous examples of these two widows emerge few educative
considerations for us:
►First, to avoid the tendency and
temptation of judging people based on appearance, because apparently these two
women are insignificant and have nothing to offer, but instead they are two
exceptional persons, who are capable of making extraordinary gestures. Their simple gesture of sharing has become
an event in history, and a school for generosity and charity. Let us
therefore, do away with human standard of looking at appearance and emulate the
divine standard, “God does not see as human beings see; they look at appearance
but Yahweh looks at the heart” (1Sam.
16:7). ►Second, from the two widows we learn once again that believing seriously in God, with a
convinced faith, means trusting completely in Him, abandoning oneself to God
and his providence. Whoever believes in this ideal is not contended with
giving from his excesses. ►Third, as a catechesis on almsgiving, the two widows teach us to give without
ostentation, but rather to give sincerely and willingly.
The
second reading (Heb. 9:24-28) is a
continuation of the author’s exposition of the priestly work of Christ in
contrast with the levitical priesthood. The author once again makes some
comparisons thus: The levitical priests had a material sanctuary, while Jesus’
is a heavenly sanctuary with the real presence of God. They repeated sacrifices
yearly, while Jesus’ was once for all. They offered sacrifices with the blood
of animals, while Jesus offered his own blood. The priestly sacrifice of Christ
is a manifestation of Love, a love given once and for all. The shedding of his
blood on the Cross is a sign of his love for the Father and for humanity. The two
widows of today by virtue of their generosity enter into the dynamics of the
sacrificial love of Christ. For we may say that they offered their all, in like
manner Jesus offered his all including himself as a generous gift to the Father
for our sake. Jesus’ is a holocaustal
offering or self-giving, while theirs is a holocaustal giving.
In all, the decision of the widow of
Zarephath to give to prophet Elijah out of his sustenance, is what justified
her before God, and thus attracted God’s blessings and favour, for the jar of
flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry. Similarly, in the episode
of the Markan Gospel, another poor widow puts in the offering box, her two
small tunics, which were her livelihood. Her gesture attracted Jesus, for in
Jesus’ parlance she outshines all including the rich who have been throwing
their large sums noisily in the box. God
recognizes those who give with their whole heart, those who give their all.
The two poor widows acknowledged God even in their condition of extreme
poverty. The two wings of love we meditated upon last Sunday propelled them to
wave aside the question of “do I have enough?” Before God what counts is not the quantity of the gift or the publicity of the
gestures, rather the internal disposition, what counts behind such internal
disposition is Love. And Jesus as
revealed in the second reading, in his priestly sacrifice demonstrated to us
the extend one can go in loving others and the Other. God desires that we
offer ourselves to Him and to the brothers without measure or human
calculations. God cannot be deceived by appearance, for He sees the heart of
each person. He therefore, knows whether we trust in Him or we prefer to rest
secure upon human accruements. The
historic gestures of these two widows have to propel us to ask ourselves the
intension and the motivation behind our little gestures of generosity. Many
give because of pressure, others to avoid embarrassment and some to get
something in return. But true giving should
spring from the heart, motivated by the real value of giving. Remember
always: Our simple act of generosity will attract God's attention! Try and see!!
(Fr. Vitus
M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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