(Homily 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time-Yr. B)
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 were 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 expressions of that. Many
a times we ask: do I have enough? Or for our defense mechanism we say “I don’t
have enough that I will give out.” 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 told him “I have no baked bread,
but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am just
gathering a stick or two to go and prepare this for myself and my son to eat,
and then we shall die.” On hearing this the prophet told her not to be afraid. The
widow without hesitation went and prepared all she had for the prophet, 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 occasioned the declaration of the Word
of God by the prophet. The prophet declared that “jar of meal shall not be
spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied”. 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 passage
(Mk 12:38-44) like the first reading
presents to us 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 confide 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). 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. 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.
For our two exemplary 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). 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 extent 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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