Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B): Mark 12:38-44
Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?
– John Adams, from the musical “1776”
Jesus is sitting opposite the treasury in the Temple as we encounter him in this Sunday’s Gospel, observing people as they make their donations. Why is he there? What is he looking for?
At this point in Mark’s Gospel, it is Holy Week. Holy Thursday would happen in a day or two. Jesus has been preparing his disciples for what is about to happen. They have tried to understand him and to follow him, but they aren’t quite there yet. Jesus knows that their faith will be severely tested very soon. What might help them survive that hour?
When it is one of us who finds our own faith tested, what often helps us is the example and witness of someone else. It’s one thing to hear or read the words of Scripture. As essential as that is, it is also important to see people who live out the teachings of Scripture in their own lives, lives that are very much like our own. We need that witness, that example to imitate, at times. So, Jesus may well have been looking for someone to point to, someone whose life would capture, for his disciples, the meaning of his own life and coming death – and the meaning of their own lives as his followers.
But who might that be? Who seemed to understand what Jesus said and who Jesus was?
It would not be the scribes. Yes, there was that wise scribe in last Sunday’s Gospel who was perceptive and who, Jesus declared, was not far from the Kingdom of God. But not all were cut from that cloth. Scribes were “hired pens” in their day, a combination of notary public, lawyer, and chancery official. They would draw up contracts, wills and other written agreements on behalf of others. Now, dealing with vulnerable people like widows – who had no extended family to defend them and who may have been illiterate – it would have been easy for a scribe to take advantage of the situation. He could charge her a high fee for his services. Or, he could draw up the will or contract in such a way that he got most of her estate, or even all of it. By the time she knew what was going on, it was too late. Given how widows were among the vulnerable ones that the people of Israel were commanded to be especially compassionate to in the Law of Moses, such an offense was doubly bad in the sight of God.
Needless to say, we dare not look down on these scribes as somehow morally inferior to us. The clergy sexual abuse crisis reminds us how easy it seems for some to take advantage of their role as representatives of Christ to abuse others for their own pleasure or to feed their own egos. Nor can we stop there, as bad as that is. Some members of the clergy are not above using their status for personal financial gain. Others associate themselves with political leaders, hoping to have a share in their power and status, and conveniently overlooking anything the politicians might say or do that violates Christian teaching. Still others will memorize Scripture texts and/or Catechism quotes and recite them when needed. One wonders if these clergy are really modeling their lives by these words, or if they have already decided what they want to do and believe and are merely looking for a quote to justify themselves – putting their own words in God’s mouth, so to speak. Of course, it isn’t only clergy who do such things. The Lord is sitting and watching all of us. He is not fooled.
Who else might Jesus point to as a positive example?
It would not be the wealthy who were making large contributions to the Temple treasury. Their generosity was certainly important to the functioning of the Temple. However, Jesus did not recognize himself in them. What was happening here was not so much a gift as a transaction. The wealthy could not claim their donations as tax deductions in those days. However, they were fully reimbursed then and there for their gifts. A priest would announce each gift as it was made, its amount and its purpose. This would bring to the wealthy something even more important than money itself – honor. People would see and hear what they had given. People would esteem them for their gifts – or so they believed. They would be honored, and that was worth even more than the monetary gift itself. No, this is not the example Jesus wanted to point out.
Who would it be, then?
Jesus noticed a poor widow among the crowd of donors. She was one of many such people. She came with no fanfare. Knowing that her gift would seem ridiculously small in the eyes of most, she wouldn’t want to draw any attention to herself. There would be no honor for her gift – only disdain, if anyone noticed at all. Yet, she gave all. She put herself totally on the line for God. There was no calculation, no holding back, no Plan “B”. She embodied the commandment we heard quoted in last Sunday’s Gospel:
Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Not only did this poor widow’s action model this commandment, but it also anticipated Jesus’ own gift of himself on the cross in love and obedience to the Father and out of love for us. He would love the Father will all his heart, soul, mind, body, and strength. Her simple and yet profound act of trust was the very example Jesus wanted to present to his disciples. They had faith, but it may have seemed small and weak to them. They asked Jesus at one point to increase their faith. Jesus is assuring them (and us) by the example of this poor widow. Their faith may seem small and weak to them – like the widow’s two pennies. But if they have faith and put it all on the line, the Lord will sustain them and give them a strength, a love and a peace that is far greater than anything they could have achieved on their own.
We find an echo of this widow’s gift in the first reading. There is a great drought in the land which has caused a famine. We meet a widow who is gathering sticks to make a fire. With that fire, she will bake the last bit of flour she has. Once she and her son have eaten those last loaves of bread, they will have no food. They will die.
Elijah comes along, and asks the widow to make him a little cake before she makes the loaves for herself and her son, promising that, if she does so, the Lord will sustain her for a year. Now she knows that she is almost out of flour as it is – and Elijah wants some of the bit of flour for himself first? It is a test of faith. Will she trust in the word of God or not? She does, and so she is blessed. She and her son and Elijah eat for a year, until the rains return and crops grow once again.
This story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath adds a new wrinkle to the story of the widow in the Gospel reading. The widow of Zarephath, already aware of her extreme poverty, is challenged to let go of what little she thinks she has as the means of opening herself up completely to God’s loving care. This happens to us as well. We find ourselves in some challenging situation that reveals to us our limited strength or resources in some way. Then, instead of consoling us immediately, the Lord seems to challenge us to let go of what little we believe we have so that all our trust may be in him. This may seem like some kind of hard, even cruel test. Not so. Oftentimes, our clutching to whatever security blanket we feel we have actually prevents us from being receptive to the Lord’s grace, a grace that he wants to blesses with – and in abundance. The Lord calls us to be like the widow of Zarephath or the widow in the Temple, and put ourselves on the line for him. Only then can the fullness of his love and grace flow into us and flow through us in order to bless many more people. Jesus’ disciples would learn this lesson after Jesus’ death and resurrection. That lesson is meant for each of us as well.
In our world, Jesus remains seated, watching people come and go, looking for people who will show the same trust in him that these widows did. Jesus isn’t the only one watching us, however. There are many watchers out there. People who may have had faith in God and then felt it run dry for some reason. People who may have had no formal religious education or connection with a faith community, but who find themselves looking for something – even without knowing what they are looking for. People who find themselves disillusioned with the world as it is and who search for guidance or encouragement. All these, and more, look to us as disciples of Jesus. Do we get it? Do we live what we profess to believe? Do we desire to live this way, even though we fail at times? Is there some harmony, some consistency, between our words and actions? Do we model a different way than the way of the world?
Are we “there”? Do we care? Do we see what Jesus sees? Do we live accordingly? The world is looking for our response. Jesus is sitting there, watching for our response. The good news is this: even if our gift of self may seem small in the eyes of the world – or even in our own eyes – Jesus notices. He sees. He who watches over every sparrow will surely notice us, and bless the generous desires of our hearts.