THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
10 NOVEMBER 2024
We
meet two widows in today’s Scripture readings.
The first is a pagan widow living several centuries before the birth of
Jesus Christ. She is suffering from the
severe drought that has ravaged her region, the home of Queen Jezebel’s
father. As she gathers some sticks to
build a fire to cook a final meal for herself and her son, a strange man
approaches and asks her to make a little cake for him. This is no ordinary stranger. He is Elijah, the enemy of Queen Jezebel, who
had called on God to bring about this drought in punishment for the sins of her
and King Ahab. The widow acknowledges
that Elijah’s God is not her god in telling him that the Lord, YOUR God knows
that she has no more food. Elijah
promises that if she uses the last of her flour and oil to make him a little
cake, she will have plenty to feed herself and her son until it rains again. He tells her not to be afraid. She risks everything to trust this word of
the stranger on behalf of his God. Her
incredible faith is rewarded, just as Elijah has promised.
In the
Gospel, we meet another remarkable widow.
Jesus is been in the temple and criticizes the scribes. They take advantage of the respect due to
their office by parading in long robes, accepting greetings in the
marketplaces, taking seats of honor in the synagogues, and places of honor at
banquets. They recite lengthy prayers as
they devour the houses of widows, entrusted to their care. Sitting down opposite the treasury, he
watches rich people deposit large sums of money into the thirteen
trumpet-shaped containers. Those large
copper coins would make a lot of noise and attract a lot of intention. But he sees a poor widow who deposited two
small coins worth a few cents. No one
would have noticed her contribution. But
Jesus does. Like the widow of Zarephath,
she risks everything. She gives all that
she has trusting that God will provide for what she needs, even when the greedy
scribes who should have taken care of her did not. Jesus contrasts her authentic piety and trust
in God with the false piety of the scribes.
The
disciples must have remembered this incident in the temple. Just a few days later, Jesus did exactly what
that poor widow has done. As the Letter
to the Hebrews says, Jesus became both priest and victim. Unlike the priests who offer sacrifices every
day in the temple, Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross only once. Jesus trusted the Father that death will not
be the end. By his sacrifice, Jesus took
away our sins and reconciled us with the Father.
Jesus
invites us to imitate the faith of these two widows. We need to trust that we can risk everything
and receive more back than we can imagine.
We can trust his word, just as the widow of Zarephath trusted the word
of God given by Elijah. Fed by the
Sacrifice of Jesus made present here as we remember it, we too can give of
ourselves over and over again, risking everything in complete trust that we
will receive back more than we could ever have given.
At the time
of Jesus, King Herod was renovating and enlarging the temple. He must have depended on the wealthy to
finance the construction. Sadly, over the
years, I have had to raise significant sums of money to build stuff. In every fundraising effort, we had to hire
professional consultants. They wisely
told us to do what Herod probably did: approach
those who were more financially endowed to begin the process. We heeded their advice and raised the funds
necessary to build lots of buildings, including a new church. But we never forgot those who gave what they
could. We listed all givers on a public
wall, not by advertising what they gave, but by listing them in alphabetic order,
no matter what they were able to give.
The Lord knows the sacrifices of all of us, especially the more
important sacrifices that do not involve money.
He accepts our risks and offers great returns on those investments.
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