Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Nov. 8, 2015

Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

We can hardly miss the similarities between the poor widow who feeds Elijah, and the poor widow in Mark who gives all that she has to the Temple. In this reading, the widow trusted God’s promise and fed Elijah, even though she had so little to eat that she expected herself and her son to die of starvation. With God’s help, her meager ration fed them well for many days until a long drought ended. Now here’s a surprise: The woman was a foreigner, a Canaanite from Sidon, Israel’s hated enemy. Yet she trusted God’s word and was rewarded.

Psalm: Psalm 146

This Psalm begins as a hymn of praise to God. Then its theme changes: God can be trusted, but earthly rulers cannot. We place our hope in God, our creator, who gives hope to widows and orphans; help for the poor, justice for the oppressed, freedom for the prisoner, and help for those who are disabled, alone, strangers in strange lands. This is the pledge of God’s covenant with the people; these are the priorities that Jesus sets in his Way.

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28

Hebrews again this week contrasts Jesus against earthly high priests and finds the latter wanting. The Temple, according to this account, is merely a copy of God’s domain, and its only-too-human high priest found it necessary to sacrifice animals on our behalf repeatedly, year after year, in a ritual that does not last. Jesus, on the other hand, sacrificed himself once for all. When Jesus returns, there’ll be no need for further sacrifice to deal with sin – that has already been done. Rather, Jesus will come to save all those who eagerly wait for him.

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

Jesus is not impressed with the scribes’ ostentatious displays of piety and giving, and he is even less impressed by their hypocrisy or their predatory acts against widows and the weak. But the widow who gives up her two tiny coins makes Jesus happy. Why? It’s not about how much you give. It’s not about giving all that you have, even if Jesus did suggest just that approach in the parable of the rich young man. No, it’s about giving from your heart. The lesson for us is clear: It is not the quantity of our giving that matters. It is the quality of our giving that matters.