Even if my house is devoured . . . 32nd Sunday of OT, B
Did Jesus miss the perfect opportunity? He was just talking about how corrupt the
scribes were, who were some of the Jewish religious leaders. The scribes were seeking attention, taking
pride in feeling important, and devouring the houses of widows. Indeed, their taxation on the people,
claiming to be for upkeep of the Temple, took a huge toll on all the
people! And now here comes the perfect
example: this poor widow comes up to place her two small coins, her livelihood,
in the treasury. Here’s Jesus’ chance:
he could have said, ‘Look at this poor widow, how she is a victim of this
corrupt people! Look how you’ve taken
away her life and devoured her house!” And
then all the people would realize how bad the scribes were and might even
revolt. But Jesus didn’t do that. Instead, he affirms the poor widow’s
generosity, saying “Look how she has put in more than all other contributors.” He sees the widow as she is and holds her up
as an example of love to his disciples. Why
this instead?
A similar thing happens in the first reading. At this time, there was a tremendous famine
occurring in the land of Israel. Elijah
had proclaimed that this famine was a punishment upon Israel because King Ahab
and Queen Jezebel had turned to the worship of false gods instead of
worshipping the Lord. So he encounters
this widow, who is about to run out of her food and plans to eat this final
meal with her son and then die. Again,
isn’t this widow a victim? Shouldn’t
Elijah have used this case as an example of the harm that the nation’s rulers
had caused their people? But instead,
Elijah ministers to this woman, encouraging her to be generous with him. When this widow responds in generosity, her
jar of flour remained full for the whole next year, feeding both her son and
Elijah.
We notice that in these readings, instead of focusing on the
harm being caused by society, Jesus and Elijah focus instead on the individual,
affirming their goodness and generosity.
Similarly, in our current society, it’s very easy to be discouraged
about continual bad news. We probably
all have our own thoughts on where we can find corruption in our society and
culture. And yes, it’s important to address
this and work against injustice, just as Jesus does in regard to the scribes in
this reading. At the same time, we know
that it’s very easy to become consumed by all of this, to become continually
angry, afraid, or sorrowful. Instead,
how does Jesus want each one of us to live with Him? Where can we find joy and freedom in His love,
no matter what’s going on in the world?
Let’s consider this widow in the Gospel. Yes, she’s probably had many difficulties in
her life: the death of her husband, a lack of support from others, and poverty. Who knows how she was treated by the scribes
and government leaders? But here she is,
giving to the Temple treasury. She’s not
bitter about having to do this; in fact, if she didn’t do this, no one would
have noticed. No one was chasing her
down asking for her two small coins. But
she does so from the heart, doing so for the love of the Lord and His Temple,
and it is this heart that Jesus sees.
The verse from our alleluia says Jesus’ view on this: “Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Indeed, she has given her very heart to God,
and God desires to reward her, just as he rewarded the widow that Elijah
met. It’s as if this widow is saying,
“Even if my house is devoured, I will still give my whole life in love to the
Lord.”
Here’s the key message: when we are tempted to despair about
the state of our world, Jesus is inviting us to make a personal response to
him. Our faith and generosity, even
though it may seem small in the midst of the whole world, makes a bigger difference
than we realize. In fact, it becomes our
salvation, the praise that we receive from the Lord. When we sacrifice ourselves for the Lord and
for others, our reward goes beyond what we can receive from this world. Our relationship with Christ becomes
strengthened, and we can share more deeply in His joy!
I’m reminded of a story about St. Louis de Montfort, who was
a missionary in France in the early 18th century. He especially preached about our devotion to
Mary, how we can consecrate ourselves to Jesus through her motherly love, and
while he was popular among the people, he was also very persecuted by
government officials and by other clergy, who taught the people wrongly. In one town, he inspired its residents to build
a huge cross on the hill outside of the village. Hundreds of people volunteered their money and
labor to build it over 15 months, but the day before it was going to be
dedicated, the government, influenced by Louis’s enemies, destroyed the
monument, thinking that it was a fortress for rebellion. Therefore, when thousands of people came to
see the cross dedicated to find that it had instead been destroyed, St. Louis
proclaimed to the people something they didn’t expect, “We had hoped to build a
Calvary here. Let us build it in our
hearts. Blessed be God.”
Like Jesus could have done, couldn’t have Louis instead
proclaimed how corrupt the government was?
Couldn’t he have become angry and bitter and inspired the people to
revolt? Instead, he turns the focus
inward, saying that we can build this cross within our hearts. This is what we can do in our spiritual life,
right here and right now. We realize
that we are not fundamentally victims of everything going on in today’s world;
no matter what happens, we remain sons and daughters of God, able to share His
own love with those that we meet. When
we feel like we can’t change the world, maybe it’s our opportunity to see what
we can change within us or for those right next to us. When we feel powerless, Jesus gives us the
power to respond to him in our generosity.
Every day, we have this opportunity to bring this to prayer. When we pray, we come to the place where we
are one-on-one with the Lord, where we can set aside what is going on in the
world around us and focus instead on what’s going on in our hearts. Even when it feels like all we can offer him
are the two small coins we have, our lives have so much value to Jesus, and he
notices how we respond.
In this Mass, let Jesus ask you, “What do you want to offer
to me?” Simply offer all that you are
upon this altar, and with all of our offerings, it is transformed into Jesus
himself, His Body and Blood. The Lord
never misses an opportunity to love us, and he never leaves us empty, so we
pray: “Heavenly Father, through your Son’s sacrifice, we give ourselves to
you. Take our poverty and make us rich
in Your grace.”
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