November 11^th 2018. Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Mark 12,38-44

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL: Mark 12,38-44

In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds,
"Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honour in synagogues,
and places of honour at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation."
He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Sunday’s Gospel presents us with two contrasting figures, one who uses God to promote himself, the other who gives of herself in order to submit to God. The Scribe goes around in flowing robes, looking for attention. He uses religion to advance his own agenda, his own public image. The widow, by contrast, puts her last two coins into the Temple treasury. By so doing, she manifests her radical relationship with God. She could have held one coin back, but instead she gives both. There are no half measures here. She empties herself in order to live out her relationship with God, whilst the Scribe uses his relationship with God to try to fill himself. This brings us to the first reading, where a widow gives her last handful of flour to the prophet Elijah, and then discovers that she has enough to eat herself. It is only when we abandon ourselves to God in faith, trust and obedience, that we are filled by our relationship with him. If, instead, we try to enter the relationship with God (or with anyone else, for that matter) on our own terms, clinging on to what we are most attached to, then the relationship will be inauthentic to the same degree.

The Gospel presents us with two contrasting figures. The first is the Scribe who uses religion to promote his own public image

In this Sunday’s Gospel, two different characters face each other. One is the Scribe, who loves to walk around in long robes, take the first places in the synagogues, and pray at length so that he will be seen. This is the classic image of a person who uses religion for his own purposes. If there were other means of achieving those same purposes, then he could have taken one of those ways of life just as easily. The essential characteristic of this person is that he must receive, possess, be seen, devour. He is in a constant state of hunger, dissatisfied, and must constantly receive gratification. Existentially, he is in an infantile state and he exploits religion in order to satisfy his emptiness inside.

The second figure is the widow. Her relationship with God is not superficial, and she demonstrates this by giving everything she had to the Temple treasury. She is not using her relationship with God to promote herself, but giving herself to promote her relationship with God

In contrast to this figure who mixes religion and the mundane, appears a figure of a very different sort. We are prepared for this person by the first reading, which recounts the story of the widow who comes to the aid of the prophet Elijah by giving him her last handful of flour. This lady feeds the prophet, and in so doing finds that she has enough to eat as well. What a curious thing! The Scribe in the Gospel consumes, consumes, consumes, but remains hungry, whilst this lady gives her food to others and is filled herself! In the Gospel, another widow appears, and this account forms the end of the narrative part of Mark’s Gospel. Afterwards we have the discourse on the last things and the prophecy regarding the destruction of Jerusalem, before the account of the passion and death of Jesus. This widow throws her final two coins into the treasury. This is an interesting detail, because if she had two coins, then she could have kept one for herself. In life, the rest of us tend to do things in half measures. But this lady goes all the way. As such she represents humanity as it stands before God. She is a poor mendicant, but becomes rich by giving these two coins away. The treasure of the Temple represents the relationship of humanity with the things of God, with the cult, with the assistance given by that treasury to the poor and needy. This widow would have the right to receive from the treasury, but instead she gives. And this manifests the quality of her relationship with God. And it is a radical relationship. Despite being a poor widow, this lady gives everything, whilst others give only what is superfluous.

Relationships are only real when we invest ourselves in them, when we are willing to put our most precious possessions on the line for that relationship. If we enter a relationship whilst holding certain things back for ourselves, then the relationship is less authentic. God only becomes God when we abandon ourselves to him, giving him both coins of our existence.

By giving in this way, she touches on what is essential in her life, the issue of her very survival. Our relationship with God remains only a theory that does not touch us in a profound way for as long as we offer ourselves to him in what is superfluous to us. This is how it is with God, but also in human relationships. If the relationship does not affect what is essential in my life, then it remains on this superficial level. If a man and a woman do not love each other to the extent of sacrificing those things that they are most attached to, then they are merely subjecting their relationship to other priorities in their lives. Similarly, God only becomes really God for us on the day that we offer him everything, without holding other things in reserve purely for ourselves. It is at this point that a true relationship with God is possible. That is why true experiences of faith often begin when life takes a serious or grave turn. In that moment God becomes truly God. Otherwise we can treat him like another “app” in our operating system, something that we utilize for our own advantage. On the day that we give both of our last coins to God, in an act of abandonment, an act of faith, an act of obedience – in that moment he becomes truly our God. We need to live in this radical way! The alternative is to remain with an insatiable hunger like the grotesque Scribe, infantile and immature. Here we are talking about entering into a relationship that is grandiose, noble, beautiful, radical. All of us need this for our happiness, for our peace, for our completeness.