Sunday, November 9, 2003
32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:
1 Kings 17:10-16 – The prophet Elijah and the widow of Sarepta
Responsorial:  Psalm 145:7-10
Hebrews 9:24-28 – A new priesthood
Mark 12:38-44 – The widow’s mite  

Throughout the Bible, the widow, the orphan and the foreigner are the prototype of the poor.  Instead of “foreigner” today we should probably say “alien”.  Like the others, this human category has no one to defend them.  The widow lost her husband, the only person in a patriarchal society who could defend her.  The orphan likewise lost his or her parents.  No one knows or defends the alien.

In Mark 12:40 Jesus scolds the Scribes because they “devour the houses of the widows, making pretense of long prayers”.  What is the sin here?  The widows are not able to administer their property or defend themselves before the court.  Normally these Scribes were corrupt and administered badly the monies. This is why the Scribes, in order to win the confidence of the widows, pretended to be very pious.  The poor widows naively thought that the most pious Scribes were the most honest, and they turned over to them their meager possessions. The sin that Jesus denounces here is the using of religion and piety to trick the poor and to exploit them economically.  Many times, even today, religion walks hand in hand with the economic exploitation of the poor.  This sin, Jesus says, “shall receive a heavier sentence.” The other sins that Jesus denounces in the Scribes were very graphic and speak for themselves:  “Beware of the Scribes, who like to walk about in long robes, and to be greeted in the market place, and to have the front seats in the synagogues and the first places at suppers.”

Today, too, many religious ministers and civil authorities like to use sacred signs and hierarchical distinctions in order to be recognized and greeted in public places and to take the best seats in the churches and in the palaces.

Jesus is presented in the letter to the Hebrews in sharp contrast to the Jewish priesthood and temple.  Jesus high-priest does not offer repetitious sacrifices not interminable rites, but rather offers himself once and for all.  He does not sacrifice the blood of others, but rather his own blood.  His priesthood turns around for all time the nature of religion and of our relationship with God.  Now all religion passes necessarily through the solidarity with the poor.  Jesus now brings about what Hosea announced (6:6) and Matthew took up (9:13): “I want love, not sacrifice.”  That is why Jesus is so hard on the Scribes, Pharisees and high priests of his time, but also of our time.  Today’s text (1 Kings 17:10-16) prepares us to understand Mark 12:41-44.  The two texts breath the same Spirit.  The prophet Elijah announces from a distance, the attitude of Jesus with the poor widow. Jesus is in the Temple, before the chest of the Treasury, and observes how the people toss coins in the chest.  Jesus perceives the reality of what is going on, from the perspective of the poor widows.  The Temple at that time was no longer a place of worship.  There was also the Treasury chest, which functions like a Central Bank and that is where all the economic, political military and religious power gathered.

The center of attention of the crowds which gathered at the Temple was the donations of the wealthiest.  For the Paschal feast some 3 to 400,000 pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem.  The Temple was a cause of great pride of the Jews and the greatness of the Temple depended in great part on the donations of the rich families.  In those times of Roman imperial domination, the Temple represented also the identity and the resistance of the people of Israel.  Therefore those who made donations to the Temple were greatly appreciated, not only for religious reasons, but also for political ones.  The poor, typified in the Bible by the orphans, widows and foreigners, were an unappreciated, insignificant multitude, which was totally ignored.  But not by Jesus, who looked at everything from the viewpoint of the poor.

Jesus, in midst of this crowd of pilgrims, not only notices the poor widow, but also makes a public and visible judgment at odds with the economic political and religious system of the Temple.  Jesus says an extraordinary thing: the widow has contributed more to the Temple treasury that all the rich, because those gave from their leftovers, while the widow gave what she needed, all she had to live on.  From the widow’s viewpoint, Jesus challenged the Temple system, made a radically different analysis of the global reality, and made a judgment that subverted the values that sustained and legitimized the economic, political and religious institution of the Temple. Jesus does not develop a fancy theology or a lengthy discussion about the Law and the Prophets, but rather simply notices a poor widow and from her makes a prophetic judgment that subverts the entire Temple reality.  His argument is the poor widow.  The poor, the judgment-less, the Third World, the underdeveloped peoples, must constitute out viewpoint in all subject matters.  They must be our argument.  In economics, in politics, in sociology, in the Church. 

For our personal reflection:

-Jesus criticizes the false reality of the Pharisees, concerned only about appearances, of what is seen and admired by others, and praises the widow who is unnoticed but who give “more than everyone else”, giving “that which she needed.”

Am I convinced that I should be myself, and not depend on appearances, on norms in which I do not believe, of what others might say, from my deepest and most authentic self, assuming my decisions and my relationship with the world and with God?  Is this how I live?  Do I do things that I would not do if no one were looking or knew about it?  Am I authentic or a hypocrite?

For the group reflection:

-Jesus strongly criticizes those who “devour the houses of the widows, making pretense of long prayers” … Throughout history, and in all religions, too often the clerical leadership no only do not work for a living, but rather take advantage of the goods that come from the monetary donations that the faithful make from their fervent religious motivation.  Make a list of the most dangerous cases: the popular pilgrimage centers, the religious goods business, the stipends for Masses for the deceased, the collections at the parish Masses…

Who is the real owner of what is collected from the community, the pastor of the moment or the community itself?  Who has first claim to whatever is left over (if anything is) once the basic expenses for the parish upkeep are met?  What participation should the Christian community have in managing and administering their own goods and resources?

Jesus also criticizes the “learned ones” who transform knowledge into power, and use it to get social status and to dominate.  What reality can we discover today about this “temptation” that has also been a constant factor in the history of religions?

For the Prayer of the Faithful

For all of us, that we put into practice that which we think and believe, let us pray to the Lord.

For the little ones, the anonymous and insignificant ones, the persons who pass unnoticed by human eyes but are authentic and consistent in their faith and their hearts, that their humility and authenticity continue to generate strength and life for the community, let us pray to the Lord.

For those who have been given the ministry of knowing, teaching, governing and encouraging in the Church, that they may never turn their ministry into profit, nor their knowledge into power, nor take personal advantage of their ministry; that they keep faithful to the service of the community as “useless servants” who never get wound up in themselves, let us pray to the Lord.

For our Christian communities, that they may shine before all because of their good economic administration: participative, democratic, communitarian, honest, and selfless, let us pray to the Lord.

For all of us, that God’s Word that we claim as Christians stir up in us open and receptive attitudes so that all the other words of God might also be announced in many places, to many people, in many different situations, let us pray to the Lord.

For all the Catholic Christian communities that gather on the Lord’s day and are unable to partake of the Eucharist for the lack of ministers in the current model of  Church, that we might find a way that they no longer lack the sacrament that we proclaim to be “source and height of the Christian life,” let us pray to the Lord.

Community Prayer:

Our Mother-Father God who in Jesus has shown us your preference for authenticity, for generous self giving and for consistency between faith and life: strengthen our faith, increase our sincerity, and help us become worthy imitators of the model that you left us in Jesus, who lives in You and the Spirit and among us, forever.