We share excerpts from this Sunday's homily:
We are reminded today that it’s never ever about the entitlement of a know-it-all Scribe, but always about compassion. The Gospel reveals to us a Jesus who sees with perfect clarity- names the pretensions, sees most clearly the unfairness, the injustice and above all notices the generosity of one who gives without counting the cost. Even now, our generosity, the little things we do no matter how unremarkable give him pleasure. Our task is to keep noticing with the compassionate merciful eyes of Christ, to have his compassionate mind in us, and so to get on our way to becoming compassion for one another.
Initial quotations from: Donohue & Harrington, Sacra Pagina: Mark, p. 365
Context
is everything. And clearly in this morning’s Gospel, the simplicity and
generosity of a poor widow is contrasted with the ostentation and greed of
Scribes, who “devour the houses of widows and, as a
pretext recite lengthy prayers.” Jesus is always on
the side of the poor. And today it seems he is speaking out against the “temple
establishment” who have “manipulated” this widow into parting with the pittance
she has to live on. Jesus is truly God with us, who as the Psalmist sings: always,
always defends the orphan and the widow. He is the tender mercy of the heart of
God, a heart always magnetized by poverty and littleness.
So
then, we may wonder, is this poor widow to be imitated for her generosity or
pitied as the hapless “victim of religious exploitation?” We can imagine her
focus is simply on doing the right thing. Being generous is natural for this
woman, and she wants to be in the mix, to do the communal act, get in line with
the others and throw in her two cents (literally.) It won’t make a big clang in
the collection box like the offerings of the well-heeled; and she could stay on
the sidelines and most people would pity her and understand, but she chooses to
do otherwise. Duty, generosity are her way of being, and giving to God is
everything for her. She freely chooses to give her all. She freely chooses to
give from her poverty. And it is this exquisite choice that makes what she
does, what she gives, so precious and ultimately so imitable. And of course
Jesus notices. How could he not, he himself is the extravagant outpouring of
the Father’s love for us?
Jesus
really understands the widow’s gift and her predicament. Jesus notices the
widow’s offering perhaps because it is his story too. Hounded, harassed and
eventually condemned by the local religious authorities, he too will freely
choose to give over “all he has to live on,” his very life blood and his precious
body, because love is more important. Love and giving from the heart, real
generosity always have the quiet power to overthrow oppression.
We are reminded today that it’s never ever about the entitlement of a know-it-all Scribe, but always about compassion. The Gospel reveals to us a Jesus who sees with perfect clarity- names the pretensions, sees most clearly the unfairness, the injustice and above all notices the generosity of one who gives without counting the cost. Even now, our generosity, the little things we do no matter how unremarkable give him pleasure. Our task is to keep noticing with the compassionate merciful eyes of Christ, to have his compassionate mind in us, and so to get on our way to becoming compassion for one another.
Initial quotations from: Donohue & Harrington, Sacra Pagina: Mark, p. 365
