Homily for the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, November 7, 2021. Readings: 1 Kings 17:10-16; Gospel of St. Mark 12:38-41. Theme: God is Never Outdone in Generosity
The stars of today’s main liturgical readings are both widows and they teach us a very important but difficult lesson to learn: that God will never ever be outdone in generosity. The reason it's a hard lesson to learn is because it rests upon trust and the degree of our trust rests upon the strength of our relationship with God as a provident Father. In both the first reading and in the Gospel, we hear about two widows who have nothing but who are nevertheless extremely generous and trusting in giving what little they have for the needs of others.
In the first reading, we see how the widow of Zarephath is on the brink of consuming her last morsels of food. Years of drought have taken their toll and she has little to nothing left in her pantry for her and her son. Resigned to her fate, she encounters the prophet Elijah asking for some food. And so she has a choice to make: ignore the hunger of a holy man of God so that she and her son can have one last meal or relieve his hunger at the risk of increasing her own. How would we respond in this situation?
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us about a poor widow who puts all that she has to live on in the temple treasury. This treasury was a collection of monetary gifts the Jews made for the upkeep of the temple, for the offering of sacrifices to God, and for charitable works. It would be very similar to donation boxes in Catholic churches today by which we support both parish worship needs and parish ministries for the needy. We are not told any details about this widow: Is she young or old? A mother or childless? It is doubtful that she has any living male relatives to support her because Jesus says she gave all she had to live on. These are important questions because back in those days a woman was utterly powerless and socially invisible unless she was connected to an adult male in some way.
But here is the amazing moral to both stories: neither widow is focused on herself to the extent that she ignores the needs of others. And neither widow is greedy and fearful, holding onto what little she has for her own needs. Instead, both of them manifest a living trust in God that enables them to take a huge leap of faith. And both of them receive a reward from the God whom they love, trust and honor. The widow of Zarephath has her generosity returned to her a hundredfold by the ongoing miracle of the jar of flour and jug of oil that never runs out! We do not know the specific reward of the Gospel widow, but we do know that her unselfish action has earned her a public spot in the Gospels and Liturgy of the Church. For a woman who lived in a culture where she did not count for anything, she has become an immemorial example of trustful generosity for billions of believers for 2,000 years!
The Scriptures and the saints are all unanimous in telling us that God will never ever be outdone in generosity. And this is the fundamental lesson that today’s two widows teach us. What this means is that the more we give to him - and by extension to our neighbor in need - the more he will bless us with what we truly need to live. We will never, ever, be without what we need to sustain our lives. The trouble is that oftentimes what we consider necessary is in actuality superfluous, because in our hyper-materialistic consumer society we are led to confuse our wants with our actual needs. Slick advertising tells us to “buy, buy, buy” and we will find happiness. The Word of God tells us to “give, give, give” and we will experience the ultimate joy that never ends.
So what might this all mean for you and me today? Perhaps it's that generosity requires trust, not money. No one can live generously without trusting the Lord. A wealthy person can give vast amounts of money but true generosity requires sacrificial giving. Generosity pushes us further into knowing and trusting the love of God. No matter my income level, if I don’t trust God to provide for me, it will lead to hoarding my resources and closing in on myself and my own needs. To avoid this we must trust that God is truly a good Father who will indeed provide for us and really believe that every aspect of our lives - no matter how seemingly insignificant they may seem to us- matter a lot to Him.
The Widow of Zarephath
The Widow's Mite
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