REAL GIFT IS SACRIFICIAL

REAL GIFT IS SACRIFICIAL

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

November, 8, 2009

Today, the Church presents us the beautiful stories of two widows. One gave the only food she had to a prophet, Elijah. The other widow gave the only money she had so that sacrifice could be offered in the Temple and the bills of the Temple paid. We are presented with two remarkable stories of two women who gave everything they had for others. The widow of Zarephath gave the last food she had to Prophet Elijah, and because of her kindness, she never lacked food for the next one year even though there was famine in the land. The widow at the treasury gave her last coins and her offering was considered the greatest by Jesus Christ.

A lot of people who don’t even know much about the Bible would know what you are talking about if you mention the widow’s mite. Christians and non-Christians, Churchgoers and non-churchgoers know about the story of a poor widow in today’s Gospel reading from Mark 12: 41-44. It is a story of great sacrifice.

Jesus had gone to sit quietly opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. The treasury is the collection boxes where people throw in money for special purposes like the buying of corn or wine or oil for the sacrifices. They were contributions for the daily sacrifices and expenses of the Temple. Many people threw in quite considerable contributions. The Gospel says “Many rich people put in large sums.” Then a widow appeared. She is not just any widow; she is a poor wretched widow. She put in two mites- two small coins like two cents. But her offering caught the attention of Jesus. Jesus was watching as people put in their money. The rich, out of their surplus wealth made huge donations. But the poor widow, from her poverty, has given all she had, her whole livelihood. Jesus was so thrilled that he called his disciples and said “…this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury.”

The story of the widow at the treasury reminds us again what we already know about Christian discipleship- that God does not need money. He needs us. He wants us. This poor widow did not give God money; she gave herself entirely to God; she gave everything to God. She gave her entire self, her present and her future. She gave the only thing that stands between her and total dependence on the providence of God- two cents. Real giving has a certain recklessness in it. The widow could have kept one coin even though it would not have made much difference, but she gave everything she had. She did not reserve anything. Her action has a profound symbolic meaning. Think about it, this poor widow surrendered and tendered everything she had. What about us? The tragedy here is that there is some part of ourselves that we are yet to surrender and tender to Jesus; there is some part of our time, talent, and treasure that we are yet to surrender to Jesus; there is some part of our activities, some part of our lives which we haven’t yet given totally and entirely to Jesus Christ. There is something we are holding back. We are afraid to give them up because of the fear of the unknown. We don’t have a childlike faith that assures us that if we give them up, if we surrender to Jesus our entire live, our activities, our three Tees- time, talent and treasure that God will take care of us. We are not yet ready to make the final sacrifice and surrender. We are still giving excuses, not yet ready. But these two windows gave everything.

From these two widows, another lesson to learn is that real giving must be sacrificial. What matters here is not the amount of the gift, or the size of the gift. What matters is the sacrifice. Real giving must hurt. Profound generosity continues to give until it hurts. For many of us, the question is not whether we give; the question is whether our giving to God’s work is sacrificial at all. Some of us can afford to spend huge amount in restaurants; some of us can afford to spend our money in some unnecessary pleasures and entertainments. We can spend real money in jewelries, in clothes, in shoes, etc. but not in things that pertains to religion, not in offertory basket.

The stories of these two remarkable widows will only make more sense if we believe that what we do with our money shows what we have in our heart. If you want to find out what you really love, read your credit card bill. No wonder Jesus says in the Gospel of Luke 12: 34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The use of money, stewardship and material things was so important to Jesus that he called his disciples together to tell them about the widow’s gift. The main issue for Jesus was not how much she gave or what she gave. And recognizing the little donation of the widow does not mean that Jesus approves of the conditions that rendered the widow poor. It does not mean that Jesus approves poverty and deprivation. The Lord is saying that what we do with our money either grows our faith or deadens it. What we do with our money can deepen our spirituality or shatter it.

Now when we talk about gifts, some of us may claim that they don’t have enough of material gifts or personal gifts to give to Jesus Christ, but, if we put all that we have and are at our disposal, the Lord can do great things with them and with us. Every child of God has something to give. Every one of us here has something to give. The two widows gave everything they have. What about us?