A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
When we hear about this widow and her generous gift we naturally think of ourselves and wonder about our own readiness to give. But often we go too far down the road of comparison, beating ourselves up for not giving away all that we have and seeing ourselves as spiritual inferiors to the widow, in the company of the scribes and the crowds. This won't ultimately be a helpful approach. The widow was able to give her meager offering precisely because she didn't let comparison with others deter her. The point now is not that it is best to give the highest percentage possible of what we have heedless of the consequences. We are in fact called to be prudent in our use of the treasures God has given us. How then are we called to be like this widow or in what specific aspect was Jesus praising her? What really made her gift the greatest if it was not the size, nor even the percentage?
"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."
At a glance this passage seems to suggest that her offering was more than the others because it was all she had. But there was actually something deeper at work. The others gave out of their surplus wealth. They did something easy, something which anyone could do, that did not require any particular level of faith. By giving out of her need the women proved that she had entrusted her very self to God. It was for this for which she was praised. And it is in this that we are called to imitate her even while most of us retain some worldly wealth. This will make us able to get involved even when our own contributions seem meager, insubstantial, or insignificant. It is indeed true that we won't receive the reward of the scribes. Our contributions won't gain us long robes or formal greetings or seats and places of honor. The world may seem to value what we offer very much the same way it valued the widow's mites. But we can give what we do from a sense of trust in God, from the belief that he is able to do mighty things with mustard seeds, even the moving the largest of mountains.
Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid.
Go and do as you propose.
But first make me a little cake and bring it to me.
Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son.
The widow of Zarephath was also called to give away the last of her resources, not as some sort of final act of self-destructive charity, but as an act of trust in the Lord and his messenger Elijah. She was experiencing an unfathomably difficult circumstance and yet was called to put another before her own most pressing needs. Yet by acting in faith and doing so she also unsealed the font of blessing for herself and her child. She did not merely give away her last resources in despair, but rather in hope.
She left and did as Elijah had said.
She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well;
the jar of flour did not go empty,
nor the jug of oil run dry,
as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.
These generous acts of faith by both widows are signs pointing to the the still greater gift we have all been first given by Christ. He himself invested all that he had, his very self, in a way that appeared fruitless to most who witnessed it at the time. He himself was the meager offering of bread that now nevertheless superabundantly feeds his Church unto the end of time. He too gave all that he had not out of despair, but out of hope.
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (see Hebrews 12:2).
Every instance of bearing our own crosses will seem in the eyes of the world to be foolish. Each time it will seem to be an act of despair or desperation pointing to a lack of psychological balance. Yet we are not called to bear every cross we can find, nor necessarily give away every last penny. But we are in fact called to those crosses appointed for us and often to give when it is not convenient, even when it hurts. This is something which we must not attempt on our own strength, by sheer grit, or merely human resolve. We must rely rather on the grace Jesus made available by first loving us in order that we may now ourselves love God and neighbor.
But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages
to take away sin by his sacrifice.
Jesus stands in the heavenly sanctuary and intercedes for us with his Father, praying for the grace that will make our hearts like his own heart. The Triune God desires to empower us to live lives of self-gift, just as Jesus first did for us. The closer we draw to Jesus, the closer, that is, we let him draw to us, the more our hearts will gradually but inexorably succumb to this love of his. Then we will have nothing to fear on the blessed day when he comes again.
so also Christ,
offered once to take away the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to take away sin
but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.
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