32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Gospel:
Mk 12:38-44
In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “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.”
Homily
Many centuries ago, the restorers of broken statutes could restore statues by using a paste made from crushed marble or they could use wax. The crushed marble paste would leave the statue looking as if it had not been damaged, on the other hand if wax was used, after a while the wax would become discoloured and the statue then would be seen to have been damaged. Contracts to restore statues then had clauses saying that the restoration must be done “sine cera”, without wax. This is the origin of the word “sincere”, without wax or truthful in all one’s actions. The Gospel reading for this weekend exhorts us to sincerity in all of our actions.
In this Gospel passage, Jesus warns his followers against following the behaviour of the scribes who reap the benefits accorded to good and holy persons while their lives are simply a pretense for they do not live the generosity and kindness that holiness demands. Jesus then draws attention to the poor widow as an example of the generosity which believers are called to emulate. There is in this story a hidden meaning and it deals with our belief and trust in the God whom we profess to love.
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We are all people who say that we believe In God. All of us do believe that God exists and that Jesus walked this earth as a human being. A deeper question however is this; do we believe God? Do we believe what God says to us so that our lives are influenced by the promises which God has made?
Many of us seek happiness in material things and we set about accumulating as many material things as we possibly can and the money necessary to achieve these material things. The problem is that when we love money too much or when we depend on money too much, we are liable to do all sorts of illicit things to accumulate it; that was the sin of the scribes alluded to by Jesus. They did not seek happiness in God and in his message of justice and compassion. They sought it in the accumulation of wealth and this they did by fair means and foul. They were not sincere or truthful in all their actions.
On the other hand we have the example of the poor widow. All she had was two small coins but she believed God, she believed God’s promise that he would take care of her and so she willing gave to God everything she had, secure in the knowledge that she was in God’s hands. Her living was “sincere”.
We live in a world in which the prevailing culture does not help us to believe the promises of God. The culture of unbridled selfishness does not help us to think of others or to believe that true sharing will bring about the happiness which we all seek, and so we Christians, if we are not careful, follow the prevailing culture and our lives become the antithesis of what we proclaim. Our lives then are not sincere. Our lives show that we do not take seriously God’s promises.
The saints however, our heroes in the faith, tell us that if we take God’s promises seriously we will achieve the happiness we all seek, even here on earth and most surely in the world to come. Who could look at the smiling face of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and not see the happiness she had achieved. Her life proclaimed what she believed. Her life was sincere. There are so many other persons we know, perhaps not as famous as Mother Teresa, persons of sincere lives, who live what they profess to believe. Their lives are examples of true generosity and they have achieved true happiness. There are so many other examples we could evoke but the lesson is clear. If we are sincere persons, living what we proclaim to be, then we achieve the happiness which we all seek.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-living God, we thank you for the teaching which you give us in the scripture readings for this weekend. In this world in which everything tells us that the accumulating of great wealth to the exclusion of the poor and voiceless is the way to go, you remind us that this attitude can render our lives insincere and our worship empty. Help us to remember that we are part of a great tradition of concern for the poor and voiceless and that we must keep that tradition alive. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
