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Gospel: Mark 12: 41-44
Jesus 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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If you knew you had only a few hours to a handful of days left here on earth, how would you spend them? Where would you go?
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In today’s Gospel, we encounter two people who recognize their end is near. That recognition brings them both to the Temple.
One is Jesus. The Lord first entered the Temple as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, held in Mary’s arms. Mary and Joseph brought him there to consecrate him to God, according to Jewish Law.
The Holy Family returned to the Temple each year to celebrate the Passover. Luke tells us about one year, in particular, when Mary and Joseph lost a teenage Jesus in the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem.
Today the Lord enters the Temple one final time, just days away from his death.
After the explosive drama of turning tables, chasing out moneychangers, and scolding the religious authorities, Jesus’ final image of the Temple is framed by a poor, elderly widow.
She, too, is nearing her end.
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Jesus watches her as she walks slowly towards the treasury, and drops her last two coins into the dark, metal abyss. Symbolically, those coins represented her worth in society – nothing.
But to Jesus, her gift meant everything.
The fact that she gives not one, but both of her coins away only magnifies the sacrifice. Even a generous person could’ve reasonably held onto one.
Why would she do such a thing? Wasn’t she worried about securing her next meal – a loaf of bread, a salted piece of fish?
Perhaps she remembered the story of the widow from Zarephath in our first reading, how she and her son were saved from starvation after giving the prophet Elijah their last handful of flour and final drops of oil.
Miraculously, Elijah provided them with a year’s worth of food in return.
This could’ve been the widow’s desperate ploy to “give and get” from God. I’ll give God my two coins, hoping he’ll grant me a few meals in return.
But she was not seeking a miracle. She gave everything she had without expecting anything in return. Perhaps an act of thanksgiving at the end of her life.
“This poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury,” Jesus says. “She, from her poverty, has contributed her whole livelihood.”
The Greek word used here is bios, meaning, “life,” giving the impression that she’s nearing her end.
Here, in the twilight of her life, she accomplishes the final two tasks given to her by God – to anonymously console the heart of Christ, and in doing so, to fulfill her role as prophetess.
Maybe the Lord remembered her as he offered his own sacrifice, crying out beaten and bloodied, from the Cross: “Into your hands, LORD, I commend my Spirit.”
That week, both Jesus and the widow gave their very lives back to God.
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This elderly widow stands in stark contrast to the rich young man. She did the one thing he could not; she offered everything she had, as little as it was, to God.
Such a story can leave us either envious of her generous faith or feeling disconnected from her story; none of us is as poor as she was.
But there’s another “mite,” a different type of poverty, we all share. Unlike money, which can be given away and earned again, the one resource we’re all limited by is time.
The temptation is to hoard it; to govern it; to spend it on ourselves. The invitation is to become like the widow, offering a “few coins” back to God.
Such a gift cannot be done in one great gesture; even laying down one’s life as a missionary or a priest is only a promise to be of service. Our gift of time comes in daily doses.
A few moments spent in silence, pondering a page in the bible, prayer before meals, listening to a friend or stranger after Mass, a Sunday afternoon in the soup kitchen.
How do you offer God a few precious minutes – part of yourself – each day?
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Like Jesus and the widow, both of whom we encounter in the Temple, may we all spend a few precious moments with God, even if they just might be our last.
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Image credits: (1) Pin Page (2) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (3) LinkedIn