Sunday Gospel Reflection – 32nd Sunday

God loves a cheerful giver (Mark 12: 38-44)

Jesus had reached Jerusalem with his close band of followers.  They entered the sacred area of the temple.  Even at the age of twelve, the boy Jesus was upset by what he had seen in the temple.  He told Mary and Joseph that, come the time, he would address what was wrong.  All four Gospels recall the day he upset the tables of the money changers and drove out the animals.  “My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples, but you have turned it into a bandits’ den.”

Jesus was a scandal in the eyes of the religious leaders because he sat with sinners, talked with them, and worse again he ate and drank with them.  In the first year of Pope Francis’ Pontificate, he called for a Jubilee of Mercy.   “Jesus is the face of mercy.  These words might well sum up the mystery of Christian faith.”

But there was one sin that Jesus really despised … religious hypocrisy. Excavations in recent years have revealed the wealthy dwellings of the temple priests.  Their wealth accrued from a variety of taxes on everything possible, while in public they walked around with pious faces, entitled to places of honour, and being greeted obsequiously.   The Gospel continues: “These are the men who swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers.”

The poor widow

Jesus and his disciples sat down where they could see people dropping coins into the collection boxes.  Wealthy people donated heavy coins that echoed loudly.  Then a poor widow dropped in two tiny coins which scarcely tinkled.  But Jesus said that she put in more than all the others.  There are no calculators in heaven, only the scales of charity.  A simple act of love is more valuable than huge efforts without love.  Wealthy people who hoard their wealth do not possess their money but their money possesses them.

In today’s First Reading, a poor widow shared her last handful of meal and last drop of cooking oil with the prophet Elijah.  God’s provident eye noted her unstinted giving.  And God rewarded her.  The jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied as long as the famine lasted.

St. Paul wrote that God loves the cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7).  The spirit in which we give is more important than the amount given.

Prayer

O generous God, fill us with a sense of your love for all people.  Help us to realise that what we have, really is not our own, but ultimately belongs to you.  It is given to us so that we might share it with all your other people on earth.

Help us to be generous with the gift of time which you have given to us.  May our faces show that we have time for others … time to listen, time to share the burden, or time to celebrate their joy.

Help us to be generous with our emotions.  May all our feelings and reactions be warmed with your love.

When we feel like reacting with self-importance, show us how to be humble.

When we are stung and seek revenge, help us to reach out in forgiveness.

When we are inflamed with anger, help us to be patient and gentle.

When we are full of prejudice and intolerance, show us how to allow the other person to be different.

O God, the giver of every good gift, overwhelm us with a sense of your love,

so that all we have is for you, all we do is with you, and all we are is in you.