32nd Sunday B

32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Readings: 1 Kings 17:10-16   Hebrews 9:24-28  Mark 12:38-44

As the Christian community moves toward the end of the Church Year, this Sunday’s readings present us with two women, both poor widows, and Christ himself as models for the charity that leads to God’s life-giving victory over the forces of sin and death.

In the reading from 1 Kings the prophet Elijah is engaged in a life and death struggle with Queen Jezebel, the Phoenician wife of King Ahab, who has brought the cult of the Caananite god Baal into Israel.  In order to prove to Ahab that the Lord, not Baal, controls the life-giving rain which brings fertility to the earth, Elijah has announced to the king that there will be neither dew nor rain for the coming years except at his word.  In the ensuing drought, the Lord sustains Elijah with drink and food, first in the ravine of Kerith east of the Jordan through a stream and a raven (1 Kgs 17:2-7), and then by the widow of Zarephath, a village of Sidon in the very territory of Jezebel and her reputed god, Baal (1 Kgs 17:8-16). 

The widow’s generous hospitality to the prophet, despite her poverty, is life-giving and stands in sharp contrast to the destructive actions of the power-hungry and ruthless Jezebel.  Although she has only a handful of flour and a little oil in her jug and is about to die along with her son, the widow gives the prophet drink and food because she trusts his word that the Lord will provide flour and oil.  As a result, she and her son are sustained for a year.

The second reading continues the selections from Hebrews by contrasting the one and permanently efficacious sacrifice of Christ, the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, with the old sacrifices offered repeatedly by the high priests in the Temple each year.  Hebrews is addressed to a community that has endured great suffering because of its faith (10:32-34) and now is tempted to apathy or apostasy (see 3:7-4:13; 5:11-6:12; etc.).  The author interweaves theological exposition about the permanence of the salvation God has accomplished in Christ with moral exhortation to continue firm in the hope of salvation.  Throughout the theological exposition Hebrews contrasts the changing, repetitious and ultimately ineffectual rituals of the old covenant with the permanent, once for all, and lastingly effective saving actions of Christ.

In this section Christ’s saving death is contrasted to the ineffectual sacrifices of the high priests in the earthly temple.  Christ has entered the heavenly sanctuary, as opposed to the one made by hands, to offer his own blood once to take away the sins of the many, as opposed to the repetitious sacrifices of animal blood offered in the earthly temple.  For the author of Hebrews, Christians have already received the gift of salvation when Christ offered his sacrifice to take away the sins of the many; they now must eagerly and faithfully await the return of Christ who will bring salvation.

The Gospel story of the widow’s gift comes from Mark’s account of Jesus’ Jerusalem ministry (Mark 11-13).  In the midst of several hostile controversies with the temple leaders, Mark has two positive examples of proper responses to the kingdom of God: the scribe from last Sunday’s Gospel, who sincerely asks Jesus which is the greatest of the commandments (12:28-34) and the poor widow whose donation of two copper coins into the Temple treasury Jesus contrasts with the hypocrisy of the scribes (12:38-44).

The difference between the pompous religiosity of the scribes, as Jesus describes them, and the true spirituality of the widow could not be greater.  For the scribes, religion is a matter of public prestige.  They are the revered doctors of the law who parade through the streets in their long robes and receive signs of public respect: greetings in the street, the chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at feasts.  But these doctors of the law are the same ones who undermine the true law by “devouring the savings of widows” and reciting long prayers simply for appearance sake.  In contrast, the poor widow is to all appearances a destitute failure who has only “two small copper coins” to donate to the temple treasury.  Yet, her generosity, like that of the widow in the Elijah story, is boundless, and Jesus holds her up to his disciples as a model for their charity. “I want you to observe that this poor widow contributed more than all the others who donated to the treasury.  They gave from their surplus wealth, but she gave from her want, all that she had to live on.”