Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 30 2025

A Window on Widows

My earliest memory of a widow was Aunt Lizzie: white-haired, seemingly very old, but kindly. (I was four, so she was probably in her sixties then—how one’s perspective on age changes with time!) She lived with my godmother and uncle, having contributed some of her savings to help them buy a house. My second memory was of Lana Turner playing The Merry Widow in the 1952 movie of the same name. Both were light years away, historically and culturally, from the widows in today’s readings.

The widows in biblical times were imperiled. If they did not have sons who would care for them, their very lives could be endangered. The widow in the first reading has a young son; she is collecting sticks to build a fire to prepare the last of her flour so they can eat and die. When Elijah asks her to prepare a cake for him, she generously does so—which proves to be her salvation. Later he even restores her son to life.

Jesus watches a widow put in her last—literally—two cents in the temple’s coffers. He has previously warned about the scribes who “devour the houses of widows” while reciting lengthy prayers. Some say Jesus is lamenting the foolishness of this widow, like the prophets of the past who railed against the neglect of widows and orphans. But most think he is praising her generosity in giving “all she had, her whole livelihood.” Like her, Jesus will soon put all his trust in the Father.

Consider/Discuss

Do you see the widow in the Gospel as foolish, generous, or in another way?
What would it cost you to put all your trust in the Lord?

Responding to the Word

God of all, you have called to your people from the time of Moses and through your prophets past and present, but most especially through your Son, Jesus, to care for your little ones, for the poor, and the stranger. Help us today to be attentive and active doers of your word.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

The woman in the first reading is in a perilous situation. As a widow in a patriarchal society, she has no male protector and very few resources to call upon. She is in such dire straits because God withheld the rain, and her reserve of water and flour and oil is depleted. The prophet’s request is not selfishly insensitive. Rather, it becomes the avenue through which God provides for the woman and her son. She follows the word of the prophet, and God’s word spoken through the prophet comes to pass. Her miraculous supply of flour and oil lasts for a year.

The second reading contrasts the temple in Jerusalem with the heavenly temple. While the high priests performed their sacrificial duties in the earthly temple, the exalted Jesus entered the true sanctuary. The former cultic system enabled the people to participate in cosmic events by reenacting them. However, it was only able to actualize these events for a short period of time. This explains why the Day of Atonement ritual was reenacted year after year. In contrast to this, Jesus offered himself once for all. His sacrifice, like all cosmic acts, was unrepeatable. Earthly ritual may reenact his sacrifice, but there is no need for Jesus himself to repeat it.

Jesus condemned the ostentatious piety of the scribes. He further accused them of exploiting widows. This condemnation was called down on them because they had deprived the widows in the name of religion. Sitting in the temple, Jesus then contrasted donations of the wealthy with that of a poor woman. The wealthy loudly donated from their surplus; they gave what they did not need. The woman quietly donated the little that she had; she gave what she needed. Her wholehearted generosity demonstrated her absolute trust in God. The passage that opened with a condemnation of the false piety of the unscrupulous closes with praise of the genuine piety of the simple.

Jan 29 2025

God of the Little

Last April, I was growing tomatoes from seed. Some of the Chef’s Orange seedlings were only three inches high while others were overtopping them at six inches. I said to them, “Come on, you can grow! Just because you are littler, doesn’t mean that you can’t bear fruit.” Now in November, as I pull out the eight-foot plants that are done producing for the season, I cannot tell which were the little ones. They all produced sweet and juicy orange tomatoes. They blessed my table. Now they are done for the year. I am pleased with them.

Widows were those “little ones” in Israel. They were at the bottom of the social ladder, for a woman’s value was derived from her husband. A widow had no husband and thus no worth. They were the little tomatoes in the garden.

The widow in the book of Kings is ready to die in the great drought. Yet Elijah assures her that even in her littleness, God will provide for her. Her jars of flour and oil never run out. She has food for a year! The psalmist says, “The Lord gives food to the hungry.”

Jesus is not impressed by the overtopping “bigness” of the scribes and the Pharisees. They have seats of honor. They are applauded for their spirituality. They pray long prayers to impress an audience. He’s just as unmoved by the rich, who put large sums of money—

from their excess—into the treasury. They will shrivel on the vine. It is the widow whom Jesus celebrates in her littleness. She has given all that she has. She may not make the news. She may not make the history books. When harvest time comes and all of them are done, it won’t matter how small she was. She has borne sweet and succulent fruit. God is pleased with her.

Consider/Discuss

Littleness and abundance—what makes it so hard to be willing to be small? What impresses us? What drives us to want to look important?
The widow’s mite—what is that in our lives? What do we have to give that seems little, but is everything?

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus, when we are done with life, we would like for you to be pleased with us. As we move toward the end of the church year, you focus our minds on the harvest time. You ask us to look at the fruitfulness of our lives. We know that the end is coming. Forgive us those little things that we have ignored, or we let go of, or we did not feel were important. Today, this day, fill our jars with the grace of your presence so that even our small generosities never run out.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

At God’s order, the prophet Elijah has called down a drought, and now is sent to a widow in Zarephath whom God has commanded to feed the prophet (1 Kings 17:1–9). Clearly the widow is not aware of this command, and when asked for some bread, she responds that she has none, and in any case, she expects to die soon for lack of food. But Elijah’s assurance that she will have enough flour and oil to feed him, as well has herself and her son, until the drought ends is a sign of God’s care for those who depend on the Lord in times of trouble.

The author of Hebrews has been explaining how Jesus Christ is the perfect and eternal High Priest. Christ’s priesthood is superior to the former priesthood on several counts. Whereas that older priesthood was conducted in tabernacles and temples made by human hands, Christ’s priesthood is exercised in the original, heavenly sanctuary in the unmediated presence of God. Whereas previous priests offered the blood of animals, Christ offered his own blood, and because of this he only had to do it one time. Whereas the earlier priests could only offer sacrifice to atone for sin, Christ not only takes away sin by his sacrifice, but is able “to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him,” something no previous priest could do.

The Old Testament is full of admonitions to treat widows fairly and not take advantage of their economic vulnerability. Jesus’ reference to the scribes “devouring” the houses of widows, while reminiscent of prophetic denunciations of the rich and powerful, is difficult to understand. Some have suggested that scribes may have acted as guardians for widows without male relatives, but the reference to prayers suggests a religious context, and it may be that they were implicated in the same accusation Jesus makes earlier in the Gospel about qorban (animal sacrifice, 7:8–13). In any case, Jesus’ next remarks about the widow’s contribution serve to highlight the contrast between the rapaciousness of the scribes (and others who are privileged) with the generosity of the poor widow.

Jan 16 2025

Getting Prepped

At first hearing, there is a worrisome note in this parable Jesus tells near the end of Matthew’s account of his ministry. We like to think of Jesus as the Lord of second chances, even third and fourth, and that we have plenty of time to get our act together and to gather the necessary “oil” to welcome him when he returns. But the bridegroom’s final words are, “I do not know you.”

Is Jesus indicating that a day will come when that opportunity to make up for what we have failed to do will not be given, that the time for springing into action will have come and gone? Could we find ourselves locked out of the party? Since most of us are sometimes foolish, sometimes wise, what form does foolishness take in our lives? What are we putting off doing?

Matthew uses this parable to fire up his community’s desire for the return of the Lord, to call them to a more active hope in Jesus’ return. It also serves to confront indifference and lethargy in our lives. That necessary oil can refer to doing those good works that allow the light to shine in the world, especially when darkness threatens.

Being wise means being prepared for a future with the Lord. Jesus is the Wisdom of God who gives us a share of this wisdom as a gift of the Spirit. Let us both seek wisdom and be prepared to welcome it when it comes to us.

Consider/Discuss

Do you identify with either the wise or foolish?
How do you understand the call to “stay awake”?
Do you consider yourself a person who seeks Wisdom?

Responding to the Word

We pray for the gift of wisdom, to be seekers of wisdom, and that in our seeking, Wisdom will find us. We pray for the virtue of hope, which is grounded in the belief that Jesus will indeed come again, like a bridegroom, like a thief in the night, like the Son of Man in power and glory.