What the widows know

RCL Pr27B (Track 2) 1 Kings 17:8-16, Ps.146, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44

This Sunday could be called Widow Sunday.  The first reading is about a widow in Zarephath who only had enough food left for one more meal, but who when asked, shared it with the prophet Elijah. In the gospel reading, Jesus watches a widow in the Temple put her last penny into a treasury already full from others’ donations.

In scripture, widows — like orphans and refugees — are people who have nothing and no prospects. They have no useful place in society. They live at the margins and depend upon the attention and generosity of others. They wonder, “Will someone remember us? Will someone give us enough to get by?” Sometimes, as in the case of the widow of Zarephath, no one does, and there isn’t enough. There is only one last meal.

Nonetheless, both widows — the widow of Zarephath and the widow in the Temple — give what is asked of them: a portion of a last meal and a last penny.

I read these stories as companions to the story a few weeks ago about the wealthy person¹ who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Remember that Jesus told him to go home and give away his belongings, then return and journey with Jesus. The man seemed to know that Jesus was right, but he could not bring himself to do it.

The widows in today’s readings can. They have already learned the hard lesson of needing to depend on the generosity of others. Perhaps the man with many possessions thought that his wealth would protect him from that.

When our world falls apart, because we are grieving a catastrophic loss or facing a frightening illness, or because we belong to a group that the government has promised to target, our bank account will only pay the bills. Nothing more.  Neither our money nor our belongings can rescue us from the nightmare of despair, the fear of death or the loss of meaning and purpose. Only our faith and other people can do that.

Money can do some wonderful things. But it can’t do everything, and it can’t do the things that really matter. The things that matter depend on what the widows know: that it’s all about giving and receiving and knowing that we need one another.

Peace

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Photo by Vonecia Carswell on Unsplash

1. In Mark 10:17-22 the inquirer is a man who “had many possessions.” Matthew’s account (19:16-30) describes “a young man” who had many possessions, and in Luke (18:18-30) it is “a certain ruler” who was “very rich.”