Apoor widow also came and dropped in two small copper coins worth about a penny.
(Mk. 12:42)
New Light on the Widow’s Mite
November 11,
2012, 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 17:10-16 Hebrews 9:24-28 Mark 12:38-44
The widow of Zarephath - 1 Kings 17:10-16
In those days,
Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the
city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her,
"Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink." She left to get
it, and he called out after her, "Please bring along a bit of bread."
She answered, "As the LORD, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there
is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was
collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my
son; when we have eaten it, we shall die." Elijah said to her, "Do
not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and
bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For
the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor
the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the
earth.'" She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a
year, and he and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the
jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.
The widow in the Temple treasury - Mark
12:38-44
In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds,
"Beware of the scribes! They like to walk around in long robes, and to be
greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the
synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They rob widows of their homes, and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will
receive a very severe condemnation."
Jesus sat down opposite the Temple treasury and observed the crowd
dropping their donations into the collection-boxes. Many people, obviously
well-off, put in large sums. A poor widow also came and dropped in two small copper
coins, worth about a penny. Jesus called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell
you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all those rich folk
put together. For they all gave of their surplus, while she gave her very last
penny.”
The
Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
Veterans
Day
Veterans Day is usually observed on Nov. 11. It originated as `Armistice Day’ on Nov. 11, 1919 - the first
anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for
an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday in 1938. As a way
to honor those who served in all American wars President Dwight Eisenhower
signed legislation in 1954 to change the name to Veterans Day. The day honors military veterans with parades and
speeches across the nation, and a national ceremony takes place at the Tomb of
the Unknowns at Arlington
National Cemetery in Virginia.
Not a parable but an event
The story of the widow’s tiny offering is not a parable but an event in
the life of Jesus. Seated one day near the Temple treasury, He saw well-off
people dropping sizeable donations into the metal collection boxes. He could,
in fact, `hear the size’ of their donations, as they landed audibly into the metal
boxes. Along came a poor widow who dropped in two small copper coins which made
no sound at all as they landed into the box. Jesus immediately called his
disciples‘attention to the poor widow; they had their eyes focused on the
wealthy tossing in their big donations, and they didn’t notice the widow
casting in her mite.
The two
accounts belong together.
Immediately before
the story of the widow’s tiny offering in the Temple, we read Jesus’ vitriolic
words against the widow’s religious leaders: “Beware
of the scribes! They like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with
respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and
places of honor at banquets. They rob widows of their homes, and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will
receive a very severe condemnation." (Mk. 12:38-40)
The
rubrics allow for a shortened reading of today’s gospel. One may omit Jesus’
vitriolic attack on the scribes (Mk.
12: 38-40), and
read only the account of the widow casting her two copper coins into the Temple
treasury. (Mk.12: 41-44) But why shorten a gospel which is already short – only
six verses? More importantly, the two accounts belong together. The first is an
account of the scribes, teachers of the Law, robbing widows of their homes, and
the second is an account of the Temple elite robbing a poor widow of her two
copper coins.
The traditional interpretation
The traditional interpretation
of this story of the poor widow who tossed her two tiny copper coins
into the Temple treasury is that she really gave more than the those `fat cats’
who gave from their abundance; she gave from the little she had to live on. The
traditional interpretation has
Jesus praising the beggar-widow for her supposedly selfless offering; it
has Jesus lifting up the poor widow as a shining example to be imitated. That’s
been the interpretation for centuries, and most preachers this Sunday will
preach a sermon on the `Wonderful Widow’s Mighty Mite.’
A new take
There is a new interpretation (but not very widespread) of this story
of the poor widow tossing in her two tiny copper coins into the Temple
treasury. When Jesus says she put more in the offering box than all
those rich folk put together, He is not praising her; He is simply stating a
fact as He sees it. He is not
presenting her as a shining example to
be imitated; rather He is presenting her as a poor victim exploited by the
Temple elite who duped her into thinking it was her religious duty to give to
those `fat cats’ even the very little she had to live on. In such case, the
poor dear is not to be praised; she
is to be pitied for not being savvy enough to keep at least one of the two coins
for herself. (Now that, indeed, is a new take on what used to be affectionately
labeled the `Wonderful Widow’s Mighty Mite.’)
Not only not savvy but even crazy!
There is one person (and maybe
a few others), however, who thinks the poor widow was not only not savvy but
was even crazy! He writes:
Whenever I read this passage, I often wonder about the poor widow's
state of mind. Personally, I think she was crazy! If I had been in her shoes I
would not have given even one thin "mite" to the Temple `fat cats,’
let alone two. Why would she want to support the Temple system - one that
oppressed people like her? Go back a couple of verses in Mark 12 and you'll
find Jesus warning his listeners about the teachers of the Law- those who held
high honor in the institution of the Temple. “They like to walk around in long
robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best
seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They rob widows of
their homes, and for the sake of appearance say long prayers." (Mk. 12:
38-40)
In the very next passage, we find the widow giving all she
has to an institution whose leaders rob widows of their homes. What kind of
fool is this woman that she would have anything to do with an outfit that will
take the last of her money - and her house to boot? You see, she must be crazy!
Regardless of our
interpretation of this Scripture, the Bible is still full of other passages that
emphasize the
importance of selfless giving. So nothing changes there. But it is interesting and even refreshing to see
this story of the poor widow in a new light. This passage does not commend
a poor widow for giving her last two copper coins to the Temple `fat cats.’
Rather, it condemns a religious
system that kept taking from the poor but did very little (or nothing) to help
them.
Positive responses
One person responding positively to this rarely
heard interpretation of the story of the poor widow asks:
Why
in the world would Jesus praise a very poor woman sacrificing her two small
copper coins - all she had to live on? It’s one of those times when I read a
passage and wonder how in the world did we miss this interpretation all these centuries?
Another person responding positively writes:
I’m 56 years
old, have been in church all my life, and all I ever heard was how we need to
be like that poor widow and give all to God. Isn’t it obvious that if you saw a
widow give her last two copper coins to some religious organization in the hope
that she could purchase salvation, or purchase blessing, or buy healing, or buy
prosperity – isn’t it obvious that you wouldn’t commend her? You’d want to stop
her, and you’d want to shut down the religious system which preys upon the
desperate.
Conclusion
The need to reread our Scriptures
The trouble, however, with this new insight into the widow’s mite is
that we now have to give up our beloved old version of this passage, which now on
second thought isn’t so beloved after all. The story now is not about a good widow who `generously’
gave her last two copper coins to the Temple.
It’s about a poor benighted widow who has been tricked by her religion
to give her last two copper coins to the Temple `fat cats.’ This new light on
the widow’s mite stresses the need to reread our Scriptures. 
