Weekly HOMILY for November 8, 2009: Two Widows -- Two Messages

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Our Lady of Grace
November 8, 2009

Two Widows: Two Messages
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


Widows As Models for Christian Living

God usually “casts down the mighty” and “lifts up the lowly.” God “fills the hungry with good things” and “sends the rich away empty.” If that’s true, then widows are a good “proof of the pudding.”

Widows in biblical times had it tough. They were disowned by their deceased husband’s family and were barred from returning to their parents’ home.

Consequently, they lived desperate lives. Poor, powerless, without identity or station in life, they still had to provide for their children, a very difficult situation position to be in.

For this reason Jewish and Christian Scriptures paid lots of attention to caring for widows.

In our first reading and Gospel we meet two different widows, who lived some 700 years apart, and they give us two different messages about how to live our lives as Christians.


The Widow of Zarapeth

The first case is the widow of Zarapeth. Her situation is desperate both for herself and her son. She may be a pagan, but God has noticed her in her need.

Elijah the Prophet consoles her but, quite frankly, sounds selfish when he asks her to bake him a cake.

What’s at work here is the Middle Eastern custom of hospitality – practiced even when the poorest had nothing but their last bit of food and drink to offer a traveler.

But with the request by Elijah, comes the promise that God will provide for her even during the drought that has stricken the nation.


The Message: Trusting God in Times of Trouble

Can God really do that? Provide sustenance for us when there seems to be no relief on the horizon?

This non-Jew trusts Elijah, the man of God and interestingly, she and her son will have enough oil and flour until, “the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”

Because of her trust, God will see them through the drought.


The Challenge to Us

What might we have to do to trust God in our droughts?

What reassurances will we have in the dry times of our lives: The dry times of illness, the growing weakness of aging, depression, addictions, hopelessness, financial need, errant children, and the list goes on?

What she and we have is the Word of God: a promise spoken through a Prophet in the midst of a drought is spoken to us in the midst of God’s People assembled at Eucharist.

What she and we have is the fulfillment of God’s promise to get through our droughts with the sustenance of food that gives us life.

Has he not delivered us in the past? Has he not brought us thus far? In short: God will sustain and see us through this present drought.


The Widow in the Temple

The first reading’s widow links us to the Gospel’s widow, but with a very different message. Both stories tell us that God notices the unnoticed; God comes to the rescue of those who are the lowly and hungry in society.

Jesus is in the temple with the crowds and he is watching people pass by. In the women’s court there were trumpet-shaped containers into which people placed their offerings.

The widow comes forward and puts in “two small coins, worth a few cents” which provides Jesus an opportunity to teach his disciples. He calls them together and invites them to observe what has just happened.

The Message: Being Alert to the Needs of the Poor

This Gospel passage has a context. Jesus has been involved in controversies with the Pharisees and religious leaders.

He confronts them for building their power and wealth with no concern for the poor and criticizes them for devouring “the houses of widows.”

Jesus shows them the disconnect between their prayer life and their lack of concern of others.

While Jesus admires the widow’s generosity in contributing her whole livelihood, his message is not to encourage those with little to give all they’ve got.

His message is that their prayer life should alert them to the needs of the poor and it doesn’t.


The Challenge to Us

While it is a lament, Jesus’ words also contain good news, for he signals to us that God sees the plight of the poor, although they are overlooked by religious folks.

So the challenge for us is to ask, “Have I ignored the poor?” “Do I walk past the poor box never noticing it’s there?” “Have I ever baked a casserole?” “Ever contributed to the Advent Tree, the Mitten Tree? Special disaster appeals?”

“Where do I stand with regard to minimum wage?” “Do I underpay a worker at my home or office?” “Have I ever spoken out against injustices against women, gays, handicapped persons, or the jobless?”

God knows the difference between the religious frauds and the truly religious, and in Jesus, God is doing something about it in our very hearing.


Conclusion

Two widows: one of Zarapeth, the other at the temple in Jerusalem.

Two messages: (1) Trusting God in times of trouble and (2) Be alert to the needs of the poor.

Two areas of our lives that need tending and Jesus Christ comes to our assistance in both!