by Fr. Tommy Lane
Two extraordinary women feature in our readings today. The woman in the first reading (1 Kings 17:10-16), the widow at Zarephath, is extraordinary because during a famine she trusted enough in God’s prophet Elijah to share with him the last bread she baked with her last flour and oil for herself and her son. As the prophet had predicted, there was a miraculous multiplication miracle, and her flour and oil did not run out and she had enough bread for herself and her son for a year. The woman in the Gospel is extraordinary in her generosity as she gave her two small coins to a collection in the temple (Mark 12:38-44). What she gave was miniscule. In Mark’s Greek it is clear what those two small coins were and together they were worth only 1/64th of a daily wage! Even though the economic value of what she gave was tiny, the “heart value,” if I may put it like that, was colossal. What she gave, she gave with her heart.
Mark and Luke relate Jesus’ praise of this woman immediately after his warning about the scribes who were paying attention to their public appearance. Not all scribes earned Jesus’ warning—last Sunday we heard Jesus praise one of the scribes and say he was not far from the kingdom of God (Mark 12:34). Listening to Jesus’ praise of the woman immediately after his warning about the scribes really shows up the contrast between the woman and the scribes. The scribes invested their time and energy in putting on a good show. But beneath the good show, all was not well. In fact, all was very unwell, and Jesus said they would receive a “severe condemnation.” (Mark 12:40). They remind me of a British comedy of some years ago called Keeping up Appearances starring the lady whose screen name was Hyacinth Bucket but who insisted that her name be pronounced Bouquet because she was pretending to be socially superior. All the show of the scribes had no “heart value” whereas what the woman in the Gospel today gave had “heart value.” The woman in the Gospel loved God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength but the scribes seemingly loved their public show with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and lacked genuine love of God.
Jesus said the two small coins which the woman put in were worth more than all the others put in. Clearly Jesus looks at the heart. Since Jesus looks at the heart, that leaves us asking ourselves where our heart is before Jesus. That involves an examination of conscience, looking at all aspects of our life and honestly seeing in each aspect if we are more like the scribes or the woman. In the Gospel today, Jesus is performing an examination of conscience on the scribes and on the woman. An examination of conscience is helpful when we follow through on it and allow it to draw us closer to God. If the scribes heard Jesus’ examination of conscience concerning them and if they followed through by quitting their striving for show, (quit being Bouquet instead of Bucket), they could become fine people with hearts close to God also like the woman.
As Jesus performs the examination of conscience on the scribes, he singles out six aspects of their lives for critique, the last being their prayer life. He said that they “as a pretext recite lengthy prayers.” We do not know anything about the prayer life of the woman but based on the little we know of her we can guess she enjoyed a close prayer life with God. We could use Jesus’ critique of the scribes’ prayer life as a springboard to examine our own prayer lives. Do we pray with our heart to God and with genuine love of God, and with genuine love of Jesus because he gave his life for us, or do we pray because we have a sense of obligation or pray in a hurried manner? Do we give enough time to prayer every day and make our day revolve around our prayer just as our day revolves around our meals? If we do not yet know how much we need prayer in our lives every day, I think that is a sign that we need to pray a whole lot more until we realize how essential prayer is in our lives every day. Spend time with God in prayer every day until prayer becomes a joy and part of your day that you could not miss without your entire day being upset. Pray in a way that is comfortable for you, in a way that brings you close to God. Talk to God with your heart. Pray until you know that God is love and mercy so that it becomes automatic to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
God looks at the heart, not appearances. One of the beatitudes is, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” Being pure in heart means appearances match what is inside and are not just appearances like those of the scribes or Mrs. Bouquet. May we be pure in heart before God.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2021
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Thirty-Second Sunday of Year B
What motivates you? God's Love for you or your love of yourself? 2009
Related Homilies: We do not need false appearances because we are citizens of heaven
First Reading Give to Jesus and he gives to us