Jesus sits across the street from the Temple treasury, watching (Mk 12:38-44). Is he watching us, checking to see how we are behaving? Are we being sufficiently generous?
No, he’s not watching us, rather he invites us (his disciples) to watch with him. Why? To teach us – as he does constantly. He points out a poor widow, who can barely afford anything. We can also see rich folks, including the lawyers and professors (the scribes), who can afford plenty.
So we feel sorry for the poor woman. And maybe a little envious of the rich and powerful. We know, as Jesus said, that they get wealthy off the backs of the poor (“they devour the houses of widows“), but it’s hard not to admire their success.
Never mind the rich and powerful. Jesus has already dismissed them as irrelevant in his scheme of things. But what of the poor woman? He is much more interested in her. Why is he pointing her out to us? So that we feel sorry for her? So that we feel guilty?
I don’t think Jesus is wanting us to feel guilty. And he generally doesn’t seem to have much time for feeling sorry for people – like his Father he’s more interested in action than in fine feelings and good intentions. But in this case he doesn’t seem to be asking for action, he’s just watching.
So what is Jesus leading us to think about in this scene? We may all have our own reactions, there is no “correct” response. Mark doesn’t record any reactions from the disciples.
I found myself thinking about something I heard many years ago, from the man who started what was called the sustainability movement in the UK – the beginning of environmental consciousness, what would become the “green movement”. He was concerned about food production and the land and such like, but also about people and the social order. He noted how when he pointed out in his lectures that people in poor countries survived on less than $2 a day, the reaction was typically one of horror – how could people survive like that, this was terrible. But he said a more appropriate response would be one of amazement – how do people manage that to do that, they must be incredibly resourceful – so what can we learn from them?
What can we learn from a poor widow, the one in the gospel, or the one that Elijah meets at Zarephath (1 Kgs 17:10-16)? They simply do what is asked of them. They have no expectations. They don’t even have the expectation of survival. But they will bake a little bread for God’s prophet, even when they have nothing left for themselves; they will make an offering to the church even if it’s all they have. Those who are poor don’t have the luxury of complications in their lives, of making tradeoffs, of trying to decide what is best for them or their families. They do what they can.
What do you see when Jesus points out the poor widow to you?