Homily
for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)
Based
on Mk 12: 38-44
(Gospel), 1 Kgs 17:10-16 (First Reading) and Heb 9:24-28 (Second
Reading)
From
the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
Poor Widow’s Mite
‘A poor widow came
and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny.’ (Mk 12: 42)
The Gospel reading for this 32nd
Sunday in Ordinary Time is Mk 12: 38-44.
Verses 38 to 44 says: In his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk about
in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the
front seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets; These all
the men who shallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy
prayers. The more severe will be sentence they receive. He sat down opposite
the treasury and watched the people putting money into the treasury,b
and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put in two
small coins, the equivalent of a penny. The he called his disciples and said to
them, “I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who had
contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but
she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, as she had to
live on.’ Footnote b says “Evidently
the treasure chamber inside the Temple enclosure had an alms box outside.”
Parallel texts are
1.
Lk 21:1-4 - As he
looked up he saw rich people putting their offerings into the treasury (v. 1);
then he happened to notice a poverty-stricken widow putting in two small coins
(v. 2), and he said, ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in more than
any of them (v. 3); for these have all contributed money they had over, but she
from the little she had has put in all she had to live on’ (v. 4).
2.
Jn 8:20 - He
spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple. No one
arrested him, because his time has not yet come.
The First Reading is from 1 Kgs 17:10-16.
Verses 10 to 16 says: So he went off to Sidon. And when he reached the city gate, there was a
widow gathering sticks; addressing her he said, “Please bring a little water in
a vessel for me to drink.’ She was setting off to bring it when he called after
her. ‘Please’ he said ‘bring me a scrap of bread in your hand.’ As Yahweh your
God, lives,’ she replied, “I have no baked bread; but only a handful of meal in
a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am just gathering a stick or two to go and prepare this for myself and my son to
eat, and then we shall die.’ But Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, go and
do as you have said; but first make me a little scone of it for me and bring it
to me, and then you can make some for yourself and for your son. For thus
Yahweh speaks, the God of Israel: “Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil
shall not be emptied, before the day
when Yahweh sends rain on the face of the earth”.’ The woman went and did as
Elijah told her and they ate food, she, himself and her son.c The
jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied, just as Yahweh had
foretold through Elijah. Footnote c says “‘and
her son’ corr. Cf. vv. 12-13.”
The Second Reading is from Heb 9:24-28.
Verse 24 says: It is not as though Christ had
entered into a man-made sanctuary which was only modeled on the real one; but
it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf (v. 24).
Parallel texts are:
1. Heb
4:14 - Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has
gone through the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have
professed.
2. Heb
7:25 - It follows then that his power to save is utterly certain, since he is
living for ever to intercede for all who come to God through him.
3. Heb
9:11 - But now Christ has come, as the
high priest of all blessings which were to come.e He has passed
through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than the one made
by men’s hands because it is not of this created order… Footnote e
says “Var. ‘blessings already won’.”
4. Ac
7:8 - Even so the Most High does not live in a house that human hands have
built: for as the prophet says…
5. 1
Co 10:6 - These things all happened as warning e for us, not to have
the wicked lusts for forbidden things that they had. Footnote e says “Lit.
‘types’ (tupoi). The purpose in the events intended by God, was to prefigure in
the history of Israel, the spiritual realities of the messianic age (which are
known as ‘anti-types’, 1 P. 3:21 ,
but cf. Heb. 9:24). These ‘typological’ (or less accurately, ‘allegorical’, Ga.4:24 ) meanings in the OT narrative
though.”
Verses 25 and 26 says: And he does not have to offer himself again and again, like the high
priest going into the sanctuary enters year after year with the blood that is
not his own (v. 25), or else he would have had to suffer over and over again
since the world began. Instead of that, he has made his appearance once and for
all,k now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by
sacrificing himself (v. 26). Footnote k says “The sacrifice of Christ is unique, 7:27+:
being offered ‘at the end of the last
age’ (lit. ‘at the completion of the last aeons’), i.e., the end of human history, there is no need
for it to be repeated, since it wipe out sin, not with non-human (‘alien’)
blood, but with Christ’s own blood, cf. 9:12-14, so its effect is unconditional.”
Parallel texts are
1. Heb
7:27…one who would not need to offer
sacrifice every day, as the other high priests do for their own sins and then
for those of the people, because he has done this once and for allg
by offering himself. Footnote g
says “The one and only sacrifice of Christ is the center of salvation
history, Ac 1:7+. It closes a long epoch of preparations, 1:1f, cf. Rm 10:4; it
occurs ‘at the appointed time’, Ga. 4:4+, Rm 3:26+, and it begins the eschatological
epoch. Though the Last Day, 1 Co 1:8+; Rm 2:6+, will follow, 2 Co 6:2+, only at
some unspecified, 1 Th 5:1+, time in the future; salvation for the human race
has been in essence certain from the moment when, in the person of Christ, it
died to sin and rose to live again. Heb makes a special point of how the whole
of this hope flow from the absolute, unique, unrepeatable sacrifice of Christ,
7:27; 9:12,26,28; 10:10; cf. Rm 6:10; 1 P 3:18. Being unrepeatable, 10:12-14,
this sacrifice is different from all
others in the O.T. that had to be repeated again and again because they were
unable to actually to save anyone.”
2. Jn
1:29 - The next day, seeing Jesus coming
towards him, John said, ‘Look, there is the lambw of God that takes
away the sins of the world. Footnote
w says “One of the most significant of John’s symbols of Christ, cf. Rv. 5:6, 12, etc. It blends the idea of the
‘servant’ (Is. 53), who takes on himself the sins of men and offers himself as
a ‘lamb of expiation’ (v. 14), with that of the Passover lamb (Ex. 12:1+; cf.
Jn. 19:36) whose ritual symbolizes Israel’s redemption, Cf. Ac. 8:31-35; 1 Co.
5:7; 1 P. 18-20.”
3.
Gn 4:4 - While Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their
fat as well. Yahweh looked with favor on Abel and his offering.
4. 1
P 3:18 - Why, Christ himself, innocent though he was, had died once for sins,g
died for the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the
spirit he was raised to life… Footnote g says “‘sins’;
vulg. ‘our sins’, Om.to ‘God’.”
Verse 27 says: Since men only die once, and after that comes
judgment (v. 27),
Parallel texts are
1. Heb
10:10 - And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made
once and for all by Jesus Christ.
2. 1
Tm 6:4 …of doing all that you have been
told, with no faults or failures, until the Appearingf of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Footnote f says “The word ‘epiphany’ (‘appearing’), used in 2 Th 2:8 with reference to
the Great Rebel) is adopted in the Pastoral Letters in preference to ‘parousia’
(‘coming’, 1 Co 15:23+), or ‘apocalypse’ (‘revealing’, 1 Co 1:7+), as the
technical term here; 2 Tm 4:1,8; Tt 2:13; Heb 9:28, both for the manifestation
of Christ in his eschatological triumph, and also, 2 Tim 1:10; cf. Tt 2:11; 3:4,
for his manifestation in the results of his action as savior”
Verse 28 says: so Christ, too, offers himself only once to
take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will
not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for
him.l Footnote l
says “The first coming of Christ gave him
a direct relationship to sin, Rm. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21. The second coming of Christ
will, since the redemption is complete, have no connection with sin. Christians wait for this parousia that will
take place at the Judgment, 1 Co. 1:8+; Rm. 2:6+.”
Parallel texts are
1. Is
53:12 - Hence I will grant whole hordes for his tribute, he shall divide the
spoil with the mighty, for surrendering himself to death and letting himself be
taken for a sinner while he was bearing the faults of many, and praying all the
time for sinners.
2. Ac
3:20-21…and so that the Lord may send
the time of comfort.m Then he will send you the Christ he has
predestined, that is Jesusn, whom the heaven must keep till the
universal restorationo comes which God proclaimed, speaking through
his holy prophets.p Footnote m says “The epoch coincides with that of Christ’s
coming and of ‘the restoration of all things’, cf. 1:7+; Rm2:6+; a period
which, as the apostles thought, would see the re-establishment of the kingdom
in Israel, Ac 1:6-7. Repentance and conversion hasten its coming, cf. 2 P 3:12.;
Footnote n says “Or
‘Jesus who has been appointed Christ for you’, cf. 2:36+. When the time comes,
Christ who became King Messiah though his resurrection will return to establish
his kingdom forever and to make all creation new, v. 21, cf. Rm 8:19+.; Footnote o
says “Term used by the
prophets for the return from Exile (foretaste of the messianic age), Jr 15:19,
etc.”; and Footnote p says “Add.
‘from ancient times’.
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