Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
I think we all know this adage, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” While I agree wisdom is that which helps us avoid being fools and fooled, I was reminded by today’s readings that the Lord stands alongside us if we become victims. Not in a condescending, “you should have known better” way, but in genuine solidarity.
Today’s gospel is from the opening lines of Luke 21 in which the widow “offers her whole livelihood.” Her beautiful, devoted offering is made in good faith and Jesus seems to praise her for it. Rewinding to the end of Luke 20 puts this scene in an interesting light though. Just before looking up to see the widow Jesus was saying “within the hearing of all people” that the scribes will “devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
This widow may very well be being swindled, but Jesus does not condemn her for ignorance. Instead, he sees the devotion of her heart and her integrity.
If this interpretation has merit, then it has implications about how we go about preventing ourselves from being swindled, cheated, and duped.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be wise or that we shouldn’t be good stewards of our resources, but we should have limits. For this, I turn to the first reading. The concluding line about the 144,000 was that “On their lips no deceit has been found; they are unblemished.” They are so harmonized with the God of Truth that their integrity is above reproach. But when are we tempted to trade integrity to not let someone get one over on us? How tempted are we to lie about a child’s age to get a cheaper or free ticket? How often do we look at a person asking for help and say “I don’t have any cash” with bills in our pocket?
I’m not saying we have to give every person cash if we don’t feel comfortable, but I don’t think we should lie about it.
Here now we turn to the Psalm. When we put our material goods above our harmony with the truth we make it difficult to sing today’s Psalm with our whole heart. We are to be the people that long to see God’s face. God showed his face as the victim of deceit who never conceded truth for expediency. Jesus stands in solidarity with the widow who gave her whole livelihood because before long the same devourers of her house would be after his life. May we be so harmonized with the truth that we find ourselves learning the song of the 144,000.
- Spencer Hargadon