“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext
recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation. 

Then he sat down opposite the treasury and observed how many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Jesus said to his disciples,
‘Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood.’” Mark 12:38-44

In the Gospels we find numerous times when Jesus draws our attention to the Scribes and Pharisees as examples of people with behaviors that disciples should avoid. But God loves everyone and God’s ever saving graces are available to everyone. What can we learn about ourselves and our present-day situations from this particular story of these scribes?

Let’s assume that these particular scribes were men of good faith who has lost their way. (Perhaps in some way we, too, have lost our way.) The difference between the scribes and the widow has more to do with what is going on inside of each of them than with what we observe them saying and doing. The way they dressed, where they went, what they said and even the “good” that they did may have warped away from their initial desires to be servants of God. This can happen to any of us, especially those who are in positions of authority and who fail to take time to temper our “authority” with moments of genuine prayer acknowledging one’s fragility and sinfulness in the presence of God. So, Jesus asks us to turn our attention to the “poor widow who has put in more than all the rest of the contributors.”

This widow has humility, with a humility born from acknowledging her own fragility when standing in the presence of God. Remember the adage, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”? In contrasting the scribes with the widow, Jesus contrasts those in power with someone who is almost powerless. 

We tend to honor those in power. We want them to notice us, to like us, and when they do, many of us “reward” them by doing what pleases them, saying what we think they want to hear, sometimes hiding things from them that they may not want to hear, thus avoiding being cast aside from the benefit of being in their “good graces.” But this untruth overtime may be what warped the vision of these scribes (and of us) and may lead to riding one’s horse naked through the streets as happens to the emperor in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes. When this is the case, we, too, must bear some blame for the situation. After all, the scribes and the people with authority are our brothers and sisters.

The widow, at the other extreme from the scribes, gives the little that she has to God – showing that it is her love for God that motivates her. It is God whom she trust, God whom she treasures.

Let us approach the altar this weekend, listening to Jesus’ warning and asking ourselves how we are progressing along our personal and communal journeys into the life revealed to us by Jesus.

Sister Loretta