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(08.11.2009)
Gospel Reading: Mark 12:38-44
“This poor widow has put in more than all.”
Imagine you are early in church, and as you kneel down to say your personal prayer, you discover this thick heavy wallet under the pew. What would you do? Would you pass it to the priest? Or pass it to someone else? We can keep it because there is no CCTV, and no one is around. Now, what happens to us when we keep it? What happens to us when we give it up, or we return it to the rightful owner? It depends, isn’t it? It depends on what is in our heart. If I will do my part only when there is an incentive or a reward, that will tell quite a lot about me, isn’t it?
And this is what Jesus is talking about. You know, this passage of Mark doesn’t fit in. It looks like there is no head and there is no tail. Jesus was having some fun time with His disciples, looking at people putting in money at the collection box or something. Now, Jesus called the apostles and drew their attention to this poor widow. I suspect it had to do with tithing. But as a widow, one can dispense oneself from this duty. But surprisingly, this widow did not. She came forward, and what Jesus said was that she gave all.
The amazing thing about this episode is that there is no conclusion. Jesus did not say, “Look here, apostles. If you do follow her, your reward will be great”. Mark forgot completely to tell what happened to this widow. Was she better off after giving all? Or she was worse off?
Now, what is the message of Jesus? It is very important to our life. What is our attitude towards duty? We look at our work. We look at work ethics. You can tell a lot about me if I fulfill my duty in my job, in my profession, only because of incentive or reward. What happens to me if I perform my duty only when there is an incentive or a reward? It will reveal a lot about me if I do my duty with or without reward.
The message of Jesus is this: this poor widow has no duty to give or even to pay tax. She has no income. Though she is free from this duty, she generously fulfills the duty. And not only does she fulfill this duty, she gives all.
What is Jesus telling us? You know, our work is important because the most active hours of our day are from 7.30 in the morning till 7.30 in the evening. These are the most active hours of the day. Most of these active hours are given to our duty, to our work. But what happens to us at our work? What is our attitude? Do we work because the boss is around? The supervisor is around? Or is it when the supervisor is not around, or the boss is not around, I am the boss. What will happen to me when I do my work only when the boss is around? Or only when there is incentive or reward? Though this is external, it reflects deeply inside of us, isn’t it? Do you think I am happy as a priest, that I fulfill my duty as a priest, because every year I will have two weeks off? I can fly to Rome. Do you think I will be happy when I do my duty because I can get angpows? We all know that I can’t be happy.
This is what our Lord is leading us into - to look at what is inside of us when we fulfill our duty. Do we do it just for reward or recognition? Or we do it because this is part of us? Our work reflects our integrity. This has to do with our happiness and our fulfillment, whatever our duty may be. Let it be a teacher, a bank officer or a senior executive in a corporation or even in the government or anywhere. It does not matter.
What matters is what is inside of us. What our Lord wants us to realize when He draws our attention to this poor widow is this: the quality of our life, the happiness of our life is reflected and even influenced by our disposition and our attitude towards what we do.
In the holy mass, our Lord comes to us. Bread is energy. Bread is life because bread sustains life. It is energy. Energy has to do with work. Our Lord comes as bread for us so that we can find happiness, fulfillment and joy in our duty. And, isn’t it true that we grow, we receive fulfillment, we enjoy fulfillment when we take delight in our work, in our duty?
In this holy mass, our Lord comes to us. We ask Him … we entrust ourselves to Him because part of the difficulty of our life has to do with our work.
Imagine, I am a priest and I am not happy. Now, I will not just fail in my responsibility towards God. Actually, failing in my responsibility towards God is very minimal. You know what is the real thing? The real thing is the untold misery I inflict on others. This is the real misery. I not only do not live my life fully, but I inflict untold miseries on others. Isn’t it true - if I just perform my duty as a priest because of angpows or trips to Rome – two weeks’ holiday every year?
Likewise with your work. What is inside of you when you are at work? Is it a burden or is it a fulfillment? It is not the work, isn’t it? It is what is inside of us.
This evening we receive Christ. We ask Him to identify Himself with us so that, inside of us, we will be like this woman who has no obligation but yet she gives all to her simple little duty. This is where we show our greatness or our littleness - in little things that we do. And we change the world. We make a world of difference for people in how we perform our work, our duty.
To this God who loves us, we praise and thank Him.
Rev Fr Stephen Lim
Holy Trinity Church, Kuching
