Readings: 2 Timothy 4:1-8; Psalm 70; Mark 12:38-44
The poor widow who gives her whole living to the Temple is mentioned in Luke's gospel as well as in today's passage from Mark's gospel. For some reason the Christian tradition decided that Jesus was praising her for what she did. It is more likely, when we look at the context, that her appearance at a time when he was criticising the corruption of the Temple system simply provided him with a perfect illustration of the kind of clericalist exploitation of the poor that he was talking about.
In one moment he is criticising the clerics for their love of display and honour while at the same time they 'swallow the property of widows'. In the next breath he points out such a widow, who happens to come along, giving more than she can afford. In Luke's gospel whenever a person is praised by Jesus he makes a comment such as 'go and do likewise', or 'she went away justified'. But there is no such word of praise for the widow either in Luke's gospel or in Mark's.
What seems to have happened is that the call to follow Jesus, and to give our life for his sake, along with the self-giving of Jesus himself in his passion and death, have come to colour the donation of the widow who puts in everything she possessed, all she had to live on. It seems as if Jesus must be praising the widow for doing this because it seems to be in line with the call to follow him, seeking to live what T.S Eliot called 'a condition of complete simplicity, costing not less than everything'. But look again at the context in which the widow appears, whether in Luke or in Mark, and you will see that it is not what Jesus is teaching at that moment.
Today's first reading on the other hand is an unambiguous presentation of the complete dedication to which Jesus calls his followers. Paul is saying, in effect, that he has put in everything he possessed, all he had to live on. He has given all his time and energy to the task of preaching the gospel. His words are among the best known and most beautiful in the Bible and we hear them from time to time especially at funeral masses: 'my life is already being poured out, I have fought the good fight to the end, I have run the race, I have kept the faith'.
Concerning his own economic support from the communities he founded the evidence from Paul's correspondence is complex. Jesus had said that the labourer deserves his wages and Paul returns to this point from time to time. But he also wished to preach the gospel freely without making economic demands on his listeners. He was anxious also, in the face of his critics, to head off any possibility that he might be charged with preaching in order to make money (Acts 18:3; 1 Corinthians 4:12; 9:6; Philippians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9).
So let us stand with the widow in thinking about justice and injustice, exploitation of people's sensibilities whether religious or political or cultural or of any other kind. And let us stand also with Paul in thinking about generosity and self-giving, as he writes those stirring words, 'my life is being poured out as a libation'. How do we put it together, the call to generosity and self-sacrifice, and the call to defend what is just and not allow ourselves or others to be exploited? Be careful always to choose the right course, Paul says to Timothy, and be brave under trials. We can imagine him saying the same to us, at the same time not giving us an easy answer about how to live up to the demands of the gospel in certain particular circumstances. He simply reminds us that we must live our lives seeking to be generous, even at some cost to ourselves, while at the same time seeking to remove any system that oppresses or exploits the poor.
It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing wrong, there is no doubt about that (1 Peter 3:17). At the same time the religion acceptable in God's eyes means not just keeping ourselves unstained from the world but also engaging with its corruption and injustice, if we are to come to the aid of widows and orphans in their need (James 1:27).
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