Wednesday after the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 4, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Mark 12:38-44 (NKJV)
12:38 Then He said to them in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, 39 the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
Devotion
Jesus holds up two examples for us in today’s reading, one negative, the other positive.
The negative example is the scribe. He loves to be acknowledged for his learning and position and to receive special treatment for it. He should be using his learning and position to serve his fellow Israelites. Instead, he uses his position to mistreat those who are “beneath” him, like the poor widows, for whom he shows no mercy or concern whatsoever. Beware of such people, Jesus says. And beware of becoming like them. Such haughty, impenitent sinners will receive greater condemnation for the position of power they abuse, for the evil they do, and for the good they leave undone. They have neither faith nor love.
On the other hand, the Lord, who always sees what churchgoers put into the offering plate, holds up a poor widow as a shining example. She has no position of power. Quite the opposite! The pennies she places in the offering box look like nothing compared with the large sums being given by the rich. But God sees things as they really are. The rich will not suffer any loss for what they give; they will have plenty left over for themselves. The widow has little to live on as it is, but gives what she has to the Lord, out of love for Him, trusting in His merciful providence. She has both faith and love. May her example inspire the same in us!
Prayer: Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
