Saturday of week 9 in Ordinary Time
2 Timothy 4:1-8
Psalm 70(71):8-9,14-17,22
Mark 12:38-44
In a nation of immense wealth, it is outrageous that anyone goes hungry, lacks healthcare, or lives on the streets. Today’s reading highlights the many social ills that still confront us today.As disciples, we should also feel anger at a society that promotes individualistic social upward mobility while turning a blind eye to its impact on the disadvantaged, especially those living on the fringes of our communities.
Today’s readings also challenge us to be “refusers, renegades, and resisters” against the prevailing narrative of upward mobility centered on riches, honors, pride, and power. The culture that upholds these values might want us to see today’s Gospel as a sweet story of a poor widow surrendering everything to God, encouraging the well-to-do to give a little more. But the story is much more radical. Jesus is condemning the Temple economy that allows scribes and similar figures to enrich themselves at the expense of vulnerable widows.
Scholars tell us that scribes were the lawgivers of their time. Someone with Power of Attorney is responsible for all the legal transactions for their loved ones or clients. The scribes managed widows’ affairs, especially in a male-dominated society where women were left helpless after their husbands died. Jesus knew that the scribes exploited their positions, leaving widows destitute, and called them out for their outward piety that masked greed. They were unfit for discipleship.
As followers of Jesus today, we are called to look beyond the surface—beyond the outward displays of piety, comforting devotions, and accepted traditions—to question the oppressive aspects of our culture.
This Post-Pentecost season is our time to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, transform us, open our eyes, and give us the courage to speak out, just as Jesus did, against systemic evils disguised as systems of charity.
Jesus is calling us to expose systems of economics and government that harm our brothers and sisters. It involves living more simply and shedding a pastel, passive Christianity for a vibrant life of freedom from the chains of status, power, and wealth.
By doing so, we can draw strength from the words of Paul to Timothy:
"Proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will gather teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry."
-2 Timothy 4:2
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