For some time now we have been hearing about how the religious establishment in North America has been a willing collaborator in the oppression of the poor and those marginalized by race, class, sexuality, gender, and a whole host of other personal distinctions that have been used to separate society into "us" and "them" camps. To be fair, the oppression would have occurred with or without the participation of religious leaders and follows, but the effectiveness of the oppression was magnified by willing collusion, and its effects and continuances still resonate today.
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is no stranger to such misuse of spiritual leadership. Apparently the faithful remnant of Israel, who had fought hard to keep true to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while maintaining the outward faithfulness of having purged Canaanite, Persian, Greek, and other religious associations from society, still fell flat when it came to God's instructions regarding care for His people.
Let's see if today's Gospel reading for Mass (St. Mark 12.38-44...compare with St. Luke 20.45=21.4) resonates with today's situation. First, Our Lord decries the religious leaders for putting on a great show, with great costuming and prayers, but in the end devouring the homes of widows, and when they make their large contributions to the cause, the same widows, constrained by the commands of their leaders, sink everything they have into the same treasury, which by the way serves to benefit those leaders. Everything goes in, and for the widows nothing comes out.
It does not matter whether it a perfectly coiffed and impeccably dressed televangelist of the Evangelical tradition or a distinguished bishop in full pontificals in the Catholic tradition, the same can be said today. "Dig deep into your pockets," they say, "and let God's blessings rain down on you." And the poor, who cannot afford to do so, give sacrificially of what they have, while the rich sign over a large cheque then jet off to Club Med for a weekend getaway. In the meantime, the poor give from what little they have in good faith. They have honour in the eyes of God, but would likely still have had it if they gave according to their means. The rich who fleeced them, however, have no honour whatsoever.
Well, that cut deeply, didn't it?
Do not get me wrong, we all who profess faith in God need to contribute to the upkeep of where we gather, whether it is a Cathedral or a house church or a storefront. We need to bring in our resources to enable us to support the widows of our world, those being the widows who have nothing, the orphans whose breadwinning parents are now gone, the refugees and the poor. Where we sin is when we use that on ourselves and not on them. We cannot, as we have in the past, devour the poor in order to satisfy the grandiose ideas of the rich. We cannot devour the poor's resources then tell them to pay "their fair share". No, out of our abundance we must both worship God and have mercy on those around us. God does not desire sacrifice, as Samuel the prophet told King Saul of Israel, but He desires obedience. "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6.8)
Lord, have mercy, for we have sinned against You.
The Widow's Mite, Mosaic, 6th century A.D., San Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy