Homily for the 32nd time in Ordinary Time

Readings 1 Kings 17:10-16, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44

We are told by a large number of people every day that we should trust them. These areas of trust can range from your child saying I will clean my room today, maybe, maybe not. To the politician saying I will do the best job in looking out for you and your money if you would vote for me, probably not.

How we react to these calls for trust will depend largely on our viewpoint on the subject at hand. This is where we as a society begin to label others. There are the conservatives, liberals, democrats, republicans, optimists and pessimists. The first thing we need to stop doing is labeling people. God does not label people, He loves everyone equally. This is what we are called to do.

These labels serve one purpose in life. That is to separate us so that if you belong to one group and I belong to the opposing group we cannot see eye to eye on whatever subject we are discussing. Of course this has led to such a cooperative, and productive government.

The labels were something the scribes in Jesus’day were very good at persistingin, and we heard today what Jesus thought of them in regards to trust. Since they believe they knew better than others they made it no secret who they were by wearing flashy clothes that the average people could not afford.

We also see a different view of trust shown by the two widows discussed in today’s readings, that is the trust in God. The first widow we hear about in 1 Kings is just waiting to prepare her last meal for her and her son and then they will die. They have no more food and in this time, roughly 900 BC, widows unless they were taken in by their deceased husbands family had no way to support themselves. She had no money and there was no way for her to buy more flour and oil.

Then the prophet Elijah comes along and asks for a drink, then as she goes to get this he asks for some bread. The widow is called to trust in the Lord when Elijah says when he says that the jar of flour and the jug of oil shall not go empty until it rains. Would we have enough trust to believe Elijah today? The widow does and she is blessed to have enough flour and oil to continue to feed not only her son and herself, but Elijah as well for an entire year.

We see today so many images that say the only thing to do is to take care of oneself, and don’t worry about other people because it is not our fault they are in that situation. We are to take care of our family first and only if we have anything left are we to share it with others. Our personal somewhat biased judgement is the only thing we are called on today to trust, no one or nothing else is trustworthy.

We see this trust in God from the widow who gives her last coins to the collection plate while Jesus and his disciples are watching. She does this not with great fanfare, as those who are giving from their excess do. We are reminded that we are called to act as the widow, not as the rich in the story do. While we do not know what happens to the widow after she gives her last coins, we do know that she has the same support system, none, which the woman from Elijah’s time had. Not much had changed in the way widows and women were treated during Jesus’time.

We certainly can see this same selective support being shown in the world today. If you are of a different race, or a different gender you can be treated differently. If you believe differently than I do about something then I have the right to treat you differently, I am able to judge you. This is the image of trust that we are shown in today’s media, politics, and especially in social media.

If it is said on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media it must be true. We have access to more and more information, yet it seems we have become more and more isolated. Rather than looking out for others, we only look out for ourselves. It is easy to attack others in an internet forum since we are not saying this face to face, and we may not even know who we are talking to or about. We simply lump everyone into the label we are deriding. How do we feel when we are lumped in with a labeled group that is being derided?

It comes down to a decision on who we can trust and believe in. Do we trust and believe in the people who continue to label others, or do we trust the one whom labeled no one? If we believe in Jesus and we look forward to his return we should live as he would want us to live. He sat down and ate with tax collectors and other sinners. He also sat and talked with Pharisees and Scribes. He showed no preference for one over the other. He showed that women and those from different levels of society were ALL equal in God’s eyes. We are called to be the same.

We are not told anywhere that it will be easy to follow Christ, what we are told is if we follow his plan we would receive salvation when he returns. The disciples trusted in him up to their death, most in very cruel ways. The Coptics Christians earlier this year believed as well up to a cruel death on the beach. We also saw those who trusted in Him stand up in Oregon even though they knew they would be shot. Trusting in God leads to the ultimate joy, are we willing to search for that Joy? Do we trust in God enough to follow the examples of those who trusted in Him or will we trust only in ourselves?