“Every breath we draw is a gift of his love; every moment of existence is a grace. Gratitude, therefore, takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and praise of the goodness of God.” - Thomas Merton
I have been thinking about a story from the Bible that takes place in the last week of Jesus’ life.(1) Things get real at the end of your life. It’s not the time to talk about the weather. It’s not the time for cliques. In the story, His disciples are with him in Jerusalem while he is teaching in the temple. It is almost as if he is taking stock of things as they really are, knowing his hour has come and his days are numbered. While there, he gets angry as he sees the scribes. The scribes are well-educated people who know the Torah, but Jesus sees they have missed the point. He says, “Beware of the scribes.”
Then Jesus sat down across from the temple treasury, where people came to leave an offering, and he watched. He took it all in. As he sat and watched, something grabbed his attention. He noticed a poor widow. If you are like me, you have always imagined her as an older woman, but that may not be true. Maybe she was the same age as you.
One thing that is probably true is that she was the kind of person people may not notice. However, Jesus does not overlook her. When Jesus sees a person, he does so with more than just a glance. Jesus not only sees, but he understands the fullness of who you are. After meeting a Samaritan woman at the well, the woman tells everyone: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.”(2)
In the last week of his life, when surrounded by hypocrisy and increasing hostility, Jesus stops and notices people. This is what he has done from the very beginning. Love is at the heart of God. From the beginning, God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has lived in mutual love. When Jesus came to us, he invited us to share in that love.
So, with love and compassion, Jesus sees a poor widow come forward and offer two small copper coins. We don’t know what she is feeling. We don’t see the look on her face. We don’t know what brought her to this place and time. We do know that she is part of a small group of people that Jesus commended. He says to his disciples: “Listen up. Truly, I tell you, this poor widow is extraordinary; she has done more than all the rest. They gave out of their abundance, but she has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (3)
Often, this story is accompanied by a lesson to be generous and to give with gratitude. It is good and right to be generous. We all need to do what we can to help people experiencing poverty. But maybe Jesus is getting at something else here. Notice that Jesus does not tell his disciples to go and be like the widow. Jesus tells them who this woman is. She is a witness to something beyond herself. Once she steps foot out of the temple, she has no way to provide for herself. She offers her very life - all she has. She does not put her trust in her copper coins. There is something deeper going on with this woman.
While his followers do not realize it at the time, Jesus is about to do the same. He will offer his life for the poor widow, the scribe, and all people on the cross. In his last days and even today, Jesus sees and has compassion. Jesus sees you in your poverty - whatever you lack or long for. He understands that most of us do not have the courage of the poor widow. Jesus sees that his friends, his disciples, will struggle even to stay awake and be with him in his final hours. (4) Unlike them, Jesus is alert and watching. He sees and knows and understands. He does not ask us to be like the widow because that is what he will do. He is going to give us everything. He is going to offer us his very life. With his help, we can be like the poor widow. We can become people who live in love and love as Jesus has loved us.
I will never forget the story of a little girl. (5) She was in second grade and had to undergo chemotherapy for leukemia. When she returned to school, she wore a scarf to hide that she had lost all her hair. It was not typical for a second grader to come to class with a scarf, and a small group of children pulled it off the girl's head. Everyone saw that the little girl had no hair. In their nervousness, her classmates laughed, and some made fun of her. The little girl was mortified and begged her mother not to make her go back to school. Her mother tried to encourage her and asked her to try again.
The following day, when the teacher walked into class, all the children were sitting in their seats. Some snickered about the girl with no hair while she sank into her chair. “Good Morning, children.” the teacher said, smiling warmly in her familiar way of greeting them. Then she removed her coat and the scarf wrapped around her head. As she did, everyone saw that her head was completely shaved.
This changed everything. After that, many children begged their parents to let them cut their hair. And the following year, when the little girl came to school with a short, newly bobbed haircut, all the children laughed merrily - not out of fear or to make fun of her- but out of joy.
This is such a powerful story. The teacher saw the little girl and responded in love. Now is the time of year to notice—the time to give thanks, the time to smell the chestnuts roasting on the open fire, and the time to feel Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Take a moment today to notice the world around you. How can you respond in love?
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Mark 12:38-44
John 4:29
Paraphrase of Mark 12:43
Mark 14:32-42
This is a retelling of the story in The Art of Possibility by Rosamond Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.