I know, it’s the widow’s “mite.”
But consider.
Wealth was seen as divine approval.
(Is our world any different?)
A widow, destitute without a husband’s income,
was a model of poverty and helplessness,
and therefore also (are we any different?) shame.
But, in the same spirit in which he said
“Blessed are the poor,” Jesus honors her,
praises her generosity and self-determination:
she has done something powerful.
The sharing Jesus taught was not mere kindness;
it also confronted the boundaries of “mine” and “yours,”
and therefore the hierarchy of rich and poor.
In his praise Jesus questions
why she is poor in the first place.
Why do we have rich and poor?
Because the rich like it that way;
otherwise they’d change it.
The rich are afraid to share, but not the poor.
And sharing is powerful: it disturbs the line
between mine and yours, between rich and poor.
It changes the world.
Empowered by her faith,
unswayed by social expectations,
she has made her choice.
This is the widow’s might.
May it be your power as well.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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