The generosity of those who seem the least able to give can oftentimes be the best (1 Kings 17:10-16). A gift given for appearance’s sake is a giving that deceives oneself but not God (Mark 12:38-44).

Hospitality amid want

In the severity of a drought that had ravaged the land, God directed the prophet Elijah to go and stay in Zarephath, not among his own people but in Phoenician territory. There a widow had been designated by God to provide for him. At the entrance of the town, the prophet saw a widow gathering sticks. He asked her to bring him a cup of water to drink (to test if she was the designated widow?), and to which he added as she went to fetch water the request for a piece of bread. When she exclaimed that she was in fact gathering sticks with which to cook her remaining handful of flour and bit of oil for her last meal with her son before they die of starvation, Elijah simply told her not to be afraid and to do as he asked, make him first a small cake then something for the two of them.

It is paradoxical that the drought threatening their lives had come through the word of the prophet as a polemic against the cult of the gods of Canaan who were thought to be the lords of nature and its fertility. It is as well ironic that the one to come to the help of the prophet was a widow, one with few resources on the brink of starvation herself, and one who did not even share Elijah’s religious affiliation. Custom required her to give hospitality to one approaching her. And now the stranger was asking her to trust in him in a total way.

Faith in the word of God

This story about Elijah was to illustrate the power of God’s word spoken through the prophet and in a land considered the domain of another god. With nothing else to rely on, the widow put her faith in the word of the prophet. Elijah told her that it is the God of Israel who would miraculously provide for her and her son until that time when God who withheld the rain would again send the rain, for it is the God of Israel who controls the rain, the land’s source of fertility.

“The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry.” And the jar of flour did not give out, nor did the jug of oil fail, just as the Lord had foretold through Elijah. The widow had a miraculous supply of flour and oil lasting for a year. She was blessed with life and abundance. She teaches us the powerful lesson of absolute trust and confidence in God’s word.

The widow who gave all she had

After a scathing denunciation of the teaching and behavior of the scribes, religious leaders of the community, Jesus led the focus on a poor widow, one among the least members of society. The ostentatious piety of the scribes is exposed in their continuing to wear in public outside of prayer and formal activities their long and voluminous outer garments with the clear intention of being admired. They sought to be accorded special attention and privileges in marketplaces, synagogues and banquets. Their hunger for public acclaim went hand in hand with their rapacity for widows’ property in exchange for their lengthy prayers and services.

On the other hand, at the court of the temple in one of the trumpet-shaped receptacles for donations for the upkeep of the temple a poor widow placed two copper coins, a pittance, but all that she had. In a scene where obviously wealthy people were giving generously, she walked up to give selflessly her only two pieces, the smallest in circulation. She did not split what she had between her own need and the benefit of the temple; she emptied herself. The widow’s giving “hurts” but she did it in faith and total trust in God.

Alálaong bagá, in the exemplary behavior of the poor widow, Jesus pointed out to His followers a final, formal lesson in discipleship—utter abandon to God, as He himself on the cross would offer his all in complete abandonment to His Father. There are people who perform great and generous deeds, but with all sorts of motives, out of fear or guilt or craving for publicity, or for the sake of a deal or tax purposes, or out of their excess or for their loved ones only; many times we have just that—performances. The widows of our two texts, one a foreigner and the other a local, both in extreme need themselves, the insignificant ones who seem not to make any difference, have become our teachers by their heroic examples of selfless generosity. When those who are supposed to lead or teach us fail because of their unfaithfulness, the gifts of selves by the little ones are redeeming.

For more of my reflections and works, visit my blogsite: http://alalaongbaga.multiply.com.