{"id":1716,"date":"2015-11-08T12:16:26","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T17:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1716"},"modified":"2015-11-08T12:16:26","modified_gmt":"2015-11-08T17:16:26","slug":"32nd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/32nd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

32nd<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\n1 Kings 17:10-16
\nPsalm 146:7-10
\nHebrews 9:24-28
\nMark 12:38-44
\nNovember 8, 2015<\/p>\n

Do we trust in God?<\/p>\n

The fact that we are here says we want to but do we live like trust God?<\/p>\n

Our readings today speaking about trusting God.\u00a0 The very first line from 1 Kings says \u201cIn those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The simple fact that Elijah to Zarephath is evidence of Elijah\u2019s trust in God.<\/p>\n

Elijah had been serving as a prophet of God to the Israelites.\u00a0 Many of the Israelites, including King Ahab were not listening.\u00a0 So God proclaimed a drought to get them to listen.\u00a0 During the drought, God told Elijah to go to Zarephath.\u00a0 This could have been shocking.\u00a0 Zarephath was not a Jewish land but Elijah trusts in God and goes.<\/p>\n

At the same time God told Elijah to go to Zarephath, He also told him to go to a widow there for help.\u00a0 This too could have been shocking.\u00a0 Why ask a widow for help?\u00a0 Widows didn\u2019t own property, etc. and had to count on others for their needs.\u00a0 Furthermore, this widow is not a Jew so why would she help Elijah.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t matter to Elijah.\u00a0 God says go and Elijah goes because he trusts God.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the widow shows trust in God.\u00a0 It begins with Elijah asking her for a drink of water.\u00a0 She immediately goes to fulfill this request.\u00a0 Then Elijah also asks for bread.\u00a0 The woman responds with the simple reality that she has little to give.\u00a0 Elijah calls her to trust in God and she does.\u00a0 Amazing!\u00a0 Remember she is not a Jew so why should she think the God of Israel would help her?\u00a0 Yet, she believes and does as Elijah said.\u00a0 Somehow, she was open to God\u2019s presence in what Elijah said and she responded with trust in God.<\/p>\n

Put yourselves in the shoes of Elijah or the widow.\u00a0 Would you trust God and do what they did?<\/p>\n

Elijah and the widow both trusted in God and for this God provides food and water for them during the drought.<\/p>\n

Turning to the gospel, we see the contrast between types of people.\u00a0 First are the scribes who like to go around in long robes, receive special greetings, hold places of honor, and pray with many words.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong with all of this?\u00a0 After all, I\u2019m wearing a long robe and people will greet me differently than they greet other people.\u00a0 When I pray, I can use a lot of words.\u00a0 What makes what the scribes do so bad?<\/p>\n

When I wear a long robe at Mass, it is to signify the role I fulfill as the presider at Mass.\u00a0 When these<\/em> scribes (but not all) wore robes they were doing it for pride and to show off.\u00a0 When I pray, I hope it is to draw us closer to God.\u00a0 When these scribes prayed lengthy prayers<\/em> it was to show off and draw attention and praise.<\/p>\n

Do you see the difference in attitude?<\/p>\n

Jesus then contrasts the rich people and the poor widow.\u00a0 The rich people put in large sums of money into the temple treasury while the poor widow just puts in two small coins yet she is the one praised by Jesus.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it good that the rich people gave lots of money?\u00a0 Absolutely but they only gave of their surplus, of what they didn\u2019t need.\u00a0 It was no big deal for them to give this much.\u00a0 Some of them did it just to get attention and look good.<\/p>\n

The widow, on the other hand, had no surplus but she still gave not for attention but for love of God.<\/p>\n

The difference between the rich and the widow should not focus on how much<\/em> they gave but rather the attitude they gave with<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now don\u2019t take me the wrong way.\u00a0 Please don\u2019t think I am saying it is not important to give.\u00a0 It is and people with more means should give more but not for pride but because they realize they have been blessed and thank God by sharing what they have been given.<\/p>\n

The widow was not looking for status.\u00a0 All she wanted to do was to know God and trust Him.<\/p>\n

What is the attitude behind your giving?\u00a0 Is it out of obligation?\u00a0 Is it out of trust in God?\u00a0 Is it out of love for God?\u00a0 What priority do you place on your giving?\u00a0 Does God just get the leftovers?<\/p>\n

The widow gave everything but she shouldn\u2019t have needed to.\u00a0 We are to each give according to our means, whether we give of our time, talent, or treasures, the order in which we give says something about our values.\u00a0 Where does God come for you?\u00a0 Do God just get the surplus (leftovers)?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 1 Kings 17:10-16 Psalm 146:7-10 Hebrews 9:24-28 Mark 12:38-44 November 8, 2015 Do we trust in God? The fact that we are here says we want to but do we live like trust God? Our readings today speaking about trusting God.\u00a0 The very first line from 1 Kings …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[146],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-rG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1717,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716\/revisions\/1717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}