This year, because of scheduling, our neighborhood “white elephant” party was held in November. The rules of the game are actually quite hysterical. According to the number that you pick prior to the game, you have an opportunity to either open a wrapped gift or “steal” a gift from someone else who already has a gift. But once the same gift has been stolen three times, it cannot be stolen again. It is an interesting and entertaining “exchange” of give and take, with more emphasis on the taking or “stealing” side. The gifts themselves range from silly to often quite nice! I even found myself hiding one of the gifts that passed through my hands, with the hope that someone wouldn’t steal it! Alas, though, in the end it was taken from me.
In today’s Gospel, Mark (MK 12: 41-44) tells a story about giving and taking, with more emphasis on the giving side. Jesus strikes one of his contemplative poses, and seats himself directly across from the treasury to, so to speak, “people watch.” As people are passing by to drop their contribution into the depository, Jesus invites his disciples to watch with him. Many people, who obviously had wealth, put in large sums of money. But Jesus seems to be more interested in what a widow puts into the treasury – two small coins, only “worth” a few cents. Jesus then verbally makes the point to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
On one level, this story seems to make the point that ostentatious giving by those who can give from a surplus pales in comparison to perhaps a small gift that is given out of need. But I believe, at a deeper level, it’s more a question of the heart. It seems that Jesus is making a point about value and dignity couched in the images of rich and poor. We have a “treasury” to which we all contribute in one way or another. What is this “treasury?” It is clearly more than taxation and distribution. There is a lot of “taking,” and even “stealing” going on in our world on an everyday basis. The news is rife with reporting this, and the injustice associated can elicit aggravation, disappointment, and even rage and intolerance. Yes, we need to watch and see where we are “taking” from each other, and why we are doing this. Could it come from a sense of trying to protect some “thing” that we think we are entitled? At others’ expense, indeed!
I think one way of looking at this “treasury” is to take it as a convergence point where we all come together. It could be that mysterious and inexorable connection that we all have, yet so often try so desperately to deny and avoid. We all have needs, but we confuse them with things rather than with people, with taking rather than sharing. We only truly “have” ourselves and each other, and these are actually gifts themselves. We are simple receivers of life and love that we have been given, but we try to take stuff from each other rather than sharing something that doesn’t belong to any one in the first place! I want to call this “poverty.”
When we recognize the need that we have for each other, for companionship, love, care, concern, then we can see this “treasury” as that opportunity awaiting us in each moment, where we can put in “our two cents,” which in this case is that most sacred and dignified gift that we can give – our very selves! We are all “poor” and in need of each other, and the only thing we have to give is that which has already been given to us. When we share our needs, our poverty, our brokenness, that is the greatest “contribution” that we can make to the “treasury.” I think that this is our true “surplus wealth” and our very livelihood. And the catch is that the gift of self cannot be “stolen,” but only given. That’s the rub here – our poverty, i.e., our need for each other, is our livelihood, but only when we share it with each other! It is a different way of looking at what is “valuable” for sure. I guess I need to sit down with Jesus now and “observe how the crowd,” and most importantly how I “put money into the treasury.”
Peace,
Thomas