Detachment

"Jesus sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
"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."

Mark 12:41-44

This gospel is short. And quite honestly, I had a bit of a struggle trying to understand how it was speaking to me, or to us as a community of believers. I particularly took notice to sit with a lectio divina with this reading because I was asked by a family member to give him my thoughts on it. While I found it challeging, I felt the Lord nudging me toward these points:

1.) It stands out to me that Jesus takes time to observe those who are putting money into the treasury. I'm not entirely sure of its meaning, but I feel it is personal that he actually cares about our contributions, not just tithing (giving physical money to the church), but also how much we devote ourselves to the spiritual life. He is not some distant obscure figure, but a person, a friend, a brother who observes us with love and concern.

2.) But what does this mean? Well, in short, Jesus does not measure the amount that we give, but the percentage of our lives that we give to him. The woman, he says, contributed her "whole livelihood", how many of us can say we have truly given our whole livelihood to God? I know I struggle with this daily. It has transcendence beyond monetary giving. He is observing where we are putting our "treasure". And he doesn't want 50%, 70% or 95%, he wants our whole lives.

3.) This builds upon last week's gospel beatitude "blessed are the poor in spirit". The "In spirit" addition leaves room for those who God has blessed with wealth to still live as poor people do: detached from material things. Should you give up your entire home and family to serve God if he called you to marriage and a position of power at work? No, not necessarily. But we are called to not be attached to the wealth and power, a difficult task, and if we were to lose it all, still be able to say "I trust you" with full confidence in God's plan.

The wealthy in the gospel gave large sums, but were still attached to their wealth and were unable to give their whole livelihood as the poor widow did. Let's hope we live with a spirit like the poor widow, even if we are granted more than the poor.