It’s no longer a secret that Jesus is explicitly critical of local religious authorities and the wealthy though we don’t seem to talk about this enough. In our time, we still have the wealthy and religious or political authorities who might still be criticized by Jesus. It’s always easy to criticize them as if we ourselves are Jesus. This is unhealthy and toxic when done uncritically without personal and communal discernment and spiritual awareness of the danger of self-validating righteousness. What’s much more crucial is to understand what Jesus sees in those who have enormous power as well as what he sees in the poor widow at the synagogue. What is it that Jesus considers essential to have our world here and now transform to the kingdom of God?
Let’s imagine that we’re sitting next to Jesus in the synagogue and looking at the scribes and people offering to the temple treasury. Giving money to the temple treasury in his time is considered as offering to God just like our time while how that money is actually used is a different subject matter. It seems there are two types of people in Jesus’ eyes. How these people are categorized depends on the level of ego which can be shown by their behaviors at the synagogue. This place of worship has somewhat become the place all self-gratifying desires manifest. The scribes are consumed with their egoistic desires according to Jesus’ interpretation. They like to walk around in long robes and say long prayers, caring more about how they look as if their clothes can make them instantly holy. They enjoy their socio-religious status wherever they go. The wealthy who are putting money in large sums into the temple treasury are also driven by their egoistic desires. The fact that Jesus can tell how much they put into the treasury demonstrates people are aware of how much or little each person offers. While the scribes misguide people with the idea that the more they give the better they serve God and the more God favors them, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in both economic and spiritual senses. This incorrect teaching of the scribes is how they devour widows’ houses. Then comes the poor widow who is misinformed of the teaching on how one can serve God. She puts in two copper coins. It’s worth 1/64 of a day’s wage. In today’s terms, it would be less than $2. Despite the reality that everyone else is watching how much she would put in, she still goes ahead. We might accuse her of not knowing the true meanings of offering to God and uncritically obeying the teaching of the scribes, but we cannot deny that her heart for God is genuine. The ones who are misleading her sincerely held faith in God are guilty. There’s no ego-driven motivation in her act of giving $2 to the treasury and risking social shame. Now, Jesus’ sole concern isn’t so much about who has more power or money but who is full of themselves. Power or money is what fuels their ego. I find the analogy of fire as the most helpful way of depicting the nature of the ego. The ego as fire constantly looks for something to burn so it can not only continue to exist but also spread. Think of self-aggrandizement, for example. Whatever or whoever is around those whose fire of ego is burning becomes a source of fuel. Wearing long robes helps. Saying long prayers does too. Maybe the best fuel is their power to control and dictate how people ought to worship God. For the rich, their fire of ego burns and spreads as they give money in large sums to the treasury while everyone watches them, believing what they’re doing is something to be respected by others and accepted by God. The cross of Jesus goes directly against this flame of ego. It extinguishes the flame that there’s nothing left but ashes. This image, however, might make us feel a bit nihilistic. It’s not. From ashes arises a radically different flame of the Spirit. As Moses at Horeb encounters God in a flame of fire out of a bush that is blazing but is not consumed, this divine flame born out of death and resurrection does not need fuels to burn more. (ref. Exodus 3) Jesus in today’s gospel lesson then asks us how we continue to fuel the flame of ego and whether we want to burn and spread this fire. Can we be curious to know and learn about what sources of fuel we seek to use? Can we acknowledge and accept that this fire would eventually consume us, which bears the fruit of constant dissatisfaction with life? Can we trust in God who selflessly loves us and thus makes us whole even if we suffer from our existential insecurity? May it be so. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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