In Mark’s plan of the Gospel, when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem he is primarily concerned with speaking about the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom, the re-establishment of God’s order in creation. The principal theme of this is the reversal of earthly values and positions of power, which he sets in the parable of the tenants (12:1-11). The contrast between the scribes — highly respected officials who will find themselves outlaws in the kingdom — and the poor widow, who is in reality rich in the qualities that matter, continues and illustrates this theme. The meaning of this contrast for us is clear enough, as our moral obligation of detachment.

However, Jesus is speaking of more than mere moral obligation here. He is describing the nature of the kingdom. Those whose generosity extends only to giving away surplus cannot be a part of it. That may be a disturbing mirror for us, but it presents us with a hopeful and challenging image of God himself. His kingdom cannot be different than he is himself. If God gives only from superfluous abundance, then he would be no better than the wealthy donors Jesus condemns. But if his kingdom is based on his own self-emptying generosity, then God must himself be the model for those who would become part of it. We can begin to understand how God gives from his poverty if we accept Jesus-as-servant as the full manifestation of divinity. God emptied himself completely into humanity in Christ.

The two great prophets in the books of Kings, Elijah and Elisha, lived during a time of great apostasy, and their stories show them often finding greater faith among the inhabitants of foreign lands than among the Israelites. At the same time that Jezebel, the Queen of Israel, was successfully introducing the worship of Baal into the kingdom of Israel, Elijah found this manifestation of faith in action in the generosity of a foreign widow. This story is an excellent Jewish prefiguring of the Gospel message because it too speaks of the reversal of human values and priorities by God’s order.

This simple hymn of confidence meditates on the love of God shown in his care and sustenance of all creation. Response: "Praise the Lord, my soul."

The long discourse on the priesthood of Jesus as fulfilling for all time the temporal priesthood of the Jewish order leads to an analysis of the sacrifice of Jesus. (Vv 11-15 are read on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Year B.) The Jewish sacrifices had their value as pre-images, but their limitation was evident from the insufficiency of matter — slaughtered animals could not redeem human sin — and from their being rooted in the recurring cycles of time. A sacrifice that needs to be repeated over and over cannot have any real value in establishing a lasting relationship between God and humankind. Jesus’ sacrifice derives its value from the fact that he is fully both God and a man. Note that his sacrifice does not consist in his death on the cross, which was the outward expression of sacrifice, but in his perfect self-offering, which endures as one sacrifice for all time.

1. Do you picture God as being generous? How generous?

2. Discuss how God’s order — the establishment of his rule or kingdom —reverses human values and priorities.