Seeing the Two Widows

Readings: I Kings 17:8-16, Mark 12:38-44, Secrets of Heaven #10122:2 (see below)
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You’ve probably noticed that I often preach about God’s presence with us. One of religion’s most powerful constructs is that of a loving deity who honors and values each individual, and who is present with everyone of us, who stands for the radical inclusion and worthiness of all. But of course, the comfort of steadfast companionship is not the only thing God does for us. While present, God is not a divine wingman, working to validate our every self-conception, or bring to pass our every whim. God is intimately present with us, yes, but God is also, importantly, apart from us and beyond us. Thankfully and blessedly, God transcends us, and our salvation and growth depend upon this fact.

Our two texts today are linked because they both mention widows, widows giving much when they had little to give. Because of their generosity, these texts are often preached around the topic of stewardship, and these widows lifted up as examples of selfless giving. While I believe that can be, and is, a worthwhile interpretation, I also feel uncomfortable focusing on the generosity of the widows and not the oppressive circumstances which fueled their destitution in the first place. When they are placed within context, I believe that we find something even more extraordinary than a simple model for generosity. We find a clue about where God is to be found and who God wants us to see.  As I just hinted, God is not only reliably found close to us, but is also found consistently outside of our assumptions and perspectives. 

So, in our Old Testament reading, we encounter the widow of Zarephath and Elijah.  First, some background.  This episode occurs during the 9th century, when Israel and Judah are divided kingdoms.  Ahab is the king of Israel and he has married Jezebel, a Sidonian princess from a kingdom to the north. The Sidonians worship a god called Baal, and Jezebel has brought this worship of Baal with her to Israel. Ahab is all over it, and builds a whole temple to Baal and other monuments to Sidonian gods besides. Then he and Jezebel start killing off the Lord’s prophets who object. The Bible tells us that Ahab “…did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God is Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.” (I Kings 16:33)

So of course, Elijah the great prophet shows up to speak the word of the Lord and to turn the hearts of Israel back to the one and only God. He begins by announcing a great drought, establishing God’s power.

As the drought ravages the land, Elijah hides in a ravine and is fed by ravens sent by the Lord. But later, when the nearby brook dries up, he is then sent by the Lord to a widow at Zarephath, as we hear in our text for today. It is important to note is that Zarephath is in Sidon. This widow is Sidonian, as is Jezebel. Now, the whole context of Elijah’s prophetic struggle here is to reestablish the power and efficacy of Israel’s (real) God over and against the Sidonian’s (not-real) God, Baal. In such a struggle, the temptation is always toward classic us-vs-them thinking. History tells us that, “my God is better than your God” quickly devolves into bloodshed. So, what does God do here? Elijah needs help, and God sends him to the other side. God sends him to a generous and trusting widow who restores him to life though the giving of her last morsel of food. We recognize that as an individual, this widow is caught in the cross hairs of forces beyond her control. As noted, she is Sidonian, so not necessarily subject the Israelite commandment to care for widows—perhaps no one is caring for her. And this drought, not her personal battle, has exacerbated her already dire circumstances. No one sees her. But God sees her. God wishes to bring Israel back into the fold, but not at her expense. God wishes for Israel to return to their covenantal identity but not in a way that causes them to despise their neighbors.

So then, this brings us to the widow in the gospel. Jesus was at the temple, and he was teaching and observing. He saw those who commanded attention and respect, the scribes, those who attached themselves to power, and who trampled upon the vulnerable to do so. The accumulation and abuse of power is a universally human tendency. We see this kind of jockeying for power abounding today as much as then, in all countries and societies, particularly in celebrity, business, and political realms. But as caught up as some people might be in the trappings of power and privilege, Jesus instead sees and lifts up one on the outside, one not seen and valued in the ordinary course of things. The widow, giving all she had, the very smallest of Roman coins, a pittance compared to what was given by the rich. This widow too, was vulnerable by forces outside of her control. Jesus had just warned of those seeking religious and political dominance by “devouring widow’s houses.” The religious leaders likely encouraged, even demanded such temple piety from the poor, even when they could barely afford it. That scribe from the text certainly didn’t see this widow, or think of her, except for his own gain. But Jesus saw her.

One widow outside of our expectations of tribe and nation, another widow outside of our expectations of power and privilege. Both seen and lifted up by God, over and above what might normally command our attention. Whenever we are tempted to turn our gaze inward, toward self-justification and control, God attempts to turn our gaze outward, always.

Our Swedenborg reading today talks about the new self and the old self. We are all born earthly with a natural focus on self-preservation, both physical and psychological. From the inside of this worldview, where everything serves self-preservation, that which is good and true for the self is called good and true in general and what is bad for the self called evil and false in general. The self is the center of the universe and the standard by which all is judged.  But this is small and cramped way to live. God wants more for us. God wants us to take the burden of ego away from us. There is a common saying: “God loves you just as you are, but loves you too much to let you stay that way.” God wants to give us the gift of self-forgetfulness, the gift of relinquishing preservation of the ego. We don’t need to take on the job of preserving our selfhood. When we open ourselves up, God will give and give and give. So God stretches us, nudges us, away from self-preoccupation, and in that stretching, creates a space in which the Lord’s own goodness and truth can flow into us. This space is called the new will and the new intellect, a space that entertains ideas about the good of all people not just ourselves, a space that practices love for all people not just ourselves. And the larger this new space is, the more we allow for the expanding, the more we are transformed, and the more we know heavenly peace. This is, as we Swedenborgians call it, the process of regeneration.

And if God is the “Grand Nudger,” what do these nudges look like? In the Word, they look like the camera panning away from the action, away from the shiny thing, away from the excitement, and showing the reality of who we are not seeing. In these texts for today, the camera pans away from the main action and reveals the collateral damage, reveals the real danger and pain of oppressive systems, reveals the dignity and the generosity of the vulnerable. 

In widening our gaze, God stretches us, pulls our attention towards something or someone outside of our expectations and assumptions. Jezebel, the Sidonian princess was such a reviled figure, so much so that her very name evokes betrayal and corruption in even secular contexts; yet God lifts up a Sidonian widow, and demonstrates how valued, redeemable, and generous she was. If we were tempted to cast all Sidonians in Jezebel’s light, we are shown how wrong that is, how opposed to God’s intention.

Likewise, when we are drawn into playing the game of power, accumulation and domination, venerating the scribes among us, simply because they have managed to attach themselves to those in influence, God lifts up the vulnerable, finding value in small, generous, authentic works, and showing us the real effects that the obsessive accumulation of power has on the world around us.

We probably would not have seen or noticed these widows otherwise. Our eyes would have been glued to the great standoff between The Lord and Baal, or the fancy scribe waltzing by leaving a trail of mystery behind him. And this is because our old will likes to be safe, right and superior. Our old will is tribal, our old will is avaricious, our old will is fearful. We see this writ large and small all around us; in politics around fears about changing demographics and immigration, in business in a reverence for the so-called “moral selfishness” that wants to call greed good, in our personal lives as we try to exercise domination or enact superiority in our relationships. God is indeed present with us as we grapple with our old will.  God has empathy for our childlike need to feel comfortable, certain, special. But God wants us to be able to have those things in ways that do not disadvantage and oppress other people.

The seeming benefits of the old will can never measure up to the gifts of the heavenly will, of the comfort, certainty and individual worthiness that is derived from the love of God. The benefits of the world and the ego are necessarily finite, self-consuming. The blessings of the divine are infinite, in an ever-increasing variety. And so our God, out of great love, draws us toward that infinite giftedness and abundance. God draws us ever out of ourselves, not because God regards us as essentially sinful or evil, but because God has dared to dream a future for us that we could never imagine for ourselves. Amen.


Readings:

I Kings 17:8-16

8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’ ” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

Mark 12:38-44

38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Secrets of Heaven 10122:2

…All the things with a person that come from heaven have connection with good and truth, and all those that come from hell have connection with evil and falsity. Or what amounts to the same thing, all things with a person which originate in the Lord have connection with good and truth, but all that originate in the person themselves has connection with evil and falsity. Since good and truth or falsity and evil are what everything throughout creation has connection with, and the human being is the place where they are received, a person has two mental powers to receive them. One is called the will and the other the understanding, the will being what receives good or evil, and the understanding what receives truth or falsity. The will formed by the Lord, also called the new will, receives good, while the understanding formed by the Lord, also called the new understanding, receives truth. But the will properly a person's own, also called the old will, receives evil, and the understanding properly a person's own, also called the old understanding, receives falsity. A person possesses the old will and understanding through being born from their parents, but they come to have the new will and understanding through being born from the Lord, which happens when they are being regenerated. For when being regenerated a person is conceived anew and is born anew.