Sharing of goods

Year B – Sunday 32 

Readings: 1 Kings 17:10–16; Hebrews 9: 24–28; Mark 12: 38–44 

 The prophet Elijah demostrates his sense of communion with the widow of Zarephath. He partes of her goods; she and her son partake of his. It is a sharing expressive of a larger social economic system with which no-one would be in want; the community, or the commune, supports all.

 The Epistle to the Hebrews announces this same communion, one brought about by Jesus. To make it point it contrasts the ‘sanctuary made with hands’ (a symbol of a system based solely on a ‘world’ philosophy) and ‘heaven itself’ (a symbol of a system according to God’s design): Jesus opts for the latter against the former.

 Jesus himself expresses this option. He castigates the selfishness and insensitivity of leaders who posed as lords over the people, and praises the poor widow’s sense of communion. Jesus clearly favoured a social system with which an equitable sharing of goods is made possible.