November 7, 2009
The Widow With Wealth
the temple in Jerusalem
was a busy and noisy place,
merchants hawking their goods
and closing deals,
scribes huddled
in small groups around
the edges of the courtyard
settling the complaints of those
who had enough money to be heard,
finely robed priests seated on cushions
inside praying aloud
in the psalmic rhythms of their ancestors,
foreigners toting bags of gold
going from table to table
in search of fine linens and wools
to be bought and brought back home for sale,
kids running all over the place
taunting the tethered goats
and teasing the caged turtle doves,
beggars rattling their cups
to gain attention,
lepers bells’ ringing to gain passage
through the crowds,
and joyous pilgrims making their
annual visit to the holy city
to beg God’s favor on their lives.
it was an impressive place,
a lively place,
full of sound and motion.
Jesus, after teaching in the temple,
early in the morning,
as he did frequently,
went out into the courtyard
with his friends,
sat down at the foot of a pillar
close to the place
where the enormously wealthy
and desperately poor
came to make their yearly offerings
for the care
of their magnificent temple.
from where he sat
he could see faces
and hear voices.
just before noon,
a lavishly dressed merchant
passed directly in front of him,
went to the offering block
and poured two bags full
of clanking silver and gold coins
into the opening of the brass basin
for all to see and hear.
the merchant’s face registered
the satisfaction
his large and noisy gift
received from the crowd standing near.
behind him walked a
thin woman,
bent with age,
dressed in a dark widow’s cloth,
holding in a folded handcherchief
two tiny coins
which she took and let fall noiselessly
into the brass basin.
it was the trust
with which she unfolded her fingers
and let them fall so easily
that caught the eye of Jesus.
make note, my friends,
he said to those seated at his side,
she could have clenched
the second coin
between the fingers of her hand
and not given
all she had,
she could have
….but at the cost of immortality.