PUTTING OUR TWO CENTS IN….
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 32 Sunday in Ordinary
Time [B] is, “Putting Our Two Cents In….”
It’s a saying from today’s gospel, “The poor widow put
her two cents in….” [Cf. Mark 12:
41-44.]
It was all she had.
Others were putting in from their
extra - or to make an extra impression - or to get accolades - from others. They
were into self. She was into others.
There’s a message from today’s readings - giving - but
especially when it costs us from the bottom of our pocket or pocketbook or time
and life - and it’s not self-centered
behavior.
EXTRA OR EMPTINESS
Haven’t we all been at the store and the cost for
something we just bought is $1.02 or $2.02? We take out our wallet to pay for what we
bought. We take out the dollar or two, but we don’t want to break another
dollar. We’re checking our pockets for 2
cents and the person behind us sees and hears this and hands us two cents - two pennies - from out of
his or her pocket.
It’s nice when they have those dishes at the counter with
coins to help someone when they need an extra penny or two.
That’s putting our two cents in when it really doesn’t
cost us a penny.
I’ve seen people - I think that’s what they were doing -
seeing that dish and check their pockets for loose pennies.
Imagine too if someone did that to impress others standing
there about how observant they are or how thoughtful they are?
Imagine it’s summer time and people are at the dock and a father spots a great ice cream spot. So he
brings in or over his 3 kids and his
wife and he gets ice cream for his family and himself. And on the way out he
spots 3 kids looking longingly on the 5 leaking ice cream cones - and he lets
his wife and kids get ahead - and he
slides over to those kids - who look poor - but he really doesn’t know - and
says to one kid - “Here hold my ice
cream for a second.” Relax it’s
wrapped in a napkin handle. He takes out
his wallet - sort of sneakily - takes out a twenty - an Andrew Jackson - and
says to the 3 kids. “Here get yourself some ice cream. And can I have my ice
cream back.”
And he quickly catches up with his wife and kids who are walking ahead and they didn’t see
this move and they all walked to the end
of the dock - he $50 dollars lighter - he 8 ice cream fuller - with an extra
tiny smile on his face which he doesn’t know he has.
OBSERVING THE LITTLE THINGS
The message I get out of today’s gospel is sort of two
centsy - as well as very rich.
Am I right that
I’m spotting pennies on the ground - not that many - but some - and much more
than 50 years ago?
I’ve even read that some people want to get rid of
pennies. Just round out your bills.
I wasn’t around for the depression, but would people pick
up pennies - if they saw them on the street way back when? I would think so….
A guy just told me today that he had a Pekinese dog who
swallowed a penny that was on the floor and it cost him $1500 for veterinary
surgery.
The message I get from Jesus is to be observant.
The message I get from Jesus is to be a learner.
The message I get from Jesus is to get messages from
everywhere.
The world is a classroom.
Jesus said to learn lessons from the birds of the air and
the flowers of the field.
If Jesus was living here in Annapolis - what would he be
seeing this November 11, 2018,
Would he stop to read the headlines and lead stories in
the papers in CVS? This weekend we celebrate Veteran’s Day. Today is Armistice
Day - the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I? Would he
think about how that lead - in a way - to World War II - one cause being - the
victors didn’t help the loses - recover well enough. Did the Marshall Plan
after World War II and lots of other
recovery help - help World War III not to
appear? But ….
Would Jesus observe the leaves and how people walk the
sidewalks - some aware of others - some not - that some people on line at Chick
and Ruth’s are bridge builders - causing conversations between strangers, etc.
etc. etc. and some no - no reacting to each other as they wait on line.
Would Jesus hear the word “selfie” and wonder if anyone
uses the word “groupie”.
Jesus wore several hats - one of which was Rabbi.
In today’s gospel Jesus the Rabbi - the teacher - is teaching his disciples how to observe.
Did he notice they were impressed with the classy robes and outfits and how
they were impressed with the sound of fat cat coins going into the poor box and
they didn’t hear the widow’s 2 cents?
This week the U.S. Bishops are going to meet in Baltimore
for an annual meeting. Will they laugh today as they do their things with
classy robes - and notice that because of today’s gospel? Will someone bring that up at their get together
and say we have a lot of things to talk about here: the continuance of stuff
about abuse - guns - violence - the discord in our nation in voting and political
debate and snide remarks?
CONCLUSION
One of my life learnings is to simply shut up and listen
and to ask the unexpected person to put their two cents in.
To ask Jesus: when you see the U.S. Catholic Church - and
the World Wide Catholic Church - what do you see?
To ask the people who come to church and to ask the drop
outs and the none such - what do you see?
Let me close with one of my favorite cartoons. I think of it when I read today’s gospel.
The cartoon was in the New Yorker. You see a gigantic main frame computer and it’s
not working. All kinds of IT people are standing there with clip boards -
trying to figure out what’s wrong. Off
to the side one sees a maintenance man with a broom sweeping the floor. He’s pointing to the plug. It’s not in.
The moral of the story is: make sure you ask everyone to
put their 2 cents in - even the maintenance man.
Every group has to ask everyone: W D Y S. “What Do You See?”
Every group has to ask everyone: W A
W M. “What Are We Missing?”
