Reflection – WAR, PEACE, and the WIDOW’s MITE

Tuesday 11^th November is Remembrance Day - a time when we reflect both on the high price that so many have paid, and indeed on the whole issue of war and peace. Must peace be forever something that we can only dream about, but remain out of reach? In Mark 12:38-44 we have the story of what is commonly called “the widow’s mite”.

People were putting money in the Temple treasury, some of them with a flourish that said “look at me, look at me! See how generous I am”! But then a poor widow almost apologetically placed two small coins. That’s when Jesus told his surprised disciples that she had given more than all the others! What does it feel like to stand where that widow stood? What does it mean to be almost permanently discounted? The Son of Man who had nowhere to lay his head certainly elevated the worth of a person, but it had nothing at all to do with wealth.

The spirit of the widow’s mite has relevance in terms of international conflict. It is appropriate that we remember the high price that so many ordinary people paid; let’s remember that many of the soldiers who died in battle were very young, and we may well suspect that at times their personhood was overlooked.

How then can we begin to relate this story of the poor widow and her few coins to the mission of the Church in more general terms? In particular, how can we move from the mindset of ‘mission to’ to one of ‘mission with’, and what might that look like?  We can’t answer that here, but it must be on our agenda, and not least in terms of the plight of environmental refugees and of the Earth itself.

If we think beyond categories and numbers, we can begin to fit ourselves into the shoes (if they have any) of those victims. What can we learn from them? When we situate ourselves in their position, we will quickly realize that they are not just categories; they are people with feelings, hopes and aspirations just like us. We may well ponder what that might mean for us if we were in that position.

If marginalized people need to be noticed, it is certainly true that Earth too needs to be noticed; planet Earth is the often-unrecognized victim and exists at the margin of our awareness.  We take it for granted, as we do with marginalised people. What can Earth teach us?  And what might it mean for us to live in harmony with the Earth? We all need to work on questions like that!

As we set out to bring these themes together, we might reflect on how great have been the gifts that have come out of poverty over the years – gifts of love, of devotion, of skill, and of self-giving. We might remember that Jesus has already called all potential disciples to take up their cross and follow him in the way of costly devotion. The poor widow thus becomes an anticipation of Jesus’ own self-giving for us all.

By Rev Clive W Ayre