FAITH FIRST

FAITH FIRST – 32nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year B

            Life from time to time gives us hopeless sets of circumstances in different areas of life as can happen in the economic, moral, spiritual, vocational, health, work, emotional, accidental, family related, and other areas. Countless factors can come together at any one time to produce hopelessness. It’s possible to be in a hopeless set of circumstances and have hope. It’s possible to be in a hopeful set of circumstances, and experience hopelessness.

            In hopeless situations (real, imagined, grave or light) the Lord calls us to hope. Some lose hope but hold on to their faith and love, which become life preservers for them. We find people in the Scriptures and in life today, who exercised faith and love in hopeless situations and came to hope. They didn’t act on what the situations revealed to them, but on their faith. From such people we can learn how to act in our sets of hopeless circumstances in whatever dimensions as they arrive in our lives.

            The Prophet Elijah met a widow in a time of famine. He asks her for some water and bread. She described her hopeless situation. “As the Lord, your God lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar… I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.”

            In this desperate situation we can’t imagine anyone asking her for something to eat. The prophet tells her to do something first before she prepares the last meal for her son and herself. That called for a great act of faith. “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son.” He makes her a promise. “For the Lord says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth’.”

            The woman acted on the Lord’s word. “She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.”

            When we are in desperate situations of whatever kind, we best pray to find out what faith and love will do first. Reflection on life experiences reveals there are many situations in life where a faith decision makes a difference. How was the poor widow of Elijah’s day to know except by faith in the word of the prophet if she acted on faith first and provided food for him, that the Lord would provide her with sufficient food for the duration of the famine?

            In such situations, faith is both tested and strengthened. Without faith the poor widow would have simply told Elijah he was crazy, went and cooked the last meal in her hopelessness situation of starvation. Faith can make the situation look worse in the beginning. In giving water and bread to the prophet, she makes her situation worse. The first act of faith can be the hardest. Such acts are worth more in the Lord’s eyes than those made in secure situations. Acting on faith first is an important life lesson, which can be applied to all life situations of hopelessness.

            Jesus observed another widow acting on faith first, as she gave out of what she needed to live on to the temple treasury. This was shortly before Jesus would give out of the substance of His life in suffering and death. “He observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums”, which would not strain them, being only a fraction of their wealth. “A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.” This was a real act of faith and love, for she was in a state of economic hopelessness. Her faith was in God, and not in anything she had. For her faith came first.

            Jesus told the disciples: “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors…For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she from her poverty has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood”.

            The widow reminded Jesus of self-giving. Jesus wanted her to teach the importance of acting on faith first!