Our readings today hold up those who are faithful to God and his the covenant he has made with them. They have resisted the temptations of the world and given all to follow Christ, the Lamb who was slain. The Lamb, who though slain, rose again and as we celebrated yesterday is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
The 144,000 from our first reading from Revelation represent those who were “undefiled” from worshipping idols. The worship of any other gods, or the the beast as shared in the Book of Revelation, was considered to be adultery. Those numbered were faithful to the covenant they had made with Jesus. Throughout Revelation, John equated a covenant between God and his people. The imagery he uses is the Church as the bride of the Lamb.
In the Gospel of Luke, we return to the widow we read about recently. She came to the Temple in Jerusalem as others came to share their offerings. These offerings were placed in the Shofar-chests in the Temple. Scholars recognize that there were thirteen chests in the Temple and each one for a specific offering that ranged from annual dues, sacrificial offerings, and freewill offerings.
As Jesus pointed out, most of those who were giving, gave out of their excess, but this widow, who most likely had no support as her husband had died, gave all that she had in giving her last two coins. What she gave an offering too we do not know, but she showed a radical trust in God. She did not even hold back one of the coins. She instead gave all.
The widow, like the 144,000, represent those who have trusted in and been faithful to God throughout the ages. They followed the commandment of Jesus to love God with their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and their neighbor as themselves. They resisted the temptations that could have lead them astray and instead placed all their trust and faith in God.
There are many distractions and diversions that can lead us astray, temptations from without and within. Jesus remains faithful to us and the covenant that he made with us. We, as his bride, are invited to remain faithful to and trust in him. May those who have gone before us, the triumphant saints who now reign with Jesus the Lamb, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, intercede for, guide, and empower us in our lives to trust and be faithful as they were. May we be willing to be led by the tender chords of the love of the Holy Spirit into a deeper communion with God and one another.
Photo: “God, our supreme good, is the source of all good things. I hope that you will all be ‘good’, that is, faithful witnesses to the love of our heavenly Father who fills us with so many gifts” – St. John Paul II, Audience, February 5, 1997.
Spiritual Stepping Stones