The Good Word for November 8 ~ for the complete Sunday readings click here.

I have a friend who likes to tell this riddle:

In a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, what’s the difference between the Chicken and the Pig?
The Chicken is involved, but the Pig is committed.

In the gospel this weekend, we hear about Jesus witnessing many rich people putting large sums into the treasury of thetemple. Then Jesus watches a poor widow give two small coins. When Jesus explains what he witnessed to the disciples, he states that it was the widow who actually gave the larger amount because what she gave, cost her more.

In some ways you could say that those who gave out of their surplus where like the chicken; they were involved. The widow who gave from her poverty was committed. Jesus didn’t explain because his audience would have already known that widows were the poorest of the poor in that culture and the two coins represented a huge portion of her personal wealth. She offered to God money that she would likely have needed to live on. By donating that money she trusted God and gave to the point that she abandoned earthly safety and security, instead relying completely on God’s generosity.

In the first reading, we hear about another widow who offered to the prophet Elijah the very last of her food. God responded to that generosity and her flour and oil jars did not go empty. She was able to feed herself and her son for a year.

God is the source of all good things. God is never outdone in his generosity. He freely gives us his grace and it is by that grace that we have faith, joy, and ultimately life eternal with him.

Grace is free, but it isn’t cheap. Something so good as God’s free gift of grace costs something. It cost God the life of His son.

Live It:
Thank God for his commitment to you. Don’t wait, do it right now.