WHAT AM I OFFERING TO GOD? (Homily for Sunday of the 32nd Week in ordinary Time, Year B.)

 Bible Study:  1 kings 17, 10 to 16. Hebrews 9, 24 to 28. And Mark 12, 38 to 44.


As the year gradually comes to an end, and given that this is usually a period of harvest thanksgiving, the church today by its selection of readings wants us to reflect deeply on our offering to God. Why do we do offering at all in church? And when we offer, what should be our mind-set towards our giving? Does the size of our offering matter to God? How do we know when we have offered well and how can we be sure to receive blessing from what we offer?

The following points gathered from our readings may serve as yardsticks so to say or characteristics with which we can tell if our offering is worth the effort and acceptable to God.

1., SIZE IS NOT THE SAME THING AS VALUE.

It is very easy for us as humans to get carried away with size based on the fact that our sense of judgement is usually based on external appearance. Today’s readings makes us understand that God is not moved by size, rather he considers value. The size of your offertory may be very big, it may even be more than everybody else but if it is “nothing” to you based on what you have, then know that it is nothing to God.

To know the actual value of your offering, then compare what you offer with what you have kept for yourself. If all you have is a hundred naira for instance, then offering three naira in church may seem like a big amount to you but to God, it is of little or no value since what you have kept for yourself is far far greater than what you are giving.

The widow in today’s Gospel passage gave the smallest when compared to what others were giving as offertory but given that that was all she had to live on, her “small” offertory was of a magnificent value to God to the extent that she caught the attention of Jesus. Calling his disciples to himself, Jesus said: “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors… for they have all given out of their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty has given ALL she had, her whole livelihood.”

No one can deceive God. He is not carried away by size, what he seeks is value. If your offertory does not take anything from you, then it probably doesn’t take anything from God to you. A comedian once told a story of a man who went to church one day and the pastor said: “Sow a seed that will provoke God.” So, the man got up and handed over the key of his car to the pastor. The moment he did that, there was thanksgiving and jubilation on the altar, the pastor prayed profusely for him and showered him with so many encomiums little did he know that the car the man had offered was his greatest headache. The man actually wanted to provoke God because the car with its many problems kept provoking him every day. The following day, the pastor called the man and begged him to come and collect his car back with immediate alacrity. This is an example of an offertory that may appear big in size but it is actually nothing in value. Dear friends, do not provoke God with your offering lest he becomes angry with you.

2.,THE OFFERTORY BAG IS NOT A DUSTBIN.

Sometimes, as a result of our lack of understanding, there is this tendency to offer only that which we consider useless to us. We search through our wallets and look for the worst looking naira note or even a naira note that has run out of circulation. Some people even squeeze it to a point when one can no longer detect the amount any longer. If you talk with the people handling our offertory at times, you will be shocked at that people use for offertory.

For Jesus to have decided to sit in the temple facing the treasury where people were offering their contributions, it shows that God is interested in what we give. And it is nothing short of an insult when we deliberately decide to turn the offertory bag into a dustbin throwing away what we no longer need. And truly, when decide to insult God, we only end up putting ourselves in disfavour with him just like Cain.

3., THE OFFERING IS A PRAYER OF SACRIFICE.

Many people do not know that their offering is a form of prayer in itself. Before the era of money, people sought God’s attention by making sacrifices. They would select an animal from their flock, slaughter it and while burning it or sprinkling its blood, they would present their intentions in prayer to God. In the second reading this morning, we are told that as high priest, Christ offered his own very blood before God in a sanctuary not made by human hands and by so doing, presented a prayer request to God. This prayer was that our sins may be taken away and humanity as a whole would be saved.

In the same way, when we present our offering to God, we should do so in the context of offering a particular prayer or certain prayers to God. It is not as if we are trading with God or trying to buy his blessings. Far from it. No amount of money can bribe God. Instead, the offertory is an act of worship, a sign of our dependence on the power of God for sustenance in life. Just like Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac, we too should recognise that everything we have comes from God and therefore nothing is too much to use as a sacrifice to him.

The prayer that follows immediately after our offertory and just at the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer helps us put this in proper context. It says: Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father. And we respond: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church.


4., THE OFFERTORY IS AN OUTWARD EXPRESSION OF OUR FAITH.

In our first reading today, we encounter a widow who gave from the little meal she had to the hungry prophet based on her faith that the promise made to her by the prophet will be fulfilled. She was almost reluctant because according to her, she was only gathering sticks to prepare this last meal for herself and her son that they may eat it and die but Elijah said: “The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry.” It was not clear to her how this would be possible but she believed and truly, it came to pass to pass that her jar of flour was never depleted throughout an entire year of famine.

Our offertory is not a thing of compulsion. If you strongly believe that by doing offering or contributing in the church, you are wasting your money, then please always remain in your seat when others are coming out. If that strong conviction is not there, if faith in God’s providence is lacking in you, it would be better to simply remain in your seat rather than offer a faithless offertory.

Faith makes us understand that even though that which we offer is all we have, God will never allow us become beggars as a result. Our jar of flour will never go empty. Wherever we get the money from, we will never experience shortage. She kept pouring from the same jar of flour daily to feed the prophet but it wasn’t reducing. A miracle was happening each time she gave. A miracle happens too each time we give. We may not see it physically but it is real all the same.

Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, my offertory be pleasing to your sight always. Amen.

Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday.

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