Post-feast of the Encounter; Holy Great-Martyr Theodore the General (286-305); Holy Prophet Zechariah (c. 520 BC)
Read
2 Timothy 3:1-9; Luke 20:45-21:4
We are now in the pre-Lenten period. Like an athlete doing warm-ups before a big race, so we are warming up for Great Lent. St. Luke contrasts two teachings of our Lord for anyone who desires to be His disciple—a “don’t” and a “do.”
Our Lord uses the examples of the scribes. Is it wrong to wear long robes, to receive salutations, to sit in places of honour, and to make long prayers? No. What is wrong is the scribes’ proud delight in and insistence on these things. The focus was inward, on the self and the importance of the self.
Don’t do this.
The widow gave two of the smallest valued coins to the Temple treasury. She didn’t save one for herself (there was no social assistance for widows at that time). Her piety was reckless. She was like the woman who broke the alabaster vase of perfumed oil to anoint the Lord before His passion and death. This widow was not focussed on herself but on the Lord—she was willing to sacrifice everything for love of God and to trust in Him for her daily bread.
Do this.
May the Lord bless our warm-up!