During his lifetime it seems that Jesus spent a lot of time at the temple in Jerusalem.  As a child he went there with Mary and Joseph, as was their custom, on all of the great holy days, feasts and celebrations.  While there he even engaged the great teachers of Israel in discourses on religious practice.  He went there with his disciples on pilgrimage during the feast days and he would take the opportunity to teach in the temple precincts, most likely the porticoes of Solomon.  Sometimes he would even have to sneak into the temple area in secret to avoid the authorities there.

    Jesus seemed to be particularly interested in how people behaved in the temple area.  He was frustrated at times and even angered at all of the callous buying and selling and the money-changing that took place there and that seemingly turned the temple into a marketplace – people seemingly buying and selling salvation.  At one time he drove the merchants out of the temple which caused quite an uproar.  He spoke about how the temple could be destroyed and how he would raise it up in three days, referring to his body as the new temple of worship.  The temple authorities didn’t understand his reference and treated him like a terrorist, using testimony about this at his midnight trial on the night before his death.

    In the gospel of Mark (Mk 12,38-44), Jesus is in the temple area again watching the behavior of the people.  He observed with indignation the self-important religious figures that dressed up in fancy robes, said long prayers, and placed heavy burdens on the poor, especially the widows.  His mother Mary was most likely a widow at this time and would travel with him.  Jesus had to have had a soft spot for widows.  He had to be concerned about how his mother would be treated after he was no longer able to be with her.  He made sure to entrust her to the beloved disciple and the Church as one of his final acts.  He warned the people about the scribes and assured them that the scribes would one day receive a severe condemnation for their prideful hypocrisy.

    A poor widow catches the eye of Jesus and he sees her make her offering to the temple treasury.  Of all the people that made ostentatious offerings that day, only this poor widow had made a true sacrifice.  She gave everything she had to God.  She kept nothing for herself.  Perhaps he was thinking then about his mother, a widow who would give everything she had, her only son, as a sacrifice to God, trusting completely in him to provide for her needs.  This widow also had a pure heart of love and sacrifice.  She did not look to her own interests but only to those of the people who would be served by her sacrifice.  Jesus commends her for her selfless, sacrificial gift.

    What would Jesus think today if he was watching our religious behavior and our sacrificial giving?  Do we understand any better the true nature and gift of sacrifice?  Do we give out of our poverty or out of our surplus wealth?  If Jesus was watching our religious practices, what would he think of our rushing into mass late, our distracted worship – thinking more about what we had to do the rest of the day than the True Presence of Jesus on the altar – our leaving at communion time or our rushing out of the church before the priest gets down the aisle?  Do we understand self-sacrifice any better today or are we still subject to our self-interested behavior?

    In the sacred celebration of the eucharist, God is still calling us to sacrifice.  Our communion is with Christ the High Priest, who offered himself as a sacrifice for the salvation of all people and who entered into the sanctuary of heaven.  We are called to “lift up our hearts” to the heavenly sanctuary with Jesus.  His sacrifice was not offered for himself but was offered once and for all to take away the sins of many.  Jesus teaches us the true nature of sacrificial giving and selfless sacrifice.  We may not have much to offer, what we offer may seem small and insignificant in light of the heavenly glory of Christ, but uniting our self-gift and offering with Christ in a sacrificial spirit and giving out of our poverty, we can give all we have to Jesus, not in our own interest but now offered for the many who are still in need of salvation.