Bottomless Love
“The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.”Psalm 146:7
Companies and restaurants often offer and promote “bottomless” products or services to draw customers. Bottomless brunch, unlimited breadsticks, all you can eat buffet, etc. Some may ask how do these restaurants not go bankrupt with these offers? In fact, I read in an article some time ago that one chain restaurant filed for bankruptcy because of this! They thought that the promotion would draw more customers with the hopes that they will order other items on the menu or invite others to come or come back more often, but their cost-benefit analysis seemed to have failed them. So in the end, their bottomless promotion did reach a bottom and it ran dry. We see a similar concern in the Old Testament when the Prophet Elijah visited the widow in Zarephath. The widow’s supply oil and flour were running dry and going empty; yet, Elijah asked for food.
If someone who is not a Christian reads this passage, they would think that Elijah is a selfish man who is abusing his authority to get food from a poor widow whom he knows is hurting. However, those with faith, know that God must be doing something greater in the background. To the faithless and ignorant eye, the widow’s supply of oil and flour is indeed dwindling and she and her son will soo starve to death, but to those with faith, we know that God’s Providence will come through. And it does. The seemingly empty jug of oil and jar of flour continued to feed the widow and her son until the day rain fell upon the land, just as the Lord promised. God’s word prevailed and Elijah’s encounter with the widow strengthened her, body and soul. The Lord stays true to His word.
In the Gospel we read about another widow who is struggling; however, even with the little that she has, she places her offering into the temple treasury. Jesus tells His disciples that this widow with her few coins gave more than any of the others because she gave from what little she had and not her surplus. It is not how much one gives that is important, but it is how one gives. As Christians we practice tithing or some form of gift giving. Traditionally, we are asked to give 10% of our income to the Church, in whatever form that may look like. However, in today’s world 10% can be a lot, especially for those who struggle to feed their families. So, does the Lord hold this against them? Of course not. The Lord does not need our offerings. We give because it ought to be the natural desire of our hearts — to give back to God for the many great things He has given to us. The rich gave from their seemingly bottomless surplus, but the widow gave from her all that she had, trusting that no matter how little she had, she ought to give to God because God has blessed her and will continue to. This is not to say that parents should use the money set aside for food for their families to instead put it in the collection basket. God never asks this of them. God will never ask parents to starve themselves or their children. The greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love our neighbors as ourselves. In loving their children and feeding them and giving to them what they need is and expression of loving God.
Unlike the empty promises of bottomless benefits of this world, God’s love and mercy is truly bottomless. Just as the jug of oil and jar of flour continued to provide for the widow in Zarephath, so too will God’s love and mercy continue to envelop us. When we are able to experience and receive this bottomless, boundless, and unconditional love and mercy and see how much God has blessed us, our natural response will be like that of the widow in the Gospel — to give to God and neighbor what little we have because God has loved us so much and we know that what little we give, God will in turn multiply and make overflow.
