Abundance

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.


Abundance. – Can anyone define this word for me?


Dictionary.com lists 4 definitions:

1. an extremely sufficient or over sufficient quantity or supply
2. overflowing fullness
3. affluence; wealth
4. the number of atoms of one isotope of an element divided by the total number of atoms in a mixture of the isotopes.

Let’s not worry about that last one. That leaves: a huge number, overflowing fullness, and wealth. Which of these meanings did we see in today’s Gospel?


“Truly I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

They rich put in from their wealth. This meaning of abundance appears a number of times in the Bible and it usually is not a good thing. Take the 5th and 6th verses of psalm 49 for instance: “Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me, 6 those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?” The Bible is not a welcoming place for the rich. Remember just a while ago when we heard how hard it is for a rich man to enter heaven? Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

If this is the message here for us, I am in trouble. I consider myself to be rich. I don’t have a huge amount of money, in fact if I include my student debt I don’t have any, but I do have an abundance of things. I don’t have to worry about where my next meal will come from. I can give without it changing my lifestyle.


Maybe if we look at another meaning of abundance things will be better. – Let’s try the first one: lots and lots. When the Bible uses this meaning it is usually talking about food; some sort of harvest (an abundance of grain) or about livestock (sheep in abundance). In Canada we have this abundance. We have enough food to go around and more. Unfortunately this doesn’t mean that everyone gets what they need. I think that as a country we are getting better at this but we’re not there yet.

How does this meaning of abundance lead us toward Christ? -- How does it either help or hinder our ability to live Christ’s message? -- Any thoughts?


So far we have the abundance of wealth and the abundance of over sufficiency. Shall we try to go three for three?


Overflowing fullness. What does this really mean? I’ve given Biblical examples of the other two. Can anyone think of an example of this one? You don’t need to reference it, just a couple of words are fine.


What comes to mind for me is God’s abundance of love or God’s abundance of grace. From psalm 106 we have “For their sake he remembered his covenant, and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.” This meaning is usually used to talk about God, but not every time. Matthew says “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

This abundance overflows. For God this means overflowing love, grace, salvation, and more. For us it means that what is inside will come out. It’s what we are full of. – We all have this abundance too. It can be a good thing. It can also be a bad thing. Likely it is some of each.


Let’s go back to our Gospel. What was the abundance in the widow’s heart? Her heart was bursting with trust in God’s abundance. She trusted that God would provide for her in her poverty. Because of that trust she didn’t need to hold on to the little money that she had because she had everything that she needed.


What do we hold dear in our hearts? What do we have such a passion for that it will overflow? Where does our abundance lie?