Homily | June 6, 2026 | Success That Outlasts Applause | (Episode 149)

Today, as we finish out this week, we hear what might be Saint Paul's final words before his martyrdom.

Imagine that.

A man who had spent his life preaching Christ, crossing the Roman Empire, being beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, mocked, and persecuted, knows that his earthly life is coming to an end.

And what does he say?

Not, well, I wish I had done something else.

I wish I'd been more successful, I wish I had more things, I wish I had more money, I wish I would have been appreciated more.

No.

Instead he says, I have competed well.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

What a magnificent sentence.

At the end of life, Paul measures success differently than the world.

Why?

Because the world's gonna ask, How many how much did you earn?

How many followers do you have?

How much influence do you accumulate?

Paul asks, did I keep the faith?

And that's the question.

One day every single one of us will stand before Christ.

The diplomas will not matter, the titles will not matter, the promotions we didn't get or did get not matter.

The applause will not matter.

The question will be, did you remain faithful to me?

And notice Paul's warning to Timothy.

The time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but following their own desires will accumulate teachers and stop listening to the truth.

If there was ever a verse written for our time, it is that one.

We live in a time when people often choose teachers the way they choose restaurants.

They look for someone who tells them exactly what they want to hear.

If a teacher challenges them, they move on.

If the gospel demands conversion, they look elsewhere.

If Christ asks for sacrifice, they'll find a more comfortable message.

Paul says this is not new.

Human nature has not changed.

We all prefer affirmation to correction.

We all prefer comfort to conversion.

We all prefer a God who agrees with us and our plans.

But the gospel is not given to us to confirm our opinions.

It is given so that we may transform our lives.

That's why Paul tells Timothy, proclaim the word whether convenient or inconvenient.

The truth remains true whether it is popular or unpopular, and every age needs men and women willing to speak it with courage and charity.

Now if we turn to the gospel, Jesus watches people placing money into the treasury.

The rich come forward and make large donations.

Then comes a poor widow.

She drops in two tiny coins, practically nothing.

Most people would not even notice, but Jesus notices.

And then he says something astonishing.

This poor widow put in more than all the others.

If you're listening to that, you would say, How can that be?

Well, because God measures differently than we do.

We measure the size of the gift.

God measures the size of the sacrifice.

The rich gave from their surplus.

This widow gave from her poverty.

They gave what they would not miss.

She gave what she needed.

Suddenly the gospel becomes very uncomfortable because it is not really about money, it is about surrender.

The widow becomes an image of discipleship itself.

She does not give God part of her life.

She gives all of her life, everything.

That's exactly what Jesus himself will do.

Within days of this gospel, Jesus will give not two coins, but his entire life on the cross.

The widow is a preview of Calvary.

She places everything she has into God's hands.

Christ places everything he is into the Father's hands.

I think that's the challenge for us.

Most of us are willing to give God something.

An hour on Sunday, a few prayers here and there if I remember, a charitable donation, maybe from my surplus, some volunteer work if I have the time.

But the gospel asks a deeper question.

Have I given God everything?

My plans, my future, my fears, my wounds, my ambitions, my heart.

Because God is not looking for contribution, he's looking for a disciple.

And that brings us back to Saint Paul.

At the end of his life, Paul could say, I have finished the race.

Because years earlier he had already placed everything on the altar, his comfort, his reputation, his safety, his future, everything belonged to Christ.

The widow and Paul are teaching the same lesson.

The Christian life is not about giving God leftovers.

It's about entrusting him with everything.

And here's the beautiful irony.

The widow appears poor, but she is actually rich.

Paul appears defeated, sitting in prison, waiting death, but he's actually victorious.

Because in God's kingdom, the people who surrender everything lose nothing.

They gain everything.

The world says, hold on tight.

The gospel says, trust God completely.

And in the end, the people who trust God completely discover what Paul discovered.

A crown of righteousness awaits them, prepared by the Lord Himself, the just judge, for all who have kept the faith.

Amen.