It provided a way for the scribes, pharisees, and various temple officials to live quite luxuriously without having to do any work. Well, after the church crawled out of the catacombs and became institutionalized by Constantine, it started happening to us too. The ministers started doing less ministering and more taking. Yes, the middle ages saw magnificent cathedrals built to the glory and honor of God and for the edification of all the people. But they also saw clergy living like princes off the profits of indulgences sold to the poor.
Parish priests live in houses big enough for a family of nine, with boats tied up at their docks.
They take weeks off each year to jet off to Ireland, Australia, and wherever. They spend four days a week on the golf course and every evening drunk. The rest of the time, they're huddled with their high-priced lawyers trying to figure how to hang on to the hundreds of millions they have squirreled away, rather than have some of it go back to the people they have abused over the years. Today's gospel is not about the widow. It's about the corporate church.