Mark 12:38-44
As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk
around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best
seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’
houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the
greater condemnation.”
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting
money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and
put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his
disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has 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.”
Dying to Share
Today,
on Veterans Day, our liturgy and special music gives us time to think about and
offer thanks for all the men and women who have served in the armed
forces. We are grateful for them and for
the freedom that we have in this country, especially for the privilege to
worship freely. But freedom is costly,
and our prayers and litanies remind us that sinfulness leads us to war and to
the tragic loss of life that comes in its wake.
Even as I say these words, I am flooded with contrasting images. The first is the image of grand and elegant
celebrations that accompany an unabashed pride in our country’s great heritage. The second is the image of marginalized people
living in poverty throughout this country and the world.
Perhaps
our Gospel lesson could not have come at a better time in the liturgical
calendar. Today, Jesus shows us another
set of jarring images. They are seen in
the contrast between the temple scribes and the poor widow.
Jesus
has spent the better part of the last few chapters of Mark challenging the
religious leaders. Earlier in the Gospel,
he literally turned the tables on the money changers. They had turned the temple from a house of
prayer and care into a financial institution that had little regard for the
poor or powerless. In today’s text, Jesus
is teaching in the temple. It’s a wonder
that he was even allowed to be there!
Never
one to be shy about creating controversy, he begins to warn the people to
beware of the scribes – the educated men who are responsible for interpreting
the law. They parade around in their
long flowing robes, a sign of their wealth.
They take the good seats in the temple and are honored and flattered by
their high position. They offer long prayers
in the temple for the sake of appearance.
To make matters worse, their lavish and pretentious lifestyles are made
possible through the generous donations to the offerings gathered there. When he was done teaching, he moved to a
corner of the temple where he could watch the people offer their money.
It
is hard to get a feel for what Jesus is seeing without a description. In the temple, there were thirteen collection
boxes located in various rooms. Some
were in area of the women’s court. Each
collection box was earmarked for a specific purpose. Perhaps one was to collect money for outreach,
another for education, and another for the maintenance of the temple.
Since
there was no paper money, the boxes had a system that allowed for the
collection of coins. Attached to each
box was a wide mouthed metal funnel that looked like a trumpet. When a person of great wealth dropped their
offering into the mouth of the trumpet, everyone could hear the clanging of the
coins as they circled the metal. It was similar
to what you hear in a casino when a slot machine pays out on a win. No matter where you are in the room, you can
hear the coins dropping from the machine.
Immediately, everyone turns their heads to see who won.
Imagine
this cacophony of noise in the temple.
Every time someone gave a large offering, everyone could hear it and see
who was rich enough to offer such a gift.
The prize for such recognition was an honored place in the temple and a
greater say in how the temple funds would be used.
According
to Old Testament law, the very law that the scribes so dutifully protected,
offerings from the temple were to be used to support the priests whose lives
were dedicated to God’s work, the widows who had no family to support them, the
orphans, and the aliens in their community.
Jesus’ description of the scribes indicates that the temple’s
collections were not being used properly.
Instead, they are devouring the widow’s houses.
As
Jesus watches the people give their offering, his attention is turned to a
widow with only two coins in her hand. Somehow,
Jesus knows that these two coins are everything that she has, all that she has
to live on. Still, she offers it all. Her offering would receive no fan-fare. Except for one, no other head would turn to
the sound of two measly coins being thrown into the trumpet.
Barbara Brown Taylor described the scene perfectly saying, “As
far as the widow knew no one ever saw her. But then again, no one EVER saw
her. She was all used up. Only Jesus sees her and realizes that her
last penny is a fortune in God's eyes.
She was a percentage giver and she gave 100%. It took one to know one...she withheld
nothing from God and neither did Jesus.”
He
knew what she was giving up. In fact, he
and the widow seemed to be on a parallel course, and he didn’t want her
decision to give all that she had to go unnoticed. But why?
We
often hear of this story as an inspiration for good stewardship. And the widow is certainly a model of
sacrificial giving. She seems to have the kind of reckless trust that allows
her to give everything she has. But that’s
romanticizing the story.
There
is another interpretation that is far more disturbing. It is a story of lament – a commentary on the
consequences of losing sight of God’s purpose for the community of faith, a
purpose seen clearly in Jesus’ life and teachings. The institution that should have supported
the widow let her down. It did not
recognize the gifts that she had to share in that community, nor did it give
her the opportunity to live her life to the fullest as a valuable member who
had much to offer.
For
the people who followed Jesus from the beginning, the contrast between him and
the scribes was quite clear. Jesus lived
a life of self-sacrifice, modeling the life of a servant as he washed his
disciples feet. He spent time listening to
God in scripture and prayer…and moved out into the world healing, feeding, and
offering words of forgiveness.
His
life, death and resurrection free us from bondage to our selfish desires and
inspire us to give 100% of ourselves. We
are free to take notice of the systems and behaviors that marginalize others
and to take extraordinary risks to change them. We are free to recognize the value
of all people and the gifts that they, like the widow, are dying to share.
One
church in Nashville, Tennessee did just that.
They studied the needs of the community and discovered that affordable
housing was critical and the town had little land available for such an
endeavor. Defying the church growth
strategists, this small congregation gave land adjoining the building for the
construction of five houses for the working poor. The land had been intended
for expanded parking for anticipated growth. However, in a risky act of devoted
ministry, the church gave up the land. Now, five families have homes who once
had no homes. The irony is that the church is now growing as the often
neglected and frequently rejected people of the neighborhood are finding a new
community centered in grace and expressed in the willingness to give away its very
self.
Their
decision to give away their land was not made in order grow the church. Instead, it was an act of self-less love in
order to fill a need in the community.
They were willing to risk dying in order to give this great gift. As a result, they received new life.
There
has been a growing desire in our congregation to make a difference in the world
around us. This past weekend, a group of fifteen of our members met with the
Doing What Matters Team to talk about how we can best serve God in this
community.
Through
prayer and Bible study, we sought to discern God’s purpose for our church. The result of that work is printed on the first
page of today’s bulletin. It says:
reaching out as disciples, sharing our faith
and serving all.
These
are the things that we hear God calling us to do. In order to live into our purpose, we discussed
the importance of embracing and practicing God’s love and forgiveness; being
flexible and open to God’s call in a changing world; breaking down the barriers
that separate us from one another; giving of ourselves and praying always. We know what we must do, but we can’t do it without
identifying where God is calling us. In
the next few months, we will begin a process of talking to the people and
leaders in our community in order to match their needs with the gifts that we
are dying to share.
Jesus
reminds us that no life should go unnoticed and that ALL have gifts that they
are dying to share too. As we work
together to serve God in this community, we are called to recognize the systems
and behaviors that marginalize people, keeping them from becoming valued members
in our society and the church. May God
grant us the courage to risk all, using 100% of the gifts that we have been
freely given so that others might do the same.
