Pentecost 23B.htm
1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
The Widow’s Mite
Ah, did you remember to bring you pledge card back today? I have mine. I really hope we can meet next’s year budget. It’s looking pretty good. And John tells me our extra campaign for a youth director is coming along nicely.
But there is always room for one more pledge, one more gift, and one more outburst of generosity. One more rich member.
Yes, one more rich member. Why mess about with poor folk, whose little bit of giving doesn’t add up to much. Let’s just go after the lawyers and doctors and tenured professors.
It’s awful tempting to do that, especially this time of year. Especially when the synod wants to know our giving and the national church wants to see us make up for the reduction in our Transformational Ministry grant.
They want numbers. Member numbers, giving numbers. Let’s make it look good!
Okay?
What a worldly attitude we take on. Looking at folks and judging them by how much they can give to the church. We look at the folks out there and think, will they be “good” church members? You know, give money…volunteer to be on council or help with Sunday School? What can they do for us?
Now, Lord of Life is not as bad as some churches. Our dress code is pretty lax, our welcoming is fairly inclusive. Our ‘requirements’ aren’t too tough.
But it is hard to see the church through the eyes of Jesus. We are so used to viewing everything through the eyes of our world. You know what I’m saying. We are programmed, taught to look at people who are rich and powerful and popular with oohs and aahs.
We tell our children to get an education, not so they can make the world a better place, but so they can make a better life for themselves, you know…make a lot of money.
Then we come to church and bring all that with us. The stress of making it, the peer pressure of being accepted, the societal pressure of looking calm and in control even if our personal life is falling apart.
We come to church programmed to judge people by their clothes and their paychecks and their offerings.
That is a pressure that even us clergy feel in relation to the larger church structures above us. A pressure to grow numerically, to be “successful” in a way that is reflected in our offerings, and our mission support, in the pressure to have the newest in cutting edge programs and the latest in worship innovations and the fanciest banners and the most articles on the front page of the Des Moines Register.
Not much has changed since the scribes were walking around in their long robes, having the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
People were, even then, taught that their leaders should look good and dress nice and have the latest luxuries. At least the leaders felt this way. The Scribes deserved the best, a nice chunk of the temple tax, and a lot of respect on the streets. The leaders took their leadership seriously. Why, they even offered to help widows manage their finance. Scribes often managed people’s money for them at no charge, but they could accept contributions for their personal support. And they did.
Then there was the temple offering. In the Women’s court, lined up along the wall were 13 large, metal, trumpet shaped containers to receive offerings for various purposes. The money would clink loudly going in and people would notice. Some scholars think that each offering would be loudly announced.
And of course you gave to the church. And the Scribes made sure you knew your obligation. They, after all, got a nice cut.
So this story, after all, and much to my discomfort in the midst of our stewardship month, is not about the overwhelming generosity of the widow. Jesus doesn’t tell us to go and do likewise.
No, it is about the corruption of a system that would take a poor widow’s last coins. It is about teaching the poor to give all they have while the rich sit in the best seats in their finest robes. Remember, just a few Sundays back we had the disciples asking to sit at Jesus right and left hands.
Soon, in Mark, Jesus will be even more direct in attacking a corrupt temple system.
The widow has been taught “sacrificial giving” by the wealthy authority. And now she will likely starve. Jesus says, “Look at what you’ve done.”
You have injured a vulnerable person, taken advantage of their vulnerability. You, in your fine robes and reputation have caused one of the most fragile of people to crack.
So this is a stewardship sermon after all. Not in the traditional sense. but in so far as it is about the stewardship of lives. How do we care for the poorest in our midst? The most fragile? The most vulnerable?
How do make our places of worship ones of welcome without laying out the guilt? How do we talk about the successes of our children without making those who can’t afford the best education feel stupid? Or our trips without making those who can’t afford to travel feel inadequate?
Being aware is the first step. And then we can ask:
How do we fully welcome the most vulnerable folks in our society without judging or condescending or ignoring?
Not only that, how do we make the center of our lives and our community a safe place for those who struggle? How do we listen…hear…each other without judging or condemning or ignoring an experience that might be different than our own? How do we welcome and fully include folks who struggle with money or mental health issues or even language barriers?
It isn’t about what “we” can do for “them” like the Scribes see the widows. It’s about what we can do for each other. What can we learn from each other? How can we grow together? How can we all be encouraged to share our gifts? Not just of money but of ideas and creativity and love.
How can we be a part of that
Aah, this isn’t the stewardship sermon I was wanting to preach. It is much easier to miss the first part of today’s lesson and just focus in on that generous widow giving her last few coins.
But God wants more from us today than our money. God wants more than our relief that we aren’t as poor as that widow. God wants more than a polite tsk tsk of the scribes.
God wants a change in the order of the world. And that starts in our hearts…with an openness to new people and a willingness to listen and learn from them. If that change causes you to rethink your pledge…raise it? We’ll accept that.
But what God is changing even now is our hearts.
So leave the judging of the world outside these doors. Set aside the standards of success you have been taught. Leave the old tired distinctions between rich and poor at home.
Come, receive new eyes, new ears, new hearts. Learn from Jesus that we may take God’s new creation/new order away from here and back out there. May the words of Scripture transform not only our church, but our communities.
Prayer: All that we have, all that we are, we offer to you, O Lord. Fill us with new life and new energy that we may be aware of the struggles of the world around us. Teach us to see our neighbors with fresh eyes, that we may be your instruments of peace and healing in the world around us. And Lord, make the church in your image. In the name of the one who challenges us anew each day, Jesus the Christ. Amen.