This fall we have been focusing our sermon time together on getting our lives back on track as we follow Jesus on his journey and the stops he makes along the way. Today we will read from the gospel of Mark chapter 12 verses 38 through 44. We find Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem.
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, 39and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” 41He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43Then 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. 44For 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.”
Before I get into my sermon this morning, I want you to know that Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers, from the NPR show “Car Talk” contributed greatly to my sermon today. As I listened to their show this week, I was surprised to find two illustrations that fit perfectly with our gospel passage this morning. First, they shared a list of “Things Mom Would Never Say”. I’d like to read some of these things to you:
Things Mom Would Never Say
”How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?”
“Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too.”
“Let me smell that shirt — yeah, it’s good for another week.”
“Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I’ll be glad to feed and walk him every day.”
”Well, if Billy’s mom says it’s OK, that’s good enough for me.”
“I don’t have a tissue with me … so just use your sleeve.”
“Don’t bother wearing a jacket – the wind-chill is bound to improve.
Just as it would be weird and worrisome if we heard a mother say such things, there are certain things that would be weird and worrisome if we heard or saw it come from a Christian. Which leads me to the next illustration I borrowed from Car Talk. It’s a song by the band Antsy McClain and the Trailerpark Troubadors. The title of the song is:
I Was Just Flipped Off by a Silver Haired Lady With a ‘Honk If You Love Jesus’ Sticker on the Bumper of Her Car
Now, I’m not going to subject you to this song, but you get the idea. Anyone upon hearing this song would summarize it as a song about a hypocrite. Then we turn to our gospel lesson and we see Jesus singin’ us a similar song about those scribes and how they have their noses up in the air, making grand entrances in the market places, socializing with all the right people, making sure they have the best seats at banquets, and asking for vulnerable widows’ hospitality just so that they can say long prayers so much so that it seems they are “devouring widows houses.” Certainly, these actions belong on the list of “Things a First Century Scribe Would Never Do”. And we’ve heard of modern day temple scribes, i.e. ministers, who have taken advantage of their position for their own personal gain—we’ve all heard stories of fraud and adultery—stories that are even more horrific to us because they come from people we who should be leading and preaching to us about living holy, Christ-like lives. But I know most have found ourselves doing something on the list “Things Christians would never say or do”. The scribes in our story today not only reflect church leaders who take advantage of their power. These scribes also show us that we all have the capacity to abuse the power we have, to take advantage of others for our own gain.
And then we turn our attention to the lone widow, most likely a widow whose home has been devoured by a temple scribe. Jesus points her out to us, because we most likely would never have known she existed. Jesus points out the irony of it all–this widow gives her whole life while the temple leadership takes advantage of her and uses her life for their own personal gain. And there is even more irony — that widows are ones that should be cared for by the scribes according to the law. Yet in this story, the widow helps takes care of the temple by giving all her money while the scribes take advantage of the widow.
There are several ways to interpret the story of the widow and the two small coins she gives that day in the temple. A lot of preachers see the perfect opportunity in this story to preach on stewardship by saying that we all should be like the widow—giving all that we have to God—in contrast to the rich who only gave out of their abundance, out of their convenience. Some tie the widow’s self-sacrifice as paralleling Christ’s own self-sacrifice on the cross calling us to generous, self-sacrificial giving.
And these may be valid interpretations of this passage if we were reading the story of the widow and her two coins by itself. But today, the story of the widow and her two coins is tied to the story of the scribes’ self-seeking activities which include devouring widow’s houses. The fact is that a scribes’ job was to interpret the law and they knew exactly what the law said about widows. The law says numerous times to not take advantage of or hurt widows. They knew that it was their duty to take care of the widow. There was no excuse for their actions.
And when it came to the law, Jesus was more worried about human need than minding the law, especially when the law and human need conflict—so he condoned healing on the Sabbath, he touched lepers in order to heal them, he ate with sinners…all because he believed that the law was made for people and should never stop us from dealing with human need. Knowing this, why would Jesus condone this widow putting her whole life’s savings in the temple treasury that day? We can guess what probably happened to the widow after she left the temple that day. With no help from the temple, with her house devoured by the temple, she would not have anything to eat and no way to take care of herself. She put herself to death by putting all that she had in the temple treasury.
And notice that this gospel passage does not end with a statement like “go and do likewise” or “this widow is not far from the kingdom.” Jesus simply states what he observes by saying “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.”
We do not know much about the widow—we don’t know why she put in everything she had, all she had to live on. She could have felt guilty, she could have been in despair, she could have wanted people to see her contribute to the temple, she could have genuinely and generously wanted to give all she had. The text does not tell us why she did it. Just a few passages earlier, Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to—“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to—Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.” Certainly, the story of the scribes and the widow ends with tragic consequences—the scribes love themselves so much that they are unable to respond faithfully to God, unable to respond with love to the widows in their community. And therefore, the widow is left helpless, giving all of herself without anyone giving to her.
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like you give and give and give of yourself in every part of your life but yet no one seems to be giving to you? Unfortunately, the church can be seen as a place that can suck the life out of people—a place that asks you to give and give and give and then one day you find yourself empty and no place to go to be filled. And when you have a bunch of unfilled and unsatisfied church members, that is when bitterness and frustrations begin—that is when faithful Christians begin to say and do the things on the list of “Things Christians should never say and do”.
Now I believe and see every day that Oglethorpe Presbyterian is a life-giving place that offers a God that renews us and sustains us, but I know that there are a lot of you that give a tremendous amount of your time, money and talent to our church. And it is easy to find yourself overwhelmed with church responsibilities. In order for any community to be healthy and secure, everyone in the community must contribute. Unfortunately, statistics show that in many churches 25% of the congregation provides for 75% of the church’s needs. That is wrong!
Stewardship season is here and many of you are deciding how much money you will give to the church this year. But before we get to deciding on what we will pledge, I think our gospel passage today is telling us to reflect on how we are stewards for one another. Giving of your time, talent, and money is not simply because it is something you give to our building, our budget, our ministries—giving means being good stewards of one another. The fact is that in order to keep our doors wide open to the needs of our community, it takes all of us contributing. A healthy, vibrant church community is one where people share the responsibility of taking care of the church, where there isn’t a few people giving ‘till it hurts while there are those who give a little or none at all.
So what do you give to our church community? Maybe you feel you are giving too much of yourself to this church, so much so that coming to church feels more like a burden than a blessing. If you feel like this, I encourage you to come talk to me or Marthame. I encourage you to list the ways in which you give, and list how each way you give also gives you energy and fulfillment. If you feel empty and used up by a way you give to this church, it’s okay to let it go. Now that empty, used up feeling is different than feeling challenged or even tired. Ministry can be difficult, but even the most difficult ministry can be life-giving if you aren’t giving too much of yourself, and you choose to give in ways that bring your closer to God, that give you fulfillment. I know many of you would tell me that there are certain ways that you give of yourself—whether it’s through an outreach project or through leading a connect group or folding bulletins, even giving money—these certain ways bring you so much joy that you find yourself receiving so much blessings from these ways the you give. When we give of ourselves through things we love and want to do for this church or others—then I think that the saying “it is in the giving, we receive” becomes reality for us.
But when you give too much of yourself, you may often find yourself running on empty. It is very common for folks to give too much, but receive very little from the church. And that’s not because the church is not offering anything to you—it is just easier to only ask “what can I do?” and never get to the questions “how can I receive?”. I encourage you to seeking places that nurture, fill and satisfy that part of you crying out for answers, friendship, rest, and a better relationship with God. OPC offers worship services, connect groups that include study of many biblical and theological issues, we have centering prayer, book club, choir, handbells…all waiting for you to receive them. In order to grow in your relationship with God you need to know when you have enough on your plate.
If you fill your plate with only giving, then receiving will not happen. Recieving means being a part of the life of the church by receiving the gifts of prayer, music, bible study, leadership, fun, sacred space, friendship—anything that gives you renewed energy, challenge, and life. If you give and give but never receive, then I can guarantee you will burnout.
I recently heard a story about a woman who would come to her church 3 or 4 times a year. Every time she came to the church, she’d make a grand entrance, making sure everyone knew she was there, and then she’d make a point to let others know that she put in thousands of dollars in the offering plate. One day, the minister came up to her and the woman made a point of telling her how much she gave that day. But the minister’s response the woman was not what she was expecting. The minister told her “We don’t just need your money, what we really need is you.” I whole heartedly agree with that minister. That is why Marthame and I have no idea what you contribute monetarily to our church. What is important to us is you, not the amount of money that you put in the offering plate every Sunday.
Just as there are people who give too much, but never receive; there are also people who receive too much, but don’t give accordingly. This is what happened in our story today. The scribes received too much hospitality and ended up taking advantage of people they should have been giving to. When we give our time, talents, and money, we also give to one another. Giving means sharing the load and is a commitment to not take advantage of one another.
As I read this passage, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Jesus telling his disciples to give up their whole life to follow him. In today’s story we read about the widow who gave her whole life. But there is one difference between the disciples and the widow. The disciples decided to give up their whole life to follow Jesus, but they commit to do this together. They supported one another and took care of one another on their journey with Jesus. Jesus, who ultimately, literally gives his whole life through death on a cross—Jesus does not decide to go it alone. Instead he surrounds himself with a close community that gives him friendship, support, challenges, fun, and rest. The widow gave her whole life that day in the temple, but unfortunately her community did not step up to support and take care of her. We are called to give our whole lives to God, but to do it in community.
I recently read a story about a nun who worked for her community’s house for the dying. One day a reporter interviewed the nun as she scrubbed the floor. At one point, she looked up and said to the reporter “Why do you keep asking me these questions when you can see all the work that needs to be done here? Why don’t you put down your pen and notebook and help me?” Stewardship season at church is more than asking how much money you will give to the church next year—stewardship season challenges us to think about how generously we give our lives to God. And for our gifts to be generous, they must always lead us to give ourselves to others, committing to not take advantage of each other’s time money and talent, to share the responsibility, to take care of one another so that we can all say “it is in the giving, that we receive.” AMEN
Luckily, my landlord rocks and our house will have a new roof within the next couple of weeks. The mold and sheet rock will be replaced in the ceiling. We will move the furniture back into the den and life will go on. It is what it is what it is. Thank God I’m called to find meaning and purpose in something far bigger and better than possessions and circumstances. Oh, how I wish my faith was consistant and strong enough to not worry so much, to not dwell on the worst, to not feel overwhelmed by situations I can’t control. Yet, God is gracious and there even when my faith waivers. 
