Mark 12: 38-44
23 Pentecost / Proper 27 / Year B
12 November 2006
The Church of the Good Shepherd
Wareham, Massachusetts
Preached by the Rev. David Fredrickson
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. (Mark 12:41-44)
Most of us here I assume have heard the story that I just read from the Gospel of Mark, the story of the widow’s mite. I am also going to assume that most of you have heard a sermon on this text at some point in your life. I have heard many sermons on this text and honestly, most of them have left me feeling either guilty or inadequate. I hope that is not true for you and I certainly hope that this sermon does not bring about these emotions within you; that is not my intention. Nevertheless, I would like to ask you to suspend any preconceived prejudices that you may have about this story for the next ten minutes or so and walk with me.
Jesus had been teaching in the temple courts. On his way out, He walked down the steps to the Court of Women, where thirteen containers for offerings lined the wall. They were shaped like upside-down funnels, narrow at the top where the coins were dropped in and wider at the bottom. Jesus found a seat there and watched the people. The courtyard was crowded with pilgrims who had come to celebrate the Passover. Many of them were obviously wealthy. They could and did deposit large sums into the treasury. Then came a woman not nearly as well dressed as the others. She wore the traditional dark veil and garments of a widow. And from the look of her clothes, she must have been nearly destitute. She, too, dropped coins into the cone-shaped containers—two copper leptons, the smallest coin in circulation, each worth about an eighth of a cent, the smallest contribution permitted according to temple regulations. // For this simple act, she received the highest commendation of anyone in Mark’s Gospel! Perhaps from Mark's perspective the sacrifice of this poor widow’s livelihood anticipates the sacrifice that Jesus would make with his own life; who knows?
In past sermons, however, I am sure that you have all heard this incident touted as being one of the most amazing examples of what generous giving to God and to the church looks like. Even in our own church culture, this widow has become a role model, someone whose attitude should be emulated by the rest of us. If everyone were like this woman, church budgets would be met with ease! Congregations everywhere would have more money than we need and that would allow us to broaden our ministries even more. What a great message, particularly at stewardship time.
This, however, is only one interpretation of this incident. We imagine that when Jesus spoke to the disciples and said, “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 has to live on.” We imagine the tone of his voice was appreciative, maybe wondrous. Although he didn't say it, you could almost hear him tacking on the phrase "Go and do likewise" at the conclusion of this story. But is that the right angle of interpretation here?
All of me wants to say, “Yes, absolutely.” This woman’s heart was in the right place. She gave generously and out of genuine reverence, piety and love for God. In this woman we see an example of what it looks like to live by the right priorities, putting the Kingdom of God and its priorities ahead of her own. That is a message that I would love all of us to fully understand. Yet there is more here. This widow’s heart may have been in the right place, but from the looks of the 12th chapter of Mark as a whole, her piety was not only a good thing, it had also become the exploitable target for some very unscrupulous religious leaders at that time. You remember at the beginning of our story, Jesus was teaching in the Temple. Jesus 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.” Given what Jesus has said here we can perhaps surmise that Jesus’ voice may not have been as full of appreciative wonder at the end of this chapter as we would like to think. In fact, perhaps we can detect in the voice of our Lord a hint of scorn, of criticism, of astonishment that the situation was what it was. At the beginning of chapter 13 as Jesus walks out of the temple one of his disciple’s marveled to him about the beauty of the temple. Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Yes, Jesus was seriously unhappy that the temple community had veered so far from the narrow path. The culture of injustice was stifling. It had become a place where the wealthy came seeking praise for contributions that cost them nothing, a place where the religious leaders exploited the poor, the suffering, the widows and orphans. How could this happen?
It can happen quite easily unfortunately. And it most often happens when our priorities become skewed, when our lives don’t easily reflect the values of the God who created us and redeemed us. Jesus fully understood that money is the central spiritual issue of our lives. That is why he had the audacity to stand there and watch how much people put into the treasury and give a running commentary on what he saw. Every time we spend a dollar, we are shinning a light upon what it is we truly value. The widow is the only person in our story this morning that understood that. She was the only one who gave sacrificially and yes, she sacrifices a lot.
The church is to be the place people look to see the just reign of God in the world, yet it often fails to reflect either God’s priorities or God’s justice because it so focused on staying alive, on keeping the door open. That fear always lurks in the background, not just of this church, but of every church. And it lurks not just in the background of the church, but in each one of our lives. If we give too much, we will not have enough.
Good Shepherd is no different from any other church. We fear running out of money. Someday we will unless we change the focus, not just of the parish, but the focus of our lives. You and I need to give enough so that our focus can be on the just reign of God and not on keeping the doors open. Giving sacrificially means giving a lot, a lot of time, and yes a lot of money to this work. There is no secret formula; there is no magic wand that we can wave. We have a large budget deficit in this parish and we have had one for the past four years since I have been here. Every year we plug that deficit with money that our foremothers and forefathers left to us. Next year we are going to have another one. It is time for us to fill that deficit. It is not our foremothers and forefather’s responsibility, it is not the responsibility of future members, it is ours and ours alone and it will require a lot of sacrifice. The church is not a business or a charity, it is the place where the people of God live out their faith, stick their necks out on the line, and open their hands and hearts to God. Is that the business that we are about?
In Jesus name! Amen.
