Mark 12:38-44; November 10, 2024; Stewardship Sunday
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It would likely be easier to say it simply. To say it shortly.
To just focus on the widow’s offering. To celebrate her. To say, look at how she gave! Look at how she gave it all, more than those who have everything.
It would likely be easier to just say that. To say it simply: let us now celebrate the same here on Stewardship Sunday. Giving everything that we have to the church, to God. Amen.
It would likely be easier. And shorter. And a message well worth preaching. That is, if I were another pastor, in another time, at another church.
But alas, I am not. And so, short and easy won’t cut it. Not today. Nor has it ever really in the Kingdom of God, which in the end requires long sacrifices, a deeper substance, and challenging answers to real questions.
Which is, consequently, what we all will need to remember in this new world we now live in. Where there will be a demand for long sacrifices, a deeper substance, and some real questions accompanied by some challenging answers.
So, no, short and easy today simply won’t work. Especially as it’s not what our text is about either. For the shortest and easiest interpretation is not what Jesus had in mind or would want us to hear.
No, for the focus of this story today is simply not on the widow… even though paragraph headings, later added to scripture, suggest that it is. Neither is it on her incredible offering, as incredible as it is; nor on her selflessness which reached the point of complete forfeit.
Sure, you can hear other sermons being preached right now… Be like the widow, give everything you have, forfeit it all in obedience to God, for Jesus demands it, etc.
But if that were the sole point and the only focus of this story, then Jesus would not have sat at such a distance away from this woman — this widow — only watching her, without ever approaching her, without ever rehabilitating her in the end.
No… if this widow, and her offering, were the primary focus, then Jesus would have no doubt walked up to her and said something familiar like: “your faith has made you well.” As he does in so many other places.
But here, in this story, he doesn’t do that. Nor does he say that. For in fact, he says nothing to her at all. Almost like she’s just an illustration. Which, she is.
For you see, Jesus is not simply attempting to lift up this widow as a role model — but rather, he wants his disciples who are watching to start acting like role models and less easily like scribes, whom the focus of this story is truly on, and whom Jesus had just condemned the verses before.
You see, the lesson of this story, my friends, all has to do with the scribes and their messed-up perspective and system of operation. Whereas the widows (and orphans, the poor and the imprisoned…) should have been looked after by them, they instead aren’t. And whereas they should have been protected by them, they instead are “devoured.”
Worse yet, these poor widows are even made to forfeit the very last of their name, their very last penny, while those who have coins upon coins, and who should know better, sit bit back and watch as crowds attempt to do the work for them.
The scribes then are the focus of this story. And their example is not to be our own.
You must understand that scribes back then were not mere typists or copyists. No, scribes back then were of the rare, educated, coastal elite sort of class.
Where only 1-10% of the population in Jesus’ time was literate, to be a scribe meant that you had to have a formal training not just in penmanship, but in the art of narrative and interpretation, so that you would know how to capture the essence of a teaching, an idea, and how to make it intelligible and captivating.
And these scribes, Jesus tells us, were so bourgeois that they not only had their formal education under their belt, but that they also wore it on their sleeves: in long colorful robes, at places of honor at weddings and feasts, and in the best seats and pews at temple and church.
And yet, instead of knowing better through all of their learned wisdom, and instead of modeling things like humility before others, they apparently were only interested in modeling piety unto themselves. Doing whatever they needed to do to get and stay ahead, even if that meant devouring the vulnerable along the way. Taking possession of the little that they had, and ownership over their physical and mental property.
Like big money corporations then, like Citizens United, and the billionaire classes behind our media and political machinery today, these scribes took advantage of those who were just trying to get by, using simple self-serving soundbites to easily lure in the vulnerable on the promise of change and prosperity, or just the possibility that they might one day be able to afford eggs again.
And so, no, my friends, the short and easy answers are not what we should be chasing (such as, everyone on a certain side is this or that).
Rather, we need to look for a deeper substance, with realer questions and more challenging answers. That is, if we are ever going to finally move forward.
Just the same then, our story today is simply not about the easier interpretation: celebrating the widow for her offering (as tempting of a message as that is). But, it’s in lamenting that she felt compelled to make that offering in the first place! And more, that she was allowed to do so at all. That she wasn’t stopped. That a scribe or some other religious authority didn’t jump in and say, “hey, no, don’t worry about that ma’am, we’ve got you covered.”
A group, a nation, or a church, who are rich in blessings, that asks its most vulnerable members to give all they have to live on, such that their entire livelihood is devoured and their whole life made forfeit, is not a healthy church, group, or nation, and not one that Jesus would recognize as his own.
Rather, it would be deserving of great condemnation.
And maybe that’s what’s missing from church and society today. A little bit of condemnation. No, not as in the condemnation we see pervasively shared on social media, or in stump speeches of political retribution. But as in real condemnation, as in consequences, for unethical rhetoric and immoral behavior.
And not just consequences for the poor, as it is so often the case, but consequences for those who should know better. Who wear the longest of robes and who have the whitest of collars. Who are the scribes. Who offer empty prayers, all while trying to line their pockets at everyone else’s expense.
“Beware of the scribes,” Jesus says. “Beware…”
On my favorite bike ride, along that New Hope towpath, there’s this house. Its foundation comes right up to the trail; and between the stone and the dirt, there’s a wooden fence with a gate. And on that gate, there’s a sign which reads, “BEWARE OF THE DOG!” Presumably to keep out any nosey bikers like me.
Now, truth be told, I’ve never personally seen or heard from that dog. But I must admit that just the prospect of looking in and potentially getting devoured and eaten alive is enough to keep people like me away.
And while the owners of that house certainly have that right, and probably a good reason to hang that sign, the religious leaders of this house — the Church — do not.
For our sign outside should never say…“Beware of the Churchgoers inside, for they will devour you.”
But rather, it should always say… “Beware of their hugs, for there will be many.”
Or “Beware of their cookies, for Mary is preparing hundreds of them and your blood sugar is at risk.”
Or, “Beware of their acceptance and understanding, their help and nurturing, because you just might want to become a member of this community where grace and love so abounds that you’ll never want to leave, such that you’ll end up staying your whole life and turn into Bob McFarland.”
As wonderful as that would be. Beware! 😊
Our church’s calling, my friends, should be synonymous with our calling as Christians, as outlined here by Jesus in our Gospel.
Where we are to give support to the weak. Where we are to give hope to the fearful. Where we are to provide community for the lonely.
And where we are to give whatever tithes, gifts, and energy we have, so that those who have nothing left in their hearts or their pockets don’t feel like they have to.
My friends, let’s not be like the scribes today. And neither let us settle for what is simple or easy.
But rather, let us instead be more like Christ, who sacrificed greatly, so that those who are weary, might actually find rest.
Amen
