Sermons from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Pentecost 23,
November 8, 2009
The Rev. Melissa Skelton
Mark 12:38-44
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. 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.”
What a perfect Gospel reading for our in-gathering Sunday. What a perfect reading for the Sunday on which we’re asking people to be generous with their money in supporting St. Paul’s for the coming year.
After all, Jesus is talking about money and giving, right? And what he seems to be saying is that everyone, those who have a lot and those who have little, should give generously to their faith community, right?
Well……
If we look more deeply at our Gospel for today, what we notice is that Mark’s Jesus is not exactly exhorting people to give generously to the temple. No, Jesus’ message is more layered, more nuanced, more comprehensive than this.
No, Mark’s Jesus is not exhorting people to give generously to the temple. Rather, I believe, he’s posing this question to the disciples and to us:
What is it you give your life to? What would you be willing to give all of your life to even in an imperfect world, a world where disappointments happen and where injustice occurs? What would you be willing to give all of your life to?
But let’s go back to the gospel for a moment.
Our gospel this takes place in the temple: a place that always “gets” to Jesus, for the temple was supposed to be a place where the Jewish people encountered their God. It was, therefore, supposed to be a house of prayer and a place that functioned as the beating heart of God’s and the people’s compassion toward the poor. In Mark’s gospel, this is not how the temple operates. And so when Jesus is teaching in the temple or commenting on the temple, he typically has critical things to say.
This time Jesus’ critique of the temple focuses on the scribes—religious professionals who, he says, “devour widows’ houses,” that is, who are a part of the temple structure that collects money from the very people it is supposed to support and protect. These same scribes Jesus describes as self-absorbed and impressed with themselves—those who take the most privileged seats at banquets and in the synagogue.
All of this is by way of background to what is the main event in our gospel story. Jesus goes and sits opposite the treasury, one of the thirteen chests in the temple court into which the people could put their contributions. As he watches, wealthy folks come by and put in large sums that impress others but cost them little given the size of their wealth. And then an obscure widow, a person with almost nothing to live on comes by and drops in two copper coins, a meager amount in the eyes of the world, but an amount that represents all of her living. In God’s eyes, Jesus says, she is the big contributor, the one who, despite the injustices of the temple, is to be admired for giving all of herself in response to God, the source of life itself.
And so this gospel is very challenging. In it are scathing criticisms of religious communities that fall short of enacting the values of a compassionate and justice-loving God. Also in it is praise for a person who, even in the face of an imperfect religious community and an imperfect world, chooses to give everything in response to God.
This is what one Biblical scholar says about the passage: “Some recent commentaries fault the widow for colluding with unjust and exploitative economic structures and fault Mark for having Jesus endorse her behavior. In their eagerness to provide a political reading, they may be missing a theological one: the widow is a type of Jesus Christ who similarly chooses to give “his whole life” in the face of those unjust structures that destroy it.”
And so this morning I come back to a question that has always haunted and continues to haunt me:
What am I/what are you/what are we willing to give our all to?
In an imperfect world with imperfect people, in imperfect religious communities, within imperfect social and economic structures, even in the face of injustice, what are we willing to give our all to?
Today you have some decisions to make about what you will choose to give to this place, to St. Paul’s as we try to be a place of prayer, as we try to be a place that enacts God’s own compassion and justice, God’s own love of the world and life itself. While I hope we do this more faithfully than the temple of Jesus own time, we will never do it perfectly!
What I would say to you about that is this: give in a way that reflects how you really feel about this place, that reflects where your heart is with this place. Give in proportion to what it means to you, to how much of your “all” it represents. But in that, don’t forget the bigger question, the bigger challenge that I believe our Gospel is making to us today. Find the people, the places, the vocation, the communities that call to you, all of which are imperfect and shot through with disappointment and injustices, little and big. Find the things that ask you to give all you life to them. And then, don’t be afraid or be put off because it is not the perfect person, the perfect place, the perfect vocation or the perfect community. Go ahead and give of yourself, give all of yourself, for in that giving, a new stream of life opens up for you and for the world. It is a stream that flows from the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ Jesus.
I want to end with a story about a person deciding to give more of himself than he wanted to. It’s a story about a boy and a dog.
When I was about thirteen, we found a stray dog wandering around in our suburban Atlanta neighborhood. She was a beautiful, seemingly well cared for mixed collie breed. She was smallish, had soulful brown eyes and a kind of gentle elegance that made you want to be near her, that made you want to take care of her.
Our family already had a rather rambunctious male black and white “Heinz 57” dog we that for some reason had named “Whiskey.” And so our parents told us that we could not keep the dog that we had found. .We took out an ad in the local paper for a few weeks to see if we could find her owner. That notice got no response. After a time we ran a second ad. It read: Found: Gentle Female Collie Mixed Breed. Free to a good home.
Within a few days a man called us. That same week he and his seven-year-old son came to see us. As they got out of the car, the little boy was already letting his dad and the rest of us know he was not interested in the dog we had found. This was because he really, really wanted a puppy.
Over the continuing protests of the little boy the father began suggesting that the boy do things with the dog: give the dog some water, pet her, give her a treat, throw Whiskey’s well-worn ball and have her fetch it. This went on for at least half an hour as the boy continued to talk about puppies, how little they were, how funny they were, how cuddly they were and how some of his friends had puppies…..and on and on.
Time passed and we began to wonder. And then the father said to his son: “What would you name this dog if she were yours.” The little boy stopped, got quiet and a serious look came over his face.
“What would you name this dog if she were yours?” the father repeated.
“Sweetheart” the little boy said.
That’s when we knew.
We do not live in a world in which the people, the communities, the vocations we would give our lives to are the perfect people, the perfect communities, the perfect vocations. But there are times when someone, some place, some community or some path opens up before us, touches our hearts and seems to ask us, “Will you give your life to me?”
What do you want to give your life to? Don’t be afraid. Give it all. Give it now.
Sources consulted or cited
Blogging toward Sunday: “Two widows, true to type“ by A. Katherine Grieb
