Mark 12:38-44
As Jesus taught, he 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.”
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the War to End All Wars came to an end. One hundred years ago today, the world made peace. I don’t think I’ll be giving away any spoilers when I tell you that peace didn’t last. The idea, that this would be the War to End All Wars was noble, lofty, hopeful… and even still, it didn’t last. We don’t need to go into the reasons other than to say human beings continue to be involved in the workings of our world.
But even though it didn’t last, I’m very thankful that the people then… gave it their all. I’m thankful that they took a step toward that noble, lofty, hopeful goal. I'm thankful that in that moment they did all that they could do… that they gave peace their very best effort… they gave all that they had, even as imperfect as it turned out to be, they did all they could to give hope to the world.
The Gospel lesson for this week is about just that… about giving all that we have, even as imperfect as it might be. I know the gospel SEEMS to be about money AND it’s stewardship season AND we just did a legacy giving event AND were doing something on stewardship every Sunday from now until December 2nd, so everything SEEMS to be about money right now! But honestly, none of it is PRIMARILY about money.
Now, I’ll give you that the money part’s hard to look past. You’ve got the rich, showy folks with their fancy clothes strutting around the temple courtyard, flashing their wallets and pealing off bills into the offering plate making sure everyone will see. Then, in contrast to all of that, you’ve got the widow. “Widows” back then had no Social Security, no pension, no nothing… and so here’s this widow in her shabby cloths, trying to be invisible and just put her two cents in the plate.
Jesus, watching this all play out, says to his disciples, “See, that poor widow? She just gave WAY more than the rich folks, because for those rich folks, their gift didn’t even pinch a little! They won’t ever feel it! They’ll live just as well after they gave as before they gave. But that widow… she’s done! There’s no check in the mail. She’s given it all she had!”
Giving all she had didn’t magically multiply and fund the Temple for the next year. Giving all she had didn’t twist God’s arm into giving her prosperity and it didn’t buy the chief priest a private jet! It was just two cents. BUT it was everything she had. She gave all she had.
Jesus points to that widow and tells the disciples they should pay attention to her, because she is their (and our) model for discipleship. But not primarily a model for how to fill out your pledge card or put money in the plate on Sunday. Jesus points at that widow and tells us disciples, “Do THAT! Do THAT with your WHOLE life! That’s what Jesus was in Jerusalem to do himself, when he saw that poor widow across the street at the Temple. He was about to give his WHOLE LIFE on the cross.
That’s what this lesson’s really about. It’s about giving it all. That poor widow doesn’t hedge the bet. She hasn’t stashed some cash under the mattress for a rainy day. She gives it all! She gives the money that would have kept her alive, at least for a little bit longer. She gives her life. She puts her WHOLE life in God’s hands.
Today’s first lesson drives home that same point with another widow. She was asked to give the last bit of bread she had to some stranger. Her plan had been to bake the last, little, pitiful, loaf. Eat it with her son, and then just wait for both of them to starve to death. Into that situation a guy shows up and says, “Why don’t you give ME your last bit of food?” And for whatever reason… whether it was faith, shock or resignation… she gave all she had.
This way of living… giving it all… it makes no sense to the world. Whether it’s giving everything we have toward aspirational goals like making a war, the War to End all Wars, or working for the end of hatred, the extinction of bigotry, the elimination of racism, the demise of violence… the world has trouble wrapping it’s mind around that sort of gift. The idea that people might actually dare to give their all to the ideals of loving God and loving neighbor without condition… the world largely sees that as just as foolish as putting your last two cents into the offering plate, baking your last bit of bread to feed some random foreigner off the street or coming to Jerusalem when Jerusalem is out to have you killed.
But that’s our call. As individuals and as a church. To give it our all! To give away our last two cents. To give away our last piece of food to a stranger. To offer our lives for even a chance of peace. AND when we inevitably fall short of giving it our all… when inevitably we don’t fully eliminate hatred, bigotry and violence in one fail swoop… when inevitably The War to End all Wars has to be renamed, World War I… we’re called to confess where we fell short, turn around and go at it one more time… trying one more time to give this life we’ve been given, all that we have.
That’s our call. To give our all, even when in beautiful hindsight our “all” ads up to a half step forward and two steps back. We are called to give it our all… toward God’s vision of a world without war, a world without hate, a world without hunger, pain or fear. Our call is to give it our last little cake. To give it our last two cents. To give it our whole lives, trusting in God’s love and promise that no matter how far we move forward or how far we fall back, God will always be there to fill our empty jars with meal, our empty jugs with oil, our empty hearts with love and our empty souls with hope as many times as we need. Amen
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