of Mites, and Men
Mark 12 38-44
Today we hear of the corruptness of the temple establishment and we hear of the gift of a widow's mite - her everything. What are we to make of this?In this part of Mark, Jesus is in conflict with the Scribes and the Pharisees. We hear of them questioning him, and we hear of Jesus responding to them, always getting the best of them in the exchange.
In this passage, we see Jesus commending a widow for giving her all, to the temple treasury, the very place that he seems to consider full of corruption. It will not be too long until he is making a whip and driving buyers and sellers out of the temple. Why would Jesus comment on a good gift to such a corrupt place?
He is pretty clear that he approves of the gift isn't he? Can you see the scene? The people coming to the front of the church, with nice fat check books, making big gifts. And then two little pennies from a poor woman.
And Jesus says, way to go lady. Your gift is the best one.
Is Jesus saying that we must give every bit we have? That each of us should be giving our all? Perhaps. But more than that I think Jesus is shining a light on the Scribes.
In the section where Jesus talks about the scribes, his criticisms are many. He says that they like to walk around in long robes. He says that they like to have the best seats at parties. He says that they don't really mean it when they pray….And he says that even though they were expected to be the ones that looked after the orphans and the widows, they weren't doing it. They were cheating them out of their houses, as he says, "they were devouring their houses".
The scribes were a powerful elite in Jesus day. They could have cheated the less fortunate in all sorts of ways. By acting as crooked layers. By convincing them that God wanted it that way. By failing to do anything when others took advantage. However they did it, Jesus is scathing in his assessment of this fake piety. This religion for position. This religion for making money. This religion for anything else than the undivided love of God.
Perhaps this is why the widow is singled out by Jesus. Because she is a walking, talking, breathing example of the people that the religious elite were taking advantage of. According to the law, the widows were supposed to be able to share in the tithes and offerings given in the temple. But here we see a woman giving every bit she had. This is not a woman who is being looked after by the temple system. This is a woman who has only two coins. And she gives them to the temple. Not one of her two pennies, but both.
The criticism of the scribes can hit fairly close to home to can't they. What does Jesus say about the scribes? First he say that they like to walk around in long robes. I was surprised to find that the Greek word used in Mark is stole - yes stole like David and I are wearing this morning, although the word was quite broad so it meant all sorts of long robes. Of course the point isn't only the long robes is it. It's the walking around …..the parading to make a big splash. To seem to be important. To want to be important.
Jesus makes quite a point about the scribes that pray and don't really mean it too, doesn't he. "They say long prayers for the sake of appearance". These scribes are hypocrites. They want to appear more than they are, to get all of the advantages of appearing to be faithful without any of the costs.
Here we see the real contrast between the widow and the scribes don't we. The widow is truly engaged with her God. She is giving her all, and Jesus recognizes her as such. The scribes are not.
This passage gives us much to think about both, in a form of warning about the scribes, and in a positive form in the widow. We should be mindful of both the warning and the role model.
But how? How do we with a single-minded purpose give our all to our God. How do we stay away from pride, and hypocrisy, from selfishness and greed? How do we commit ourselves to a life of following Jesus completely?
I think we need to remember two things. The first is that while the church is important, a fellowship that is to be Jesus' body on earth, it is not in any way the only place we give to God. Yes we should all be giving to the church, in both money and in time, to support it in its mission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. But sometimes when we think of serving God completely we think of some cloistered Monk who never sees the real world. You know in a grey cloak and hood. This is a mistake.
We are called to give our all to Jesus, not to the church. We are called to be committed to, and engaged in the church, but our gift of ourselves to God is not all made within the church. Not nearly. Our gift is made when we help others. It is made when we consider what Jesus would do as we make decisions. It is when we buy a dinner for someone who hasn't had one for a while. It is when we get together with friends to celebrate and enjoy this world that God gave us. And it is made when we tell a depressed and lonely person that God loves them, and that we do too.
The second thing we must remember, is that the real answer to the how question, comes to us in the form of Jesus. As our reading from Hebrews reminds us, Jesus died for each of us, so that we could be saved by him. So while we are all called to live for Jesus with single-minded purpose and devotion, we are in the final analysis able to come to God, not because we through some heroic act of will reach out to him, but because he reaches out to us. We reach out to him, and when we do, we find that we are already surrounded by his loving arms.
This is the good news we claim and share. And this is the good news we reach out to others with. Amen
©2003 Steve E. Timpson
(613) 272-2360
P.O. Box 69
2764 Highway 15, Portland, Ontario
stimpson@ontario.anglican.ca