Giving All
A Stewardship Sermon by Griff Martin
On Mark 12:38-44 and 1Kings
17:8-16
For the Beloveds of First
Austin: a baptist community of faith
On November 11, 2018
Mark 12: 38-44
As he 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.”
1 Kings 17:8-16
Then the word of the Lord came
to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there;
for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and
went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there
gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a
vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he
called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But
she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of
meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of
sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may
eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do
as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and
afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says
the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of
oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She
went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate
for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil
fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah
The Sermon:
Incarnate and Resurrected God,
we ask that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and
breathing new reality we can all together experience. Make us aware of you
presence here in this space and in these words God for if we are present to you
then nothing else will matter, but if you are not present to you then nothing
else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the
Comforter. Amen.
On May 15, 2006 more than 40
people walked by David Strays as he laid dying and not one of the 40 stopped,
each saw him and walked on by without doing a thing. Because that is the
culture where he died, you see he died on Mount Everest near the top, in that
space that is above 26,250 feet which we know as the death zone. Even the man
who died that day, David Strays, his mother commented on this space: “your only
responsibility is to save yourself, not to try and save others.”
I think somehow the rule of
Everest seemed to have moved down the mountain and they now exist everywhere…..
your only responsibility in this world is to save yourself not to try and save
others.
We certainly see that out in
the world today… Did we vote last week based on a world that was more fair for
the least of these or did we vote based on what was fair to our future
finances? And actually that question is way too limiting…. Did your actions
speak for and help and work towards the betterment of the least of these or did
you actions speak for and help and work towards only your own betterment? Did
you take time to care for someone beyond yourself? Did you feed someone who was
not yourself? Or did you follow the rules of Everest in your own life: my
responsibility is me.
And it happens here too….. I
mean this is half the problem of designated funds (I want this to continue and
instead of giving to the mission I will give to what I believe in), or coming
here with pet projects, or coming here thinking only abut the items on your to
do lists, or going into committee meetings thinking only about your agenda.
Coming here thinking your responsibility is to save yourself and your way of
thinking and your way of doing church and not to try and save others.
And the rules of the Gospel
are about as opposite Everest as one can get.
The lectionary has us today in
Mark 12 and the story most of us know as the Widow’s Mite. When I first looked
at the lectionary and saw that this text was the Gospel text for Pledge Sunday,
it was as though I had struck gold…. This is perfect.
But then I got to thinking
that actually chances are pretty good that one of the lectionary passages on
any given Sunday would be about finances and material goods. This is the most
talked about subject in all of Scripture, there are somewhere around 2,000
texts that deal with money (and to put that into context, there are only 500
verses on prayer)… as if every author already knew that this material goods and
money thing was going to be a problem for us.
And then I sat down to study
the Widow and I tried to do what I do every week, I tried to see the Scripture
anew…. And a few things hit me this time that made me question if she was
really a good stewardship sermon.
First, the Scripture is about
way more than just the widow. You have to engage the whole conversation. Because
we love to rush to the widows because the first verses step all over us… I mean
listen to Jesus: “Watch out for those who are too religious, those who are
wearing their Sunday best, those who love to be in the spotlight, they sit at
the head of the table at every church function and they love to be on
committees and yet they don’t really care about making a difference, it’s show,
just listen to their prayers- the longer they go, the worse they get.”
And then a verse that should
stop us dead in our tracks “They will pay for it in the end.”
That is not the Vacation Bible
School Jesus. This is Jesus via Where The Wild Things Are.
And then Jesus stops and
watches, sitting across from the offering plates, Jesus just sits there and
pays attention. And if the first section did not stop you dead in your tracks,
well surely that will. The image of Jesus watching as the offering plate passes
us by… because you might fool your neighbor into thinking you gave online, but
you don’t fool Jesus. In fact you might even fool yourself into thinking you
are giving enough away, but you don’t fool Jesus.
So Jesus sits there and
watches, as if this is where he is going to be able to discern something and
learn something about who we are as people. And the very people Jesus has just
talked about are making quite a show putting their offerings in.
And then the widow comes in….
And we know exactly what she does… she puts in two coins, which is all she has.
And Jesus makes a big deal of her. And we have made a big deal of her, because
we love to make saints out of folks doing Gospel work so it seems unattainable
to us.
And we want to as well… but
have you ever actually thought about her? A widow who only has 2 coins to her
name, that is not a sign of prosperity certainly, but more than that it’s a
judgement on the church… remember one of our central roles is to care for
orphans and widows, it’s in the Bible all the way from Exodus on. And obviously
if this widow is down to only 2 coins, well then we the church has not been
doing there job. The church is corrupt, this isn’t news look at Jesus tearing
the temple down. They are not using their funds to do what the Gospel calls
forth.
And if we are not doing our
job, well I personally think the widow gets a pass. Keep the coins to take care
of yourself, to feed yourself, to pay your rent, to buy a coat… but yet she
gives, she gives to the very institution that is failing her.
We don’t get a pass thought,
if the institution is failing the world around us, we don’t get to not give, we
give so that the institution can do more and we then demand the institution do
better.
And when you see the widow as
a testimony of one who gives because she believes they can do more and be
better even when it’s failing her, well if that does not move you nothing
will.
To give to an institution that
you are not certain you believe in, that you have hope in, that you have faith
in…. But yet you have faith and hope in what they could be and become and you
certainly understand that for the institution to become what they need to
become, you have to put your all in.
Maybe we need to hear that
again, because I think that is the Widow’s lesson: To give to an institution
that you are not certain you believe in, that you have hope in, that you have
faith in…. But yet you have faith and hope in what they could be and you
certainly understand that for the institution to become what they need to
become, you have to put your all in.
That is quite a lesson… and I
think the lesson goes way beyond us, I think it was the exact lesson that Jesus
needed that day. I think this is the exact image that he carries to the
Cross, which by the way is where he goes in 3 days according to the
Gospel of Mark. And maybe this widow reminds him that sometimes when what you
see seems hopeless and uncertain and it’s not exactly what you want, you don’t
withdraw or hold out, you give even more: you give all and then you demand
better.
And maybe this widow learned
from another widow, it was the first passage Layla read, our Old Testament
lesson for today, and it was certainly a story that would have been read over
and over in the temple. It’s another Scripture that sticks out because it
begins in a one of these is not like the other way. It’s Elijah.
And unlike the first text
where we are used to the Hallmark good sayings of Jesus and not the step on
your toes ones, with Elijah we go in wearing a crash helmet because we are
about to get hit. Elijah is the perfect prophet for today. He is a crusty salty
messenger and he says it like he sees it and he aims to hit you where it hurts.
He is given to doom and gloom, to despair, drama and depression. He is a
prophet for today… he is blasting folks, lots of woes and wraths.
And then he gets to this
widow, this widow who when you read her story you learn that she is out
gathering sticks so she can cook her and her son a final meal and then they are
going to die because they have nothing left… this is about as doom and gloom
and depressing and dramatic as you can get. And here Elijah is all, “Don’t be
afraid. In fact actually will you make me a cake because I am quite hungry
myself.”
And the widow tries to argue,
she is quite torn… this is the flour she was saving to make her and her son a
final meal and yet the religious rule is to care for and welcome the stranger.
And hospitality and religious mandate win and she makes Elijah a cake.
And after that her jar of
flour and her jug of oil never were empty again.
The widow in 1 Kings learned
that when she gave miracles happened. I think the widow in Mark heard the story
and learned the same lesson, when I give miracles happen, when I give the
church might finally be the church. And Jesus saw this and it might have been
the exact affirmation he needed, when I give miracles happen.
It’s a truth I really
believe.
In Baton Rouge there are
pretty biblical and sometimes they had issues with me. They particularly did
not care for my imagined interpretation of the story of the boy with the loaves
and the fishes. You see I personally believe that when the young boy comes
forward with his lunch, it makes every other adult who has been selfishly
hiding there food finally pull it out and they then realize that there is
actually way more than enough to go around.
I preached that and the WMU
president came to my office. She said they wanted to see me at Round Table the
following day, I did not know what that was, I imagined a scene like Game of
Thrones, but it’s actually just a bunch of Southern Ladies who lunch and over
lunch talk about church. I went to round table and we had a discussion of my
interpretation of that passage and finally one of the women said, “Pastor can’t
you just believe in a miracle?” Although the way she said it miracle had like 5
syllables too many.
I thought for a minute and
said, “Actually I think this is a miracle. You know human nature as well as I
do… just think about the school we partner with and how limited their resources
are and then look around at all the Southern homes that surround our church…. I
think it would have actually been a lot easier for God to create something from
nothing than to get us to share and to see with abundance.”
The group got quiet and then
one of the women piped up, “Yep, he’s right.”
I think human nature is to
live the rules of Everest: your only responsibility in this world is to save
yourself not to try and save others.
And I think our calling is to
find a better nature and to live according to the Gospel: your only
responsibility is to live with your arms wide open, your hands wide open, your
heart wide open. Give and give until it hurts.
Because it’s when you give
until it hurts that suddenly your jar and jug never empty, suddenly Jesus
notices you, suddenly resurrection happens.
When you give we might finally
be able to become the institution that we all so desperately want to be, a
church community that can bring about the very Kingdom of God and in doing so
to finally become a church worthy of receiving both the widow’s mite and the
Resurrection.
Amen and Amen.
*artwork: Integration, Painting by Autumn Skye Morrison, autumnskyeart.com
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