"If you don't put your two cents in, how can you get change?

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Joella Susan Atkinson
5 years ago
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1 English Mark 12:38-44 Prep for worship: on ppt On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, making up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offence, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. ~Annie Dillard, from Teaching a Stone to Talk 38As 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, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. 41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 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. 44 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. "If you don't put your two cents in, how can you get change? It seems strangely quiet when I turn on the news after months of a constant election rhetoric and posturing its over. I need to confess, a few months ago, I began tuning it all out it seems like the tone of the debates and conversations became emotionally polemic. Both sides contributed to this dynamic. My Grandfather is 98 and he told me that he just kept his hearing aids turned off. Its disrespectful to all of us to have people make so many false accusations and claims. Even as I prepared myself to vote just getting through the propositions felt like navigating a minefield. They were so tricky the way they were worded saying one thing and meaning the opposite. By now, just about all fo the races have been counted and called so we know the results, and more importantly we see the work that lies ahead of us building bridges of peace and truth within our communities. As I prepared for todays sermon it seems that today s Gospel lectionary text is exactly what we are needing God s word to us today. This passage in the 12th chapter of Mark s Gospel is part of Jesus speaking the truth with some tough love for the Scribes. This would be a pretty radical point of view. The scribes were part of the religious upper class. They were educated in the Torah and its 1

2 interpretations. They loved God, regularly attended Temple, went to the good schools, lived in good neighborhoods, were members in Rotary. Its edgy what Jesus is saying We need to note that he doesn t condemn them as a whole group of people. (earlier in the chapter, in fact, Jesus applauds the insight and faithfulness of a particular scribe). However in this slice of the text, the Scribes do not get a good review. Jesus is telling it like it is...look out when a scribe drives up to the valet in their Beemer, all good looking in their Gucci suits, getting the prime table at Spago s, paparazzi snapping photos look out! says Jesus. Because they are not what they seem. Those scribes They walk away back wards as Kierkegaard would say oh, its very clear when a person turns their back to us and walks away, its so easy to tell what is happening. But what is trickier to detect is when a person discovers that they can keep their face toward us as they slowly back away from us all the will giving us assurances of their support and compassion towards us I m here for you! They ll say, but all the while they are inching away they are rich in good intentions, but poor in action. Look Out! Says Jesus, those scribes are walking backwards away from the widows all the while stealing from them, and devouring their houses Widows, in Jesus day, had no social or economic standing women weren t allowed to inherit property, so when their husband died, the scribes where often the logical choice to be the ones to manage the business affairs for the widows. The scribes had these respectable reputations, but in fact, it was commonly rumored that they were prone to skim off income from the properties that they managed devouring widow s houses. This embezzlement was particularly unjust because it was the scribes who were charged with the task of protecting the widows and orphans in Jewish society. They were supposed to be protecting and providing for the widows and in fact it was common practice for the scribes to be financially abusing them. So the scribes continued to grow richer and widows grew poorer and had no recourse, because, really who would believe them? But listen to what Jesus is saying, in the Temple, Look out for the Scribes says Jesus they give a good press release, but they are corrupt! So Jesus settles in at the Temple Treasury to watch the donations this was something of an open air event people would come into the Treasury, wait for their turn to approach the collection plate, and then place their offering in the plate. IT was counted and recorded right there on the spot and everyone s gift was broadcast to those in the vicinity. The line was long that day, many of the well to do had come to make their offerings. The announcer calls out the totals, each one more generous that the last. A widow gets in line, she stands out, her rough shawl contrasting with the Prada suits. Its finally her turn, She comes, poor as poor can be, with her two small coins. She hadn t always been poor she might have well been a woman of means maybe she recognized some of the people who had been in the line ahead of her, maybe they used to play in the Tuesday morning tennis 2

3 league at the club. But now, she was in a different situation, We don t know if the others in the room met her gaze, or just turned away and fiddled with their iphones. She puts in her two small coins On the Temple balance sheet, they d be worth next to nothing. They were the smallest coins minted in Palestine called the lepton (Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources) Worth about an 1/8 th of a cent. But, the folks tallying the offerings dutifully announce the quantity of her gift. Its shocking really, how little it is two little coins clinking in, but from the look of her, everyone there could tell that its likely that s all that she had to put in the plate. Stepping back, we wonder what was she thinking?! If she is really living that close to the edge, if this widow is being swindled out of house and home why would she give what little she has to the very institution that is aiding and abeting her swindlers? The contrast between her and the previous givers was shocking Jesus calls the disciples over maybe they were trying to make conversation with the heavy hitters Jesus wants to tell them about the value of her gift. Again, I wonder if the disciples thought Jesus was crazy here s a lady who has put next to nothing in the offering plate and he s all excited and there s the deep-pocket folks over there, the people who could fund a serious ministry, people of means and influence and reputation and Jesus isn t even giving them the time of day. But remember what kind of guy Jesus is Jesus is a mustard seed of faith, candle lit in the darkness, yeast leavening the dough, salt of the earth kind of guy. Jesus understands the possibility of something very small to leverage a very big change. He sees the 2 coins, and he knows that they are a donation that on paper amounts to next of nothing, but he also sees the giver. He sees how she is engaging the very system that is the source of her oppression. I don t think that she came into the Temple, all meek and timid, keeping her hoodie pulled down so that no one could get a good look at her face. I imagine that she stood tall as she approached the offering plate, looking into the eyes of those announcing her gift to God s work at the Temple. Her gift bearing witness to their injustice. Her presence an uncomfortable reminder of the rampant corruption. My experience with the good people of Calvary Faith Church reminded me a bit of this dynamic. Last Sunday, Calvary Faith, the Korean American church that worships here at Immanuel graciously invited me to participate in the ordination of their new Senior Pastor. It was an honor and privilege for me to share in that special moment in the life of their church. As an immigrant community they have struggled and worked hard to grow a church to the glory of God they have sought to care for the penniless widows and wealthy businessmen. We are grateful for their presence on our church campus and for their witness of God s love to the community. So I came to the evening service, imagining I d sit to the side and take it all in. An elder came up and greeted me and invited to take my seat in the row of chairs up on the platform, 3

4 along side the head of Western region of their presbytery KPC, the former Senior Pastor, the other preachers etc. Clearly, it was a seat of honor. Funny thing about the KPC denomination they only ordain men into church leadership. So it was me and the boys up there in the whole of the service, no other woman was at the pulpit. At first I felt very out of place (it was all taking place in Korean and it was a very formal service) and I wondered what I would say, I wondered about how to respond to the oppression of half the people in their congregation.and then, when I was invited to speak, I realized all I needed to do was offer God s blessing to them on this joyous day. My presence, my little cross necklace in this sea of coats and ties was witness enough to God s call to women and men into leadership. So it is with the widow in today s text. Her generous gift to God illustrated the best of what the foundation of the Temple was built on. As the two coins clinked into the plate they sounded a call for reform. A call for change. With her head held high, she was inviting her community to see her oppression for what it was, an abuse of God s law. No matter that 2 cents wouldn t buy half a second of campaign advertising on the local tv station. Jesus recognized that her giving of what little she had ignited the transformation. Jesus taught that if we have Faith as little as a mustard seed we can tell this mountain to get up and move over there. Its not that a seed is going to really do that but a seed planted in the ground will grow! And the mustard seed was like the kudzu of the ancient world it was an invasive shrub that took over one small seed transformed into a huge tree that birds would come and nest in. The impact of that tiny seed was exponentially larger than what it looked like at first glance. Or the grains of yeast that leaven the dough and cause a whole batch of bread to rise Or the fragile light of the candle that dispels the darkness Or the specks of salt that flavor the whole dish of food. Jesus is clear that the kingdom of God is at hand its not something far off or abstract the kingdom of God is not for later its not harp music in the golden clouds and rosy cheeked cherubs fluttering by in Mark, Jesus is concrete in his description that the Kingdom of God breaking into the here and now his very presence as the perfect expression of God s love, in the flesh! The kingdom of God is made present through transformation from the inside just like the widow giving her two coins to the very institution that was the source of her oppression and poverty, we too are called to stay engaged in the transformation of the world. Its fair game, in my opinion, that we take a look at the institutional church, our own PCUSA a friend of mine pastors a congregation in Oregon. A few months ago in Sunday morning worship in their suburban sanctuary, he opened it up for questions about Jesus. A 10 year old girl, seated in the pew with her family raised her hand. She made a sweeping gesture that included the congregation, the pipe organ, the choir and the pastor in the pulpit - do you think this was what Jesus had in mind? Well, probably not stained glass, soaring architecture, slate roof, mahogany pulpit not exactly how Jesus rolled in first century Palestine But, in terms of the heart of the church, I would say yes, I do believe this is what Jesus had in mind 4

5 as the church, we hold a sacred space where we come face to face with God and face to face with each other. Its through our church that we learn to we live into (and up to) God s call on our life Its our connection with the church that supports us as we serve God the rest of the week at our work and in our homes. Are there troubling aspects to the institution of the church? Well yes there are! Are there things that give us great concern within the institution of the PCUSA? Again, yes. AND how do we stay engaged and be a part of the transformation to which Jesus calls us? Reverse offering today. The ushers are going to be passing the plate, but instead of putting your offering in, go ahead and take out two coins. The invitation is that these coins will remind you of the ways in which God is calling you to be part of the transformation of the world. Maybe your work environment is relationally toxic maybe people are cruel and backstabbing is a common practice how can you your actions, your words, your presence be the change that God is calling for? Maybe you ve noticed, as Thanksgiving draws near, that there is a knot in your stomach when you think about the family getting together for the holidays? Maybe there are some nasty conflicts between people? Maybe you were the one that starting things maybe you ve been the victim maybe you are being recruited to join one side or the other How can you through your actions, your words, your presence how can you be the change that God is hoping for? Maybe your heart is broken by the election results maybe it seems like our state and our country are headed down a very dark path. Instead of moving out to the countryside, investing in razor wire and a stockpile of firearms how can you with your action, your words, your presence be a witness for the transformation of our world? Maybe you ve been oppressed or swindled or betrayed maybe by the very institution that you ve given the best years of your life to feel those 2 coins in your hand and know that God walks with you. And like the widow, breath in God s truth and see how it is that God invites you to be a part of the transformation of the kingdom of God Who can say what it is that God is calling each of us to do? But one thing that is certain is that God calls us to stay engaged. Closing our selves up in a remote compound, waiting for the end of this age and Jesus to roll into town on a white horse that s not going to work. The kingdom of God comes near in the love of God made flesh in person of Jesus. Remember that nick name for the church the body of Christ yes, dear church, we are the hands and feet, the eyes and ears of Jesus on this earth. Our response to God s call requires that we stay engaged, stay in conversation, stay in relationship. 5

6 Our very presence can initiate the transforming of our world. So take these coins and carry them this week - let them remind you of today s Gospel, let them speak to you of God s invitation to act, let them leaven your heart with God s transforming love. Carry them with you and be the change that God visions for the world. AMen 6

All Bets Are Off Mark 16: 1-8, by Marshall Zieman, preached Easter Sunday 2018 at PCOC

All Bets Are Off Mark 16: 1-8, by Marshall Zieman, preached Easter Sunday 2018 at PCOC All the hopes and expectations of Christians are realized in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, making