Sermon for Pentecost XXIV Year B 2015 All In When Less is More

Transcription

1 Sermon for Pentecost XXIV Year B 2015 All In When Less is More The other day I heard about something amazing. It happened at Maplewood High School in Nashville, Tennessee. Anybody know what happened there? Two English teachers convinced 42 high school freshman students to take part in a 24-hour digital cleanse. In other words they had pledged to turn off their cell phones for an entire day. Their pledge acknowledged that many teenagers have become addicted to technology and social media and spend too much time communicating through a screen or to a screen instead of face-to-face with each other and their families. So single file, with their phones turned off and placed in protective identifying plastic bags, the students lined up to turn in their cell phones for one day. Some even kissed their phone and say good-bye baby before placing it in the box. One student said How are we going to live? I need my phone? By the way, the teachers also took the pledge and they too unplugged from social media and technology for 24 hours. Every student said they felt disoriented especially in the beginning. They experienced phantom vibrations throughout the day, but most especially as they anticipated the return of their phone the next morning. However, two thirds (or most) of the students said that unplugging was easier than they thought it would be and a few even decided to continue to unplug for another day. Many of the students reported that they played outside for the first time in years they even spent time playing board games with their families for the first time in years. To be sure they were all very happy to get their phones back and turn them on to see and read all the s and photos that were sent while they were unplugged. But they all learned that sometimes less is more. Less time with their tech devices and social media gave them more time to live. So I wonder... did the widow in today s gospel kiss her coins good-bye? Did she say to herself how am I going to live? as she placed those coins in the treasury? And, right about now, you may be taking a sigh of relief that our stewardship campaign concluded two Sundays ago? Although, you must admit, today s lectionary offers up a gospel text that appears perfect for a sermon on giving. But I am grateful that we are not yet in our stewardship emphasis season, so we might take a closer, deeper look at this text. It gives us the opportunity to let this text teach us the difference between religion and faith. 1

2 It is unfortunate, really, that the story of the poor widow who puts two small copper coins together worth a mere penny into the temple treasury has so often been retold as a prime example for a stewardship campaign. After all, doesn t Jesus, call her action to the attention of his disciples, telling 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. So let s take a closer look together at the text in your bulletin. Please note that Jesus does not encourage the poor widow to give, but rather he observes her faithful and moral action and points out its significance to his disciples. Neither Mark nor Jesus intends for us to interpret the poor widow as a model of charity. To do so, takes the story out of its context both in the scope of today s gospel passage and out of the trajectory of the entire gospel of Mark. So first we need to look at Jesus teaching against the scribes which I guess could be me after all I wear long robes and sit at the first seat so I need to hear Jesus prophetic words to religious leaders. I hope, though, that I am not among those who devour widow s houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers but we must admit that sometimes the greater church has certainly been guilty of these things and more. Jesus is accusing and warning those who use religion as a way to take advantage of the poor and desperate. But we need also to go further and see this widow s story in the wider, many layered contexts of Mark s entire gospel. Because widows in the ancient Israelite world were socially marginalized having neither father nor husband nor perhaps a son to provide for and protect them their vulnerability in the face of those with power, usually men with power, was guarded in scripture (just take a look at the psalm for today). Repetitions of pleas for Israel to show mercy and to match God s mercy abound in the prophets and in the psalms. However, such pleas also betray the continuing human failure to take up the cause of the widow, the orphan, the oppressed... In the scriptures, to be a widow was to be poor, and to be poor was to be defenseless. In the story of the poor widow who gives all, Jesus calls for our attention not to her ordinary plight, but to her extraordinary action. Certainly the poor widow who gives all her whole means of living presents a striking contrast to the scribes who take all, that is those who devour widows houses, that is, their means of living. 2

3 Those who wear showy robes, solicit salutations in the marketplace, and claim the best seats in the synagogue are quite opposite to the unobtrusive widow whom only Jesus notices. Here s something really mind-blowing: The poor widow is unlike the self-centered scribes. Instead, she is like Jesus one who gives all the One who pours out himself even unto death. Now the last words of her story could be translated literally from the Greek as but she from her need cast in all of whatever she had, her whole life You have to imagine that the woman has placed her entire self body, mind and soul into the hands of God but in so doing she has also cast herself into the hands of the greedy scribes! The one is all about religion and the other is all about faith. I believe Mark (and Jesus) want us to consider that this poor widow has been victimized by the greedy scribes and by the authority of traditional religious teaching. Once again, she is like Jesus, who teaches with authority and not as the scribes, and yet is victimized by those who hold authority in the temple and in the broader religious tradition. If blaming the victim is inappropriate in the case of Jesus as he moves toward his death, it is inappropriate in the case of the poor widow who gives her whole life. Now let s take a look at the overall context of Jesus and the temple, and the story of the widow. Jesus first action in the temple is the driving out of the buyers and sellers. His final action in the temple is his observation and reaction to the poor widow s action an allusion to Jesus own end in the gift of his whole life. And Mark includes this story of the poor widow as the last scene in Jesus public ministry. From here all that remains in Mark s telling is his prophecy about the temple s destruction and the passion narrative. So this widow offers a glimpse into what Jesus is about. He is on the way to giving the whole of his life for something that is corrupt and condemned all of humanity, the whole world. Jesus calls the disciples, the church, to himself and points out this poor widow and her manner of giving. Jesus is moved by her strong faith and self-giving service. Watching her with Jesus this morning, we hear once again the call of Christ for us the church, his body on earth, to give the whole of our life for the sake of those who do not deserve the gift, but who are very much in need of it. 3

4 Being Christian, being church, is a way of life; it s being part of God s story. To be Christian is to appreciate what God has done for us through Jesus of Nazareth. Being Christian doesn t mean following a set of rules or principles that would be religion so this story of the widow is not a prescription for giving but a description of Christ-like living this would be faith. Yet the gospel has no meaning unless we embody it in our lives. So perhaps though you ask: "What's the point of my small acts of faithfulness? Why bother? Even if I liquidate all my assets and give them to the poor, I might provide enough for one small soup kitchen to feed one hundred homeless for a week. But if I don't liquidate my assets, do I fail to demonstrate my total trust in the provision of God? Or maybe you find yourself thinking along these lines: "I sit in the food court in the mall and watch as bag after bag of trash (containing aluminum cans and plastic bottles) are loaded up and then taken to landfills; and I know that this scene is repeated daily in thousands of venues around the world. Why do I bother recycling my two six-packs per week of diet cola? What is the meaning of my measly individual action? How can the faithfulness of the widow be sustained in me?" These are important questions. But we must remember that we do not do these things alone. As the church, we need to call everyone to care for the orphan, the widow, the resident alien, the poor, and even the prisoner and, yes, even those who abuse us with justice tempered with mercy. The church is called to Healing and reconciling and binding up wounds Ministering to the needs of the sick, the lonely, the powerless and the poor Engaging in the struggle to free people from sin, fear, oppression, hunger, and injustice giving itself and its resources in service to those who suffer physically, mentally, spiritually sharing with Christ in the establishing his just, peaceable and loving rule in the world And the church locally and globally is called to undertake this mission with all that it has, even at the risk of losing its life. 4

5 Many onlookers disregarded the poor widow s offering, but Jesus notices and calls his disciples then and now to him. He wants them to see the faith behind her offering. Hers is a costly discipleship. Jesus lifts her up as an example of bold faith. The poor widow is not a mere model for the charitable; she is a model of the Christ. Now beloved church, how will we embody faith, hope and love with our whole lives, our whole self? Today when we sit opposite the cross and the table where we receive Christ s very self are we not facing the treasury of our faith? What do you see? A loser who gave everything up for nothing? Or the Savior who gave and continues to give all that he has that we might have life and life abundantly? So I have some pennies ready for you here. As you come forward to receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation, I invite you to take two coins and place them in the bowl of water As you imitate the actions of the widow, ask God to use all of you so that his gift of abundant life can live in you. 5