November 8, 2009
The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost
Mark 12:38-44
Holy Trinity Parish, Decatur, Georgia
The Very Reverend William Thomas Deneke, rector
In today’s gospel, a poor widow who contributed a couple of coins, which were all she had to live on, is said to have been a more faithful steward than those who gave large sums but with little sacrifice.
The faithfulness of the woman was not guaranteed by her status as a widow or by her poverty. Those attributes simply predisposed her to a hard life. She could have become bitter and cynical. But in her suffering, she had learned where to place her hope. She had discovered what was ultimately trustworthy. So, perhaps out of thanksgiving or love of God or a desire to share her faith, she gave all she had.
The poor widow’s stewardship response is contrasted with that of those who gave out of their wealth without any sacrifice. Although they gave more money, their giving was less faithful than was the poor widow’s.
It is important to remember that we may hear the story quite differently from Jesus’ original audience. We may wonder at the wisdom of the poor widow in giving away every cent she had. In this part of the story there is a sub plot.
According to Jewish law the widow should have been afforded some security. She should not have been in the position of having no more than a penny. In the account Jesus not only points out the hypocrisy of the religious hierarchy, but also indicts them for neglecting to care for widows. The story’s intent is not to say that every penny should be given to the church but to hold up the injustice of a corrupt system and show how such corruption was revealed in the very ones who should have known better. The poor widow, who was easily dismissed, modeled the devotion that should have been found in community leaders.
None of this is surprising to anyone who has heard the good news of Christ. The kingdom he proclaimed always turned things upside down. The reading reminds us that things are not always as they seem. Irony and paradox commonly frame truth.
This weekend, the Presiding Bishop of our Church addressed Diocesan Council and presided and preached at the Council Eucharist. Bishop Katherine said the call of the Church now is mission, mission, mission.
I was struck by her description of the Church as an organization that exists to serve others. The Church belongs to God, not us. It’s important to remember that. We are not so much drawn into this faith community to be served, but through the power of the Holy Spirit to learn how to share and serve in the name of Christ. That is the DNA of ministry. What we have at the heart of our community is mission. The mission given us in our baptismal covenant.
It is wondrous to see how God is leading the Episcopal Church into mission. The various testimonies at Council surely revealed this. Through the grace of God we are being enabled to share our gifts and open our hearts and grow in faith. God continues to raise up our church as a blessing to many, and to lead us into deeper faith and mission.
That was so evident at Diocesan Council as we heard, for example, of two new congregations. One is the parish of Christ the King in Lilburn, an international community representing nationalities from around the world. The other is the Church of the Common Ground, which serves the homeless in downtown Atlanta. There were stories and more stories that told of the difference Episcopalians are making around the world in our ministries of compassion.
At Holy Trinity we know of many of these ministries first hand as we seek to bring clean water to Haitians without it, home improvements and educational opportunities to poor Hondurans, home rebuilding to people in New Orleans and flood relief to people in our own area. We reach out in these ways and others, such as supporting one another in our Christian formation and being with one another in our joys and sorrows, because our DNA is ministry and we are a people in mission.
When we seriously seek to live into our baptism and mission, our stewardship is less likely to reflect that of the pious folks described in the gospel and more likely to resemble that of the poor widow. And we are more likely to place our hope in God rather than in things such as getting ahead or in having what we want or in just surviving. We come to know as we mature in Christ that church is about serving others and blessing God.
In the gospel today all this activity of the Spirit is witnessed in a poor widow who gave all she had to live on. She is a metaphor for faithful sharing. She is both an inspiration and a challenge.
The question the reading raises for us to ponder is how do we give out of the faith with which we are blessed? Or, in other words, how do we give faithfully rather than just offer what is left over?
Two quotes from two of the saints of our time speak to this: The first is from Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and the second is from the English author, C.S. Lewis.
Mother Teresa once said, “If you give what you do not need, it isn’t giving.”
And in a similar vein, C. S. Lewis wrote: “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.”
These two people of faith lived and served with openness to the Holy Spirit. They were not perfect; they struggled with their faith. But in Mother Teresa and C.S. Lewis, can be seen two people who through grace came to the place of the poor widow.
We can go there, too. And we do so whenever we open ourselves to be transformed by the grace of God. Whenever we come to know the joy of serving God and our neighbor. And whenever we understand that life is about ministry and mission.
It is through this baptismal path that we come to place our hope in God. In this way we stand with the poor widow, knowing where our true salvation lies and that God’s grace is abundant enough to share. In fact, it is in sharing that we receive the best gifts. Another thing the kingdom of God turns upside down.
For many of us, living this way involves some struggle. We have to die to something. Maybe even to our desire to find an alternative to God. The baptismal life is about dying to just these sorts of things. Turning away from whatever draws us from the love of God.
But while entering the tomb with Jesus can be hard to undertake, the promise is that we will find new life. We will be transformed and made free to serve in the power of the Spirit. We will be free to love, to give from our faith and not from what is left over.
I doubt that we will see the poor widow on many billboards or in many commercials. But she points the way to abundant life, and she reminds us that within all of us there is a call to live more fully into Christ our Savior who said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
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