Year B
Mark 12:38-44
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
Give It All to God
In the first two centuries of the Church’s life before the Church moved out of the temple and into basilicas, archeologists and historians have learned that Christians sometimes met in the homes of widows. They may have been widows of men who had fallen out of favor with the successive tyrannies of the Roman Empire or died in battle, or they may have been widows of Christian martyrs, or women who had been child brides to men much older than themselves, who had now died. If they did not marry soon the law provided civil penalties. But remarriage meant that their dowries and inheritances would soon enrich some other, usually pagan, gentleman. Mark in his gospel warns, “Beware of those who devour widow’s houses,” leaving them with nothing.
Poor widows seemed to have been quite numerous in the biblical world, because of the failing of its social system and because opportunities for women to achieve financial independence were scarce. When all went well, widows would have children to provide for them after their husbands were gone. But of course things often did not go well, and since the beginning of time because there has always been widows, prophets and preachers have had to address this situation. As Christian missionaries, when Peter and Paul would arrive in Rome for a visit, they would oftentimes stay in the homes of the Christian widows.
These houses became meeting places for the new church to worship. They were considered safe houses for the illegal Christian revolutionary movement. Every generation has had godly women and men who struggle to trust God and do what is right in this world. In our Old Testament text today we read of the widow woman of Zarephath, in the days of the prophet Elijah. And in today’s gospel, Jesus urges our attention to one such poor widow during his day. What is remarkable about the two lessons chosen for today is that they do not present these widows as “social problems” but as strong figures who act in ways that we might follow as an example. These saintly widows are not so much people who need our help, but people whose help we need, if we are to be the saints we are called to be.
In his first sermon at Nazareth, Jesus outraged his neighbors by preaching that although there were many widows in Israel at the time of the famine, Elijah the prophet was sent to none of them, but to an alien woman of a despised race; a woman that had gained God’s special attention. You may remember that after that sermon, Jesus’ neighbors tried throw him off a cliff. Elijah made his pilgrimage to the alien town on the Philistine coast during a culture war. The wealthy people there worshiped wealth and Baal was their god. Elijah had asked the God of Israel to stop the rain because of their turning away from the one true God. Three and a half years went by and no rain! God then sent Elijah to the alien widow, the Palestinian woman, to be cared for, as even Elijah was thirsty and hungry!
The woman was nearly destitute. She could see no earthly way of keeping her family alive. Resigned to her fate, she was about to fix a last meal when Elijah was led to her. Despite her desperate situation, she was eager to praise the Lord through what service she could offer. Her attitude made her open to help Elijah. When she told the man of God of her own need, the Lord prompted a response: make this one act of faith. Set aside a portion of what you have for the Lord’s servant and God will see to it that your resources will not fail you. So she gave to Elijah a cake from what she baked. This was her act of faithful praise. And according to the promise of God, the prophet was empowered to make the flour and the oil hold out until the famine ended. The widow’s great contribution was to risk all she had in sharing with a stranger and in trusting the word of God.
Jesus pointed to another widow closer to home: the one he noticed in the court of the women in the Jerusalem Temple. Every year she shows up at Stewardship time. Often called the story of the widow’s mite, m i t e, today’s gospel teaches us the difference between a contribution and a commitment, much like in the story of the widow of Zerephath. Mark’s story is truly a story of the widows might, m i g h t. For in it, the widow, with no money, no family, no support and no hope, proves herself to be mighty, mighty enough to turn the heads and perhaps even the hearts of those in the temple courtyard. Certainly she has earned a reputation through the centuries as a good example of sacrificial giving.
Women in the gospel of Mark always seem to understand the will of God and indeed, at the end of his gospel, the entire future of the church depends on whether women will be bold enough to proclaim what they have seen at the empty tomb and whether others will be able to accept their proclamation. The fact is, there is a pattern of stories in Mark in which nameless saints appear on the scene, do or say something revealing the true will of God, and then they are gone. The woman in the gospel today, stands in the company with two other anonymous women. The first had a hemorrhage, and touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak to get well. The other anointed Jesus for death by breaking open a costly bottle of perfume. Like them, this woman today comes out of the shadows for a moment and then disappears just as suddenly.
We don’t know much about her, yet she illustrates what Jesus had been saying all along: discipleship means giving one’s very life to God. Jesus had been trying to teach his opponents this very thing throughout this chapter of Mark’s gospel. All their questions to catch him he has disarmed. Across from him stood the temple treasury, the metal trumpet-shaped boxes into which temple taxes and offerings were dropped. These funds were used to purchase animals, grain and oil for the ritual sacrifices of the temple priest’s, sacrifices made on behalf of all the people. All faithful Jews were obligated to pay these taxes; certainly not any different from today. As Jesus watched, “many rich people put in large sums.” The sound of their coins going into the metal boxes attracted the much wanted attention. They gave for their own benefit more than for God’s.
But then a poor widow came and put in two copper coins which were worth a penny. She was the kind of person the world might ignore, because she had so little. Yet, she was the kind of person Jesus noticed, because she gave so much. Perhaps he saw in her something of what he was always trying to get his followers to see. She did not, could not, hold anything back from God and neither did Jesus. She gave away all she had; and within a few days of leaving the temple, Jesus himself would give everything away on a cross. “Look at her”, he said because her sacrifice is a picture of what you’re going to see God do in me. As Jesus knew, she knew it was all God’s to begin with. By giving it to God, she acknowledged that she was owned by God.
Her gift was the widow’s m I g h t, because when she put her money in the box, she put her life in the box. When God had the gifts, from the widow at Zerephath and the widow in the temple, God had the widows. Such is the difference between a contribution and a commitment. The widow’s gifts of everything they had points toward the end of the week. It was Christ’s commitment as our great high priest to give us everything he had when we ourselves have nothing: to die for us while we are yet sinners; to come to us and claim us for his own in our baptism. This is the commitment we made in baptism when we promised to live as Christ’s own. It is the commitment we make with each other, “to live among God’s faithful saints, to hear his word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
It is the commitment to which Christ continually calls and recalls us, commitment not just of time, talent, and treasure, but commitment of everything, our very lives. For the good news is that God will take what we have and what we are—when we give it to God-and will make of it and of us far more than we could ever imagine. God will use the strength of our commitment, the power of our passion, the gift of our self that we give in faith and trust, to change the world around us. This is what Saints do. They all look to Christ, and in him they have found their needs supplied and their yearnings fulfilled. In him, their lives bear witness to a hope rooted in the gospel. In him, they can become the kind of people who give their lives for others. May we give everything…to receive everything!