Giving Everything, Gaining What?
Pastor Mathew Magera – 11/8/15 – Sermon 125
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
So, Jesus is talking with
his disciples and he is talking with them about the chief priests and warning
them about how they act. Flowing robes, long elaborate prayers, high places,
they like to be put on a pedestal and be seen for the works they do. But, the
story suddenly changes as we see Jesus sitting nearby where the offerings are placed.
We watch as he notices the rich putting in their offerings but then he sees a
poor widow offer only two copper coins. He takes this observation as an
opportunity to compare the rich and prominent to this poor and outcast widow.
But, when we hear this story, it makes us a bit uncomfortable. Something just
doesn’t jive with us as we hear it, or at least when I hear it. I want to bring
those discomforts forward so you can see what I’m talking about. There are
three things about this story that I find uncomfortable and if you are following
along in your Bibles, you can go right with me.
Discomfort #1:
Jesus Is Watching
The first discomfort I find
within this story is what Jesus is doing. Jesus is watching. In verse 41 we
read, “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and
watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.” Jesus is watching.
I don’t know about you but I find this a bit uncomfortable. What’s so wrong
with Jesus watching? Well, let’s think about it in this way. I offered this
example at our bread crumbs study last Sunday and I want you to think about it
with me right now. Imagine in just a little bit as we are getting ready for the
offering. Imagine I walk right up to you like this as the offering plate is being
passed your way and I’m standing right next to you. Maybe I put my hand on your
shoulder as I watch you write out a check or count out bills. Would that not
feel a little uncomfortable for you? Money matters are a very private thing
within a family and to have anyone in the congregation watch as you are getting
your offering out would probably make you a bit uncomfortable. Jesus is
watching the people put their money into the treasury. He is watching people as
they count out their offering and place it into the receptacle. Jesus is
watching. I’m not sure if they noticed him watching or how close he was but
Jesus could have been seen as invading on someone’s personal privacy. It makes
us uncomfortable when someone is in our business. Jesus is watching.
Discomfort #2:
The Woman Puts In Everything
The second discomfort in
this story is the actions of the woman. Continuing in verse 41, “Many rich
people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came in and put in two very small
copper coins, worth only a few cents.” Jumping down to the end there, Jesus
mentions to his disciples that she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all
she had to live on.” She put in everything. Everything! And now Jesus is making
an example of her. Everything! Why would she do that? What good is she going to
be if she puts everything into the treasury? What good is she going to be when
she goes home? And what kind of example is she trying to give to us? To give in
everything as well? This is where it becomes uncomfortable for us. What if we
put in an offering that equaled out to everything we had. House keys, car keys,
our savings, retirement funds, bank accounts? What happens to us if we put in
everything? What good would we be in the world if we did that? And this woman
is seen to be an example? Well, forget that, I’m not putting in everything. I’d
die. I wouldn’t be able to buy food. I wouldn’t have a house to sleep in. I’m
not putting in everything. It was all she had to live on and it makes us
uncomfortable because we feel like her actions are modeling what we should also
do and we don’t want to do it. There’s no logical sense on why we should have
to give up everything. She puts in everything.
Discomfort #3:
Unknown Ending
The third discomfort in this
story is the ending. I mean, the lack of an ending. What happens to this woman?
The chapter ends right there. How exactly do we feel after this Gospel reading?
We feel like we’re left on a cliff. Where is the end of the story, what happens
to her? Does she live? Does she die? Does she see a miracle? Does someone show
pity on her? If you were to write the ending of that story, how would it go?
Perhaps if there were a verse 45, it might say “the woman, having given all to
the treasury went home and died peacefully.” Well, it’s not a good ending but
at least it is an ending. Perhaps verse 45 might say, “Upon leaving the temple,
Jesus approached the woman and laid his hands on her and blessed her. He said
to her, “Woman, you have been faithful with a few things. Go with God and receive
the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Okay, we may not understand what Jesus
means but it is at least an ending. Perhaps verse 45 might say, “The woman returned
home and upon hearing she had given everything, was taken in by her husband’s
brother and was made his wife.” This gives a happy ending. Strange, but this
would’ve been a plausible outcome of the story and she would have received something
in the end and we wouldn’t feel left on a cliff. At least if there were an
ending to the story we would feel better or at least different about how she
gave everything to the temple treasury. If she died, we may have more reason to
reject this story. If Jesus performed a miracle for her, we might have another
example to trust in God’s ability to provide for us. At least there would be an
ending, but there isn’t. There is no ending. Her future remains unknown.
So, these things cause us
great discomfort because we are not sure how they are telling us to live. But,
within this story we can also take great comfort in what Jesus is doing if we
think about these discomforts slightly different. So, with that, let’s take a
look at three comforts in this story.
Comfort #1: Jesus
Is Watching
The first comfort in this
story is that Jesus is watching. What? Wait a minute. I thought that was a
discomfort. Well, yes. But, no. If we believe Jesus is watching us in our
uncomfortable moments, that means Jesus is watching us not only when it comes
to our money, but Jesus is watching us in our sickness. Jesus is watching us in
our joy. Jesus is watching us in our sorrow. Jesus is with us during times when
we feel like we are giving it all away. Jesus is with us during times we feel
like giving up. Jesus is with us when we have to make those tough decisions. I
don’t know about you, but I could certainly use Jesus’ point of view when it
comes to some of the things I have to face each day. When I go out on a tough
visit and I have no idea what to say to someone, I am glad Jesus is there with
me because he often takes words and molds them and speaks them. It’s as if he
takes hold of my face and makes everything work and a sentence comes out. I’ll
be on my way home after that visit and be like, I said what? How on earth did I
come up with that? It wasn’t me, it was Jesus. Jesus is with us and watching
over us in the uncomfortable situations but we can take refuge in him knowing
that he is watching over us because he loves us. He doesn’t watch over us as a
judge, but as a guide and teacher. Jesus is watching.
Comfort #2: Jesus
Put In Everything
The second comfort in the
story is that Jesus put in everything. Huh? What did Jesus put in? He didn’t
put anything in the treasury. No, he didn’t. He didn’t put anything in the
treasury but he did put everything into something else. Each of us. You see,
this woman put her two coins into the temple treasury. If you look on ahead
into chapter 13, not more than 2 verses after we hear Jesus talking about this
widow does he say, “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will
be thrown down.” Jesus is predicting the destruction of the temple. The very
temple the woman just gave her life for. She gave everything into that treasury
toward something that had about 40 years left in it before it would be thrown
to the ground. She was putting everything she had into something that was going
to die. Well, Jesus does the same thing. Not in our story, but his purpose in
life was to be the offering. One man, just a man, but also God’s son, giving
himself for something that is destined to die, each one of us. Jesus gave his
life for something that was going to die. It may not seem like a lot to have
one man die on a cross but there was something more happening. Jesus wasn’t
just a simple man. Those coins the widow put in the treasury were not mere
coins, they were her life. They represented all she had to live on. That man on
the cross, wasn’t just a mere man, but it was all of God’s love, crucified on a
cross to help that which was destined to die in order to give it new life. And
while the woman’s coins contributed to something that eventually did fall,
Jesus’ life given for us paid the price to raise us up so that we would never
die. The woman only put in two coins but we can take comfort in knowing that
whatever we give, Jesus gave everything for us. She could not save the Temple
but Jesus could save us. Jesus put in everything.
Comfort #3: Faith
Ends the Story
The third comfort in this
story is that faith is the ending of the story. What happens to the woman? What
happens to us? We don’t know the ending of the story, but instead we know the
promise. The promise is that Christ died for us. The promise is life where
there should be death. We look at the woman who gave everything and without the
ending of the story we assume she dies. She has nothing left, after all. So, of
course, she must die. It is the only logical explanation. Well, Jesus defies
logic. Faith defies logic. When we have faith in Christ, the ending of the
story can change. When we have faith in Christ, where there is most certainly
death we are guaranteed life. Where there is someone giving everything they
have, there is Christ giving us everything we need. Where there is nothing,
Jesus gives us something. Faith is the ending of this story. Is it saying that
we should give all that we have to live on? I don’t think it is saying for us
to put our house keys and car keys into the offering plate today. I think we
would be better disciples of Christ if we had those things. What I think this
story is trying to tell us is that when we do give our all. When give all our
energy. When we have no money. When we don’t know when we are going to feel
better. When we don’t know where our next meal will come from. When we don’t
know if that one relationship will ever heal. When we feel like we are giving
up everything, faith ends that story. Logic looks at us and says this is
impossible. You’re giving everything but you’re going to gain nothing. But,
faith looks at that and says, you gave all you had but take heart because Christ
gave everything for you too and he raises you up to new life and through faith
you can take courage day after day after day. Even if things don’t get better
right away or at all, Jesus gave it all for you and you have new life. Jesus is
watching you as you give your all and he knows your situation. He knows you and
he loves you.
* * *
So, sometimes our greatest
discomforts can also become our greatest comforts. When we look at a story in
the Bible and we feel there is no hope, we’re not looking at Jesus. When we
look at a story in the Bible and we can see the presence of Jesus, that is when
we look on it with faith.
I want to try to tie
together these discomforts and comforts with a story I read a week or so ago.
It is a story shared by Jewish Rabbis. There is a man who wants to see a vision
of hell so an angel of God meets him and takes him on a journey. They appear in
a great banquet hall of a mansion. There before him is a great table with heaps
of delicious hot food waiting. He doesn’t feel this is the greatest vision of
hell but he waits to see what will happen. The dinner guests come in and they
take their seats at a seat specifically meant for them and when it comes time
to eat, they realize they have no elbows and they are unable to get the food
into their mouths. All that delicious food and they can’t eat it. “Okay,” the
man says, “this certainly is hell. But, can I see a vision of heaven?” So, the
angel takes him to another banquet room. It looks exactly the same. Delicious
food, a banquet hall in a mansion, name plates at each place. The man is
confused. “Just watch,” said the angel. The dinner guests came in and sat down.
The man figured it out, “Of course, in hell you have no elbows,” he said. “Keep
watching,” the angel told him. The guests picked up their silverware. They had
no elbows either. Now the man was really confused, “this looks just like hell,
what’s going on here?” “Keep watching,” the angel said. And as he watched, each
of the dinner guests picked up food with their forks and gently fed the guest
sitting directly across from them. They didn’t even notice they had no elbows.[1]
You see, we can look at this
story of the widow in two ways. We can look at it in great discomfort seeing
that she gave up everything and what a bad idea it is. Or we can look at it
with great comfort knowing that even when we have nothing, we know that Christ
feeds and provides us with everything that we need. You see, in the kingdom of
God, we give for one another. In the kingdom of God, we can give up our car
keys and our house keys and our money to those who need it because we have the
faith that in our time of need, someone else would have also given up something
for us. The money, the possessions we have is not our own but they are gifts
that we use to sustain those who do not have. We just need the faith to know
that when we are without that God will provide someone with a fork full of
food, ready to feed us. It’s about giving and having the faith that we will be
provided for. And we are. We are provided for. Christ provides everything we
need and through the body of Christ that is everyone around us, we are fed with
the richness of the Kingdom of God, holding each other up trusting in each
other and placing our faith in Jesus Christ who gave it all for us. To God be
the glory, now and always. Amen.
[1] Swanson,
Richard W. “Provoking the Gospel of Mark,” Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2005.
Pg. 238.