Sermon from Sunday

This sermon was preached on the text about the widow's mite.

You know this story - It is the story that is seems to be brought out in November just in time for a stewardship message - To guilt the congregation into giving

I think that is a mis read – not going to do it.
Instead I see Jesus with a teachable moment for his disciples and for us.
And he compares and contrast a widow – whose years of raising children and caring for her husband – is over
A woman who is completely marginalized by the world that she is in.
A woman who was a close to nobody as you could be during this time.

With the important men in religion – the teachers of the law, scribes, the ones whose dress, education and title, command respect. Start by talking about the scribes

And the first word that you see here is BEWARE
Beware of these scribes – and as he describes them – he is saying three things about them
Beware of their pride. It doesn’t say pride but it describes pride

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you” CS Lewis

Which is a good description of these men. Living in that stratified world – where there are best seats for some and lesser seats for others; where some are respected more than others, where they are set apart by the clothes that they wear.

We live in that world too – and of course, we would like to wear nice clothes, sit where we want, and be treated with respect.
That is a world in which we have to beware of pride – in living like that, expecting that, getting used to that

Second thing to beware is to see that these men – these men of God – have devoured the house of the widow. Several explanations – it could be because these men essentially helped settle the estates of the widows (as women could not be trusted) or that their temple building led to their exploiting the people as they collected offerings.
Devour - Picture of abuse
The abuse that happens in this system of stratification – where some are on top and some are on the bottom
The abuse that happens when there are rich and poor – and while we all want to be rich – too often it can happen at the expense of the poor.
And the third thing to beware of is judgment – These men will receive the greater condemnation. And Jesus is saying that there is judgment for those who are representatives of God. Perhaps the greater judgment comes because these "Bible scholars" should know better. Their training and knowledge should be used to help the weak and helpless, rather than to exploit them.

And then Jesus goes to the treasury and watches and we can imagine that he is seeing people bringing lots of money – a wheelbarrow full! Impressive – but Jesus calls the attention of the disciples to a widow
Watch this he is saying
And what he says is – this is a picture of humility.
She is last person you would notice. A nobody who quietly places what seems like a very little – a mite, 2 small copper coins, a penny
Picture of humility. Nothing to be proud of! So little to give.
And then he reminds them that percentage wise – she gave the most of everyone – because she gave all. It is a picture of generosity
And it was all she had to live on – so that it was a picture of trust. Trusting that I don’t need to hold anything back because God is going to take care of me.

So that is it – beware of the scribe and watch the widow

Now – I have 4 challenging observations – c
1. God calls leaders – God calls, equips and empowers people to be leaders. God has since the very beginning- with the call of Moses until today. As men and women are set apart in ordination; as churches need people willing to serve as officers, elders, deacons – leaders. And we all have to beware of the pitfalls –
- the pride – the danger of abuse – the judgment that is ours when we stumble. I have seen churches poorly served by leaders who acted improperly – sexually or financially – which is all pride – takes a generation to recover
Elders don’t come to church; when there is backbiting and a means pirit among leaders, Leaders who think that they are in charge – and make decisions without consulting others and without consulting God
- For all of us who are called to be leaders – beware.

2. God calls us to be responsible to the widows. James wrote this: “ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
And the widows are the ones we often do not see – the marginalized – the humble faithful ones. We need to see them. In this stratified world – we are more attuned to those who are successful and prestige – widows and the orphans, get marginalized. We don’t see them, we don’t respect them, and we don’t find a place for them. Some of which is because - get this – they don’t give enough to support the institutional church. We pay more attention to the people who come and bring resources out of their abundance.
This is so hard to face – we are responsible to the widows – and it will not be reciprocal – if we are only interested in the material.
You will not build a church being responsible to the widows – but you will build the kingdom of God

We are responsible to the widows and we also need the widow because of what they teach us..Because those who are on the bottom, the dispossessed, the poor is spirit are the blessed ones.
They have learned about the blessing of a life lived dependent upon God.
And for the rest of us – we can’t quite let go. We give out of our abundance – but not out of our poverty.

Third challenging observation –God is most interested in our motives –
It is not what we do – but it is why we do it. - The condition of our hearts.
And those of us who are in leadership know how easy it is for our hearts to be polluted by pride. We can give and serve and make sure we are noticed
And those who are not in leadership can sit on our hands and criticize those who are
And all of us can find ways to ignore or repel the widows and pay most attention to the prosperous. But it is not that simple either.
I love the story by Anthony Demello (from The Song of the Bird)
“A preacher put this question to a class of children: “If all the good people were white and all the bad people were grey, what color would you be?”

Little Mary Jane replied: “Reverend I’d be streaky!””
So would the preacher, So would the pope and the saints.
All of us – so when we hear that God cares about our motivations – we know in our heart of hearts we ourselves are not always sure of our motivations.

And that really is it – the final challenging observation is that the way of the Lord is the Way of humility. Understanding that we are streaky – this combination of sinner and saint, scribe and widow,
And as Anthony DeMello writes “Attempts to hide your streakiness will sometimes be successful, always dishonest.”

This story is not about stewardship -= but it is about humility. The way of the Lord is the way of humility. And here is the hard part - if you think you are humble – then you are NOT. That is the paradox and the greatest challenge
So – we cannot make ourselves humble because we then are too full of ourselves –
Beware the scribe – beware our wily egos
Story about the minister who had a great sermon on humility but wasn’t going to give it until he had a crowd ready to hear it

Or since it is classical Sunday –

Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, was once asked to name the most difficult instrument to play.
Without hesitation, he replied, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”

we can only become humble as we are full of God
we can do is ask God to make us faithful.
In AA – there are the 12 steps to recovery – and the first step is to admit that they are powerless over their addiction
And that is the first step of the life of faith – admit we are powerless - over our pride, our ego, our scribe within us.

A life of humility is also to recognize our poverty like the widow whatever we have is not enough – but it is what we have. And we trust it to God’s purposes. So that, we are an offering.
We give everything to God
All that I am
All that I have
All that I hope to be I give to you
I give to you
We are an offering

Finally the way of humility is not to walk in guilt or shame.
When we walk with the Lord we learn how much we have received and our own gifts and genius
God has gifted us and wants to use us – as leaders, as servants,
These gifts have been given to us for others.

So let me end by saying this – beware of the scribe – because, of course, there is a scribe that lives within each one of us. Who will encourage us to walk the walk of safety, security, self protection and self glorification.
But watch for the widow - because there are widows all around us to help us to see the blessedness of living a life trusting God.

And as we continue to seek Jesus and his way and his will in our lives – the widow emerges and we are more and more able to give, to serve, and to surrender to God’s power in our lives and in the lives of those around us.