A sermon preached at Kowloon Union
Church on Sunday 11 November 2018, the twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, by the
Rev. Dr. Judy Chan. The scripture
readings that day were I Kings 17: 8-16, Hebrews 9:
24-28, Mark 12:38-44.
Today’s Gospel story is one often
preached on Stewardship Sunday, near the end of the year. The idea is to get
the congregation thinking about what they will pledge to the church for the
coming year, whether that means money, time or talent. Let me make clear that
Pastor Phyllis and Pastor Maggie have not asked me to preach a Stewardship
sermon this morning. All they asked for was a sermon. But sermons are based on
a Biblical text, so I will need to talk about money. But rest assured, the message today is about
more than money, even if that’s where it starts. So let’s start.
Jesus is with his disciples in
Jerusalem. They are at the part of the Temple where people gave their
offerings. Scholars say it may be the area called the Court of Women, not
because it was a special place for women, but an area where women were allowed
to go. At the Temple there were a dozen or so metal chests for offerings. Each
chest had a particular use – one for new shekel dues, another for old shekel
dues, another for bird-offerings (I think that means money to buy the birds,
not the actual birds themselves!), others to buy wood or frankincense or gold
for the Temple, and lastly six freewill offering boxes. Obviously a busy place.
I don’t know if this was also a popular
place to go people-watching, but there Jesus was with his disciples. And many
devout Jews too. The rich were dropping in lots of silver and gold coins. Even
if you couldn’t see exactly how many, you’d know it was a lot by the sound. The
offering boxes weren’t like ours today, square-shaped with a slot on the top.
The opening was more like a cone, like the bell of a trumpet, so when you put
your money in, people could hear the coins hitting the metal. It was pretty
clear then the rich people were giving big bucks.
For the Jews, even the disciples, there
was nothing bad about this. People giving generously to the House of God.
What’s wrong with that? Otherwise, how could the Temple operate?
In one big cathedral church I’ve been
in, there was a small note next to the offering box. The note said, “Just so
you know, it costs x amount of
dollars a day to run this church. Your donation welcome so that we may keep
this place of worship open to all.”
For the disciples, then, nothing
unusual was going on that day at the Temple treasury. But then Jesus points out
someone else, someone they probably would have missed altogether. It’s a poor
widow. She goes over to the freewill offering box, puts in her two small coins,
and leaves. If Jesus had asked his disciples at that moment, what just
happened, they might have said: “A poor woman put in a bit of money.” On the
surface, there was nothing remarkable about her or her offering.
Yet, Jesus says a surprising thing in
this story sometimes called the story of the Widow’s Mite. Not ‘might’ like
strong, but mite, m-i-t-e, meaning very small, tiny, miniscule. What the widow gave to the Temple was just a
few copper pennies in stark contrast to the gold and silver that the rich
lavishly poured into the Temple coffers. But which person did Jesus praise?
The widow, right? Why? Because she gave
everything she had out of love and devotion to God. She had only two cents left
to her name. She could have given one, but, no, she gave both. By Jesus’
calculation, she gave more than all those rich people put together, because the
wealthy still had plenty left over in the bank, but she had nothing.
So, what’s the lesson here for us
today? I thought it was obvious when I first read the passage. Then I found out
there are similar stories like this in rabbinic literature as well as other
cultures. So, I asked myself just what is Jesus trying to teach here? Is the
lesson:
-
To give away
everything we have to God or charity to demonstrate our faith? That doesn’t
sound right, does it? Then we become the
objects of charity. Jesus never asked the poor to become destitute for his
sake.
-
Is the lesson
then that the amount of offering we give isn’t as important as the amount we
still have left in our pocket? That sounds very legalistic, as if we can measure
spirituality by percentages. If anything, Jesus was never a slave to religious
laws, especially those we use to puff ourselves up.
No, I think what Jesus is saying here
needs to be understood in the context of Mark. This is part of the last public
teaching of Jesus in this Gospel. So, in
effect, I believe what he’s saying is: Look at this poor widow and remember
her. Because this is exactly what will happen to me in few days’ time. I
am that poor widow – forgotten, abandoned, powerless, living day to day.
God is the only one I can depend on, so l will I offer up everything I have,
even if it costs me my very life. And as we know, that’s exactly what it cost
him.
So, let’s be clear: the story of the
Widow’s Mite is first and foremost about Jesus – His sacrifice for God and our
salvation. Any sacrifice we make as humans pales in comparison to Calvary, but
the closest example Jesus can find that day is a poor widow at the Temple
offering box. The poor widow who put to shame all the mighty and powerful around
her because their sacrifices cost them nothing. That’s why Jesus said when you
remember her, you remember me. And truly wherever the story of Jesus is told,
you also hear about the poor widow who foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice of
our Lord and Savior.
What does it mean then for you and me to remember this poor widow today? Is there anything that’s relevant to us in
the context of 21st century Hong Kong? I think so, if we are
willing, if we dare to consider we might be that poor widow too. How? Let me
count the ways.
Number One: Standing before God, we’re all in the same
boat as the poor widow, whether we believe it or not. We don’t like to see ourselves as helpless
and poverty-stricken. But, really, what do any of us have to commend ourselves
before Almighty God? What do we possess that didn’t come first from the hand of
God? Everything - family, friends, education, jobs, status, health, material
goods – these are gifts from our Creator, essentials that we depend on that
could also disappear in an instant. Haven’t we heard too many stories like that
recently? Accidents that wipe out a whole family, disasters that destroy every
trace of a village or town, diseases that leave its victims a shell of their
former self. Instead of being grateful that these things didn’t happen to us,
remember nothing in this life is truly secure, except the grace of God. In
reality, we all live and move and have our being day to day only through God’s
mercy and goodness. The poor widow knew that keenly and so should we.
The second way we remember this poor
widow is to accept her low status in the world as our own. Now, don’t get me
wrong. I’m not saying being penniless and powerless brings you closer to God.
Poverty wasn’t a blessing in Jesus’ time nor our own time. Someone astutely
said, “Poverty is like being punished for a crime you didn’t commit.” That was
true for the poor widow, but despite all the obstacles, she still embodied many
of the traits of a true follower of Jesus Christ. And we need to have them too.
A follower who doesn’t seek the honor and glory of this world, a follower for
whom ‘humility’ is second nature, a follower who comes to the House of God not
to be seen by others, but to see and be seen by God.
A third way we can remember the poor
widow is when we give our own offerings. You know there are many humorous
sayings about giving to the church, not exactly from the Bible. For example:
-
God loves a
cheerful giver, but God will also accept money from a grouch.
-
If it’s more
blessed to give than to receive, most people are content to let the other
fellow have the greater blessing.
-
If money is the
root of all evil, why does the church keep asking for it?
Well, OK, it’s the love of money that’s
the root of all evil, but you get the idea. We joke about money because it’s
uncomfortable to talk about what many consider a private matter between the
giver and God. After all, doesn’t it say in the Bible to keep your giving a
secret if you want a heavenly reward? Yes, the Bible does say that, but I would
be the first to confess my secret isn’t that I give too much to the church,
maybe I have the opposite problem. So, what encouragement can I offer you and
me that doesn’t leave us feeling worse than when we came in this morning?
This took some time to figure out. But
when I look at the poor widow giving her last two cents to God, what I see is a
prayer. Her offering is a prayer without words showing God just how much He
means to her. Her offering is a prayer not from her mouth but from her heart
that says “I love you this much.”
That’s what our offering is too – it’s
a form of prayer – wherever and however we give it. Our offering is a way of
telling God just how much Jesus Christ means to us, a prayer that whispers to
our Heavenly Father “This is how much I love you.” I hope then that your
offering and my offering will always truly reflect how thankful we are for
every blessing we’ve received from God, including our salvation in Jesus
Christ, His church, and Kowloon Union.
Let me close by playing a song that expresses
everything I’ve tried to say this morning, only better. It’s called “Take,
Lord” by the English composer Margaret Rizza. The words are based on the famous
Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola. I give him the last word in hopes
that one day this too is my honest prayer to God: “You have given all to me, To
you, Lord, I return it. All is yours, all is yours, Lord, Do with it what you
will.”
-------------------------------------------
“Take, Lord” , music by Margaret Rizza
Take, Lord, receive all my liberty,
Take Lord, receive my memory,
My understanding and my entire will,
All that I have and possess. (2x)
You have given all to me,
To you, Lord, I return it.
All is yours, all is yours, Lord,
Do with it what you will.
Take, Lord, receive all my liberty,
Take Lord, receive my memory,
My understanding and my entire will,
All that I have and possess.
You have given all to me,
To you, Lord, I return it.
Give me only your love and your grace,
That is enough for me.
All is yours: do with it what you will.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, November 11, 2018
