Sermons Online ...
Sermon - The Twenty-Third Sunday Pentecost (B) - 8th November 2009
Parish of Longford
Readings: Ruth 3:1-5, 4:3-17; Psalm 127; Hebrews 9:19-28; Mark 12:38-44
Its been quite a year. It began with a crisis and the expectation that our economy was on the verge of a melt-down. We watched our banks to see if they would survive. We saw interest rates head south. And then all tax-payers got a surplus payment from the government along with a stimulus package. Unemployment was expected to pass 8% and a recession was supposed to be on the way. And then as the year progressed it all seemed to fade away. Rather than a recession, the Reserve Bank began to worry about inflation again. Rather than the economy, boarder security came back into the headlines.
Its been a confusing year. But have we really learnt anything from it? Or are we more confused than ever? Its been an opportunity for us to think again about our attitude to wealth and those who control it. Its made us realise that there are some financial institutions that are too big to fail. Then we wonder if they will become more reckless, knowing that if they fail, the government will bail them out again. Has this experience led us to a better understanding of wealth or has it made us more overawed by it. Sometimes we can conclude that wealth is the bottom line for most decisions in life. We can be tempted to get our self-worth from the size of our net worth and judge others by the same standard. In the first parish I worked in after ordination, I remember walking through the church car park before a morning service. I noticed that one of the cars was a Rolls. I wondered all through the service who the owner might be and wondering if they would receive special treatment. In another parish I worked in, one member of the congregation was exceptionally wealthy, yet the car he drove was more than 20 years old. Other members of the church criticized him for not owning a car that reflected his great wealth. Ironically, he told me that was one reason why he was wealthy – because he didn’t waste his money on cars. But, more broadly, we can see where our society is heading when we examine its attitude to wealth on the one hand, and its attitude to the poor on the other. When we honour the wealthy and ignore the poor then our values are becoming distorted in a way that won’t be either godly or helpful.
Throughout the Old Testament there is a concern for the most vulnerable, the fatherless, the widow and the stranger. In Moses law, there were instructions for the care of these vulnerable people. For example, during the harvest, some of the crop had to be left for the poor to gather. If any seed was dropped in the field then it had to be left so that widows could glean the fields, to gather the corn that had been left. In other words, fields were not to be stripped bare. The poor must be provided for. In Isaiah 1, God called on Israel to repent and return to true faith. One example of that would be shown in their care of the widow and the fatherless. Later, at the beginning of the Church in Acts one of their concerns was for the care of the widows. There was a dispute between the Aramaic and the Greek speaking widows because the latter were missing out in the food distribution. Stephen and six others were appointed to ensure all were cared for fairly. The care of the poor and the vulnerable was an indication of the spiritual health of the community.
It was an indication of true godliness and righteousness. So it is no wonder that Jesus was so critical of the teachers of the law in his day. These people had every advantage. To begin with, they were wealthy. Its more likely that they were born into wealthy homes. Consequently, they had the benefits of a good education. They could read and write, unlike most of the population. As well, they had access to books which were very expensive and only available to the very rich. They had the benefit of reading the scriptures, and so they, of all people, would have known their duty to the poor, and to the widows.
They should have known how to live, and as teachers, they should have been examples to others in the community. But that’s not what Jesus saw. And notice what Jesus does. He doesn’t correct their teaching. His criticism takes a different tack. He makes the point that the error of their ways is made obvious by the way they live. Their behaviour gives them away. You cannot trust their teaching, because their behaviour was so offensive. Perhaps if they behaved better, they might be worth listening to. But who would listen to people who were more concerned with how they dressed and the impression they made on the crowds. These were people who loved to be greeted in the market places and expected people to stand up when they entered a room. They expected invitations to all the great banquets. And what’s more, they expected to be given the best seats both at the banquets and in the synagogues. So wherever they went they expected special treatment. There was no sense of their obligation to their community, or what they could contribute to their community.
Rather, they exploited their position of power. They devoured widows’ houses. That is, when a man died his assets had to be sorted out. This had to be done by an official. And of course, the officials were these teachers of the law. They had a right to charge a fee for their work. However, they had a reputation for turning this intoan opportunity for exploitation. They would take huge fees and leave the widows impoverished. Yet at the same time they made long prayers as a show of super-spirituality. We always need to beware those people who claim a special spirituality yet their behaviour gives them away. If our faith cannot be translated into action it isn’t much good. I think of that parable of Jesus where the man was forgiven a vast debt. Yet though he was forgiven, it didn’t turn him into a forgiving person. What good is it after God has forgiven us it leaves us completely unchanged. We are still the same people we always were. We live as we always had.
This was why Jesus message to Israel was to repent. God had been faithful to them, yet where was their response of faith towards him? Jesus couldn’t find it among the Pharisees, the teachers of the law or the leaders of the people. Rather, he found it among the outcasts, amongst the blind and the lame, a Roman centurion and this poor widow with her two copper coins. This story reminds me of a church I once went to. During the service, there was no offertory. But at the back of the church they had a huge perspex box. You were expected to put your offertory through the slot at the top at the end of the service as everyone filed out. I saw five dollar notes going in. Then there were ten dollar notes, then twenties. And then just as I got to the box people were throwing in handfuls of fifty dollar notes. What was I to do? The pressure was on to match their giving. Could I beat their generosity? This was an ungodly way to raise funds. But this was exactly what happened in Jerusalem. They had huge collection boxes and the giving was very public.
People would watch the giving and others made a big show of their generosity. And then we have this poor widow with her two copper coins, the smallest coins available. In was common in those days for widows to have no money at all. They relied on the generosity of others. The fact that she had any coins at all was remarkable. Yet she took those two coins and gave them away. As Jesus said, “Out of her poverty – she put in everything.” On a human level, she doesn’t compare to the generosity of Bill and Melinda Gates and the billions they give away each year. And yet somehow we are all humbled by her generosity. Again, she is a character in the New Testament who is given to us as an example of faith, yet we don’t even know her name. Yet she has been remembered for the last 2,000 for her generosity, for her willingness to put her faith into action, to make the jump from what she believes to how she will live. There was no demand from Jesus for her to repent. There was simply no need. She is the perfect example of Jesus warning that in the Kingdom of God, the last will be first and the least will be the greatest.