Remembering the Past...
        Planning the Future

    Park Christian Church
                                                                    (Disciples of Christ)

November 8, 2009

Scripture:         Mark 12:38-44

Sermon:           “People Watching”

            Turning our hearts and minds now to the word of God, let us read together the scripture lesson for the day.  Turn with me to the Gospel According to Mark, chapter 12 where we will read together verses 39 through 44.  You can find that easily on page 67 of the New Testament in the pew Bible.

            We’re about to read the story that folks like to call “The Widow’s Mite”.  It has to do with a woman that we’re told is a widow and how she deposited her two last copper coins into the treasury box outside of the temple in Jerusalem.  This is where you might pay your taxes or give a freewill offering.  It all went to the same place for them.

            Now, us preacher types have long loved to trot this story about this time of year for one reason in particular.  This is, of course, the time of the year when folks are putting together church budgets and asking for pledges for the coming year.  And, here you’ve got a woman that gave everything she had to the offering.  So, you see where this is going.  Preaching on the widow who gave everything might fit pretty well into a sermon designed to get a congregation to give a little more themselves.  Right?

            The problem is this story really could not be about money.  It’s not that Jesus never said anything about money.  It’s just that in this case the he surely wasn’t focused on it.  What this poor widow gave amounted to a penny.  A penny.  If this was about money, Jesus would have been very impressed with the large sums of cash that the richer people were giving.  Don’t you think?

            He wasn’t.

            Now, even if this story is not about money, and we can all rest a little easier as the offering plates are passed today, Jesus does seem to be saying something about deep commitment.  And that’s always a sermon worth preaching.  Let us listen for the word of the Lord…

            As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!  They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.  They will receive the greater condemnation.”

            He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury.  Many rich people put in large sums.  A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.  Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.  For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

            People watching.

            Have you done that?  People watch?  Just sit in an inconspicuous location and watch what people do?

            That’s what Jesus is doing in the courtyard of the temple.  People watching.

            Sometimes the shopping mall is a good place to do that.  I get worn out with shopping pretty easily, so I take a seat out in the middle of the mall while Julie is trying on clothes somewhere.  It’s fascinating to watch people there.  You see a lot.  You see folks dragging their children by the arm as they try to get from one store to another.  You see the people at the cell phone kiosks trying to catch folks walking by.  You see young people in all of their self-consciousness mingling with friends.

            I always enjoy the airport for people watching to be honest.  Folks are fascinating in the stress of travel.  I’ll show up early to pick someone up at the airport, grab a cup of Starbucks and just watch folks come and go.

            What Jesus sees at the temple is pretty fascinating, too.  It’s a busy place outside in the courtyard.  It’s a place to see and to be seen.  But, Jesus notices what just about everyone else overlooks.  A poor widow.  She’s there with all of the richer folks and the respectable religious types.  But, you probably wouldn’t see her if Jesus didn’t point her out.

            This is a woman that blends into the background.  Unlike some of the scribes, she is not wearing anything flashy or ostentatious.  She doesn’t own anything like that.  She doesn’t have the means to get dressed up and presentable so that going to the temple would be a social affair.  This woman has only come to do her business and leave.  As far as she knew, no one even saw her.  As far as she knew, no one ever saw her.

            And yet, that’s the one Jesus pointed towards and said, “Watch that one.  She’s giving everything that she has left.”

            Now, what she gave was just two little copper coins.  They didn’t even make a jingle when they landed inside the offering—not when it fell on all of the folding money in there.  Mark is kind enough to let us know that two copper coins are hardly worth one red cent.  But, Jesus said that little sum was greater than all of the other offerings of all of the other people combined.  That penny’s worth of coins is worthy more than thousands of dollars, maybe more, according to Jesus.

            Either that’s fuzzy math, or Jesus is making a point here and it doesn’t have anything to do with money.  It doesn’t have anything to do with church budgets.  It doesn’t have anything to do with the bottom line.  If you want the truth, I think this makes a terrible story to work with if you’re trying to get people to give money to the church.  Her contribution didn’t make a dent in bottom line.  Did it?  The giving report in the bulletin next week won’t be any different because of what she gave.

            A good story to get folks to give to the church would take notice of the rich folks who did give large sums of money that day.  “Look at that guy.  He’s the one who started a software company when no one had computers in their homes.”  That’s who Jesus might point towards.  Not the poor widow.  Not if he was making a point about how to give your money.  He’d say, “Now, he’s got more money than you could ever imagine.  And look at how he uses it to help other people now.  He gives it by the millions to all kinds of causes that change lives.  Wants to improve healthcare worldwide, eliminate extreme poverty.  Do you see that?”

            He pointed at the poor widow.  It couldn’t be about the money.

            On top of that, it wasn’t 24 hours earlier when Jesus made such a commotion in that same location, the temple court, by overturning the tables of the money changes and driving away those who were selling things there.  It doesn’t seem to me that Jesus was all that fond of the bottom line at the temple.  “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations,” he quoted from scripture.  “But you have made it a den of robbers.”  No one liked that very much.  They wanted to kill him.  But, that’s what he did and that’s what he said.  And it was only yesterday.  It couldn’t be that Jesus was interested in the budget.

            This isn’t about the money.  Couldn’t be.  There wasn’t enough money involved and the people receiving it were not on top of Jesus’ list of charitable organizations.  He didn’t give the temple a very high rating for places to invest your money.  It’s not about the money.

            One of my favorite preachers, Barbara Brown Taylor, said, “Are we really supposed to admire a poor woman who gave her last cent to a morally bankrupt [religious institution]?  Was it right for her to surrender her living to those who lived better than she?  What if she were someone you knew, someone of limited means who decided to send her last dollar to the 700 Club?  Would that be admirable, or scandalous?  Would it be a good deed or a crying shame?”

            Maybe we fear that Jesus is praising this woman for giving all that remains of her earthly treasure to the church and that we are supposed to do the same.  But, Jesus never said a word about that.  He never praised her.  He just pointed her out and said, “She’s given more than all of the rest because she gave all that she owned.”  He didn’t praise her.  And he didn’t deride the others.

            Usually, you know, he says something along the lines of “Go and do likewise.”  That’s what he says when he praises the actions of somebody.  He told folks a story about a good Samaritan.  This man stopped to help a man that by all accounts should have been his enemy.  “Of all of the people that encountered a man in need of help, who showed the man mercy?”  Well, it was the good Samaritan.  “Go and do likewise.”

            He said no such thing about this poor widow.  Just, “Look at her!  Look at what she’s giving compared to all those others.”  He didn’t even complain about the large gifts of those who were rich.  He just said to watch that one.

            So, what is so worthy of notice about a poor, lonely woman depositing the insignificant remains of her change purse into the offering plate?  For one thing, this is a kind of example of what it looks like when you take the kingdom of God that Jesus talked about seriously.  The first shall be last.  The greatest among you shall be your servant.  What you did for the least of these you did for me.  This widow making her deposit in the treasury is something of what all of those things look like.  It’s upside down to say that her gift was worth more than all of the others.  It’s upside down like the kingdom of God.  That’s worthy of notice.

            But, more than that, Jesus saw something of himself in all of this.  He saw something of himself in her.  When he leaves the temple with his disciples that day, his public ministry is over.  In four days he will be dead, having uncurled his fingers from around his own offering—his very life.

            She gave all that she had to live on to a corrupt ministry.  He was about to give his life for a corrupt world.  She withheld nothing from God.  Neither did he.  When he looked at her it was like looking in a mirror.  The reflection was so clear that he called his disciples over to see.  “Look.  This is what I have been talking about.  Look at her.”

            It wasn’t so much that the widow was the one to watch.  Was it?  Really, it was Jesus.  He was the one to watch.

            If you want the truth, I think I’d rather this story be about the money.  I’d rather that Jesus had made a point about contributing to the church.  If he did then I could decide to give it all away or not.  I could write a big enough check for the offering to feel like I’d made a real sacrifice.  I could decide to do nothing this week, but make up for it in the coming months.  Maybe I wouldn’t give anything because I had nothing to give.  If it was about the money.  And I could walk away.

            It’s not about any of that.  I kind of wish it was.  But it turns out that it’s about Jesus.  And it’s about him giving everything he had.

            If it was about the money I might be able to settle my account here today.  If it’s about Jesus?  Do you know what he says about watching him?  He says, “Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  And that sounds pretty expensive to me.

            He’s the one to watch.  Watch him, then.  Watch him.  Watch how he gives everything he had.

            Go and do likewise.

Rev. David James Brown

Park Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

I'm deeply indebted to the work of Barbara Brown Taylor on this text.  I've quoted her and used her words in various places.