Epworth United Methodist Church

Epworth United Methodist Church
Rev. David Weekley, Pastor
November 15, 2009
Mark 12:38-44

When Less Is More

With Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching, today is a good time to begin thinking and praying about all that we have, and all that we give thanks for in our lives.

A few years ago now a colleague shared a joke with me: A $100 bill, a $20 bill, and a $1 bill meet up at the paper shredder at the end of their lives. The $100 bill says, “I’ve seen the whole world during my lifetime. Why, I’ve been on cruises in the Caribbean, safaris in Africa and vacations in Europe .”

The $20 bill says, “Well, I have not done quite as well, but I have been to Atlantic City , Las Vegas , Reno , Disneyland , and Starbucks.”

They both turn to the $1 bill and ask, “How about you?”

Not wanting to be outdone, the $1 bill says, “I’ve seen the whole country as well. I’ve been from church to church to church…”

Then the $100 bill asks, “What’s a church?”

In this morning’s gospel reading from Mark, Jesus once again utilizes people to tell another story about what it means to follow him as a disciple.

By contrasting the scribe’s exorbitance to a widow’s sacrifice, Jesus gives us all a picture of what the life of a true disciple should be as we do our best to, “deny [ourselves] and take up [our] cross to follow Jesus [see, Mark 8:34].

This passage begins in the Temple , with Jesus saying, “Beware of those scribes, who like to walk around in long robes…” [Mark 12:38]

These days common attire is not comprised of long robes, so we might replace this with something like “beware those people who like to show-off their wealth through expensive clothing and accessories.”

I thought of these verses a couple of months ago when our youngest daughter, who is majoring in fashion design told us there are actually women’s handbags that cost more than $5,000.00!

Are these handbags better than ones costing less? Of course not; the issue is status, just as wearing those long robes was about status and privilege in Jesus’ day.

As I drove to church last Thursday morning I listened to an interesting program on National Public Radio; it was about the American obsession with buying “stuff.”

The program gave me some hope because the speakers all spoke about the need to move away from this obsession with buying “stuff” to embrace values that reflect respect and care for other people and for the environment.

As I listened I was reminded of this gospel passage, because Jesus is lifting up this point in his teaching at the Temple treasury.

It’s like this anonymous story:

One day a certain old, rich man of a miserable disposition visited a rabbi, who took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window.

“Look out there,” said the rabbi. “What do you see?”

The rich man looked into the street.

“I see women, men, and children,” answered the rich man.

Again the rabbi took him by the hand and this time led him to a mirror; the rabbi asked, “Now what do you see?”

“Now I see myself,” the rich man replied.

Then the rabbi said, “Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver. No sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others but see only yourself.

This story reminded me of when part of my ministry was working in a homeless shelter a few years ago.

We depended upon organizations for dinner each night, and I came to know which group was bringing dinner most nights every week; they were more often than not church volunteers.

There was this one church I/we always looked forward to, because they were blessed to have a gourmet chef in their congregation and every week when it was their turn, he would bring in all these wonderful ingredients and make a true banquet for us.

We all helped together, and then we all sat down together, homeless families, staff, and the chef and church volunteers. We blessed the meal and ate together; it was a highpoint of each week.

I also came to know which nights I was not looking forward to- these were the church or other volunteer organizations that ran in with a few cans of chili thrown into a pan, a gallon of milk and some stale bread, maybe a head of lettuce for a salad, then ran out again without saying grace with us and without eating with us.

Like the rabbi’s story, it seemed to truly make a difference whether the people involved were looking into a silver-gilded mirror, or a window.

The gospel story from Mark 12: 38-44 gives us a glimpse into the attitudes and the coins that circulated around the temple in Jesus’ day.

The coin in question, a silver denarius, was worth about a day’s wage, so it was not small change.

Imperial coinage was circulated throughout the empire both to standardize trade in Rome and its territories, and to honor the current emperor’s status and divinity.

To avoid the use of such idolatrous coins, most first-century Jews continued to use local Jewish coinage.

The most basic coin of this period was the bronze or copper lepton [plural lepta], which avoided idolatry by inscribing natural or man-made symbols instead of humans on the coins.

At the time of Jesus a very common lepton in circulation was the one minted by Alexander Jannaeus [who ruled from about 103 to 76 B.C.].

It is like the one Christina Self brought in this morning, featuring an eight-rayed star on one side and an anchor on the other.

This is exactly like the coins the money changers exchanged for Roman currency in the temple.

The lepton’s monetary value was pretty small at the time- so small that it was among the least-valued coins ever made.

As you look at it, notice how the image was just stamped haphazardly in a tiny dribble of molten copper or bronze; the coins are not rounded, or finished, and weigh next to nothing.

It was very likely two of these tiny lepta, or “mites”, that the widow dropped into the temple treasury as Jesus watched.

Compared to the wealth of Roman coins Roman coins that the religious leaders and others were carrying around, these lepta were about as worthless as monopoly money; but the story is not about the value of coins, but about the values of loyalty, commitment, and sacrifice.

The “long-robes” of the scribes and their VIP seating at local parties are indications that they are more concerned with themselves than their community.

In addition, they “devour widow’s houses.” which is a way of saying that they preyed on perhaps the most vulnerable people in their community.

Widows who lacked male relatives had absolutely no status, and no prospects for income; they often resorted to prostitution in order to survive- a reality that still exists today, as a drive along 82nd avenue in Portland will affirm.

Some commentators have suggested that the scribes may have acted as guardians for some of these widows, but they did so by exploiting them, taking from them whatever money or property the women’s husbands may have left them.

By doing this, they broke their own Torah law from the Book of Exodus that specifically speaks against the abuse of widows [Exodus 22:22-24].

So when Jesus makes his remark about this particular poor widow dropping her two tiny lepta into the temple treasury, “all she had to live on” [Mark 12:44], the context suggests he is continuing his condemnation of the religious leaders and a corrupt community system that would exploit people like her and cause her to donate her last two pennies.

While some preach on this text as a stewardship sermon, imagining Jesus smiling at this woman’s generous sacrifice, it seems more likely he was probably shaking his head sadly as he spoke these words.

The verses give no indication the widow is being forced to give up her coins.

We actually do not know anything about her motivation other than she just dropped them in.

Jesus recognized that her offering, though less than a pittance monetarily, was far more valuable than the sum total of all the other coins offered that day.

This story should force us to ask ourselves: what would cause a person to voluntarily give away her last two pennies, especially to a community that continues to exploit her.

Maybe it is because the widow still believed that regardless of all that has happened to her, she still belongs to God.

Despite the corruption and exploitation going on around her in God’s name right in the temple, perhaps she has faith that God will still set things right in her life as she continues her faithfulness and extreme generosity.

So this widow continues to invest in her community, a community of faith, by giving her last two coins for the good of the whole,

This widow’s might [might, not mite!] is demonstrated through the strength of her faith.

She is not dabbling around with spare change for the offering; she is literally giving her all.

This is a great Sunday and a great Scripture to challenge us to think about how much we’ve invested in our community of faith.

It’s easy for people to look at how governments or even religious institutions have done less than hoped for with the funds given tot hem; and it can be a great excuse for withholding or cutting back on what we give.

But the widow invites us to focus instead on the currency of commitment to our community, trusting that God will take what we give and continue to use it for both God’s purposes and the good of the community. It is this kind of commitment that turns all of our gifts together into a mighty witness for God in this community and in the larger community in which we live!

I close with this quote from one of my favorite ‘saints,’ Mother Teresa who said: If you give what you do not need, it isn’t giving.

Amen.