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11/12/06: 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (“B”)

Karen S. Cook

Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44

UNREASONABLE PASSION

You may have heard the story of the widow’s mite before. You may already be squirming in your pews thinking it’s time for the pastor to give the “sermon on the amount.” But this time when I read the story of the widow’s mite, I started looking more at the first paragraph. The beginning of the story is about Jesus talking to everyone in the synagogue who would listen. He talks to them about the religious leaders who talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. He talks about the church people who don’t take care of the widows, even though they know they are supposed to.

This time when I studied the story of the widow’s mite, I was also struck with something else… The widow has an unreasonable passion for the Church. She apparently has no budget she sticks to. She is not concerned for her future needs. She is not concerned with her IRA, her medical insurance, or her investments. She is not even concerned how she will buy her next meal. She just has a radical kind of passion for the Church. The synagogue was a place where she learned and worshipped. And because she was a widow, it was probably also the place where she slept. Indeed, the scribes were commanded by the Hebrew Scriptures to take care of her. And yet, we have this scene of those in long robes, concerned about how they looked, but not apparently by how they acted. What a grand twist of ethics and reasonableness when it turns out that instead of the church taking care of the widow, the widow is taking care of the church! What unreasonable passion!

The passions have gotten a bad name over the years – in fact, some folks equate the passions to an unhealthy desire for all kinds of things. In the letter to the Colossians we hear that passion is a bad thing – all kinds of evil desires, greed, anger, wrath, malice, slander & cursing are listed as passions. In today’s lesson, the widow has a different kind of passion – it’s not a malformed passion, it’s a good passion – despite the way church people seem to be treating her, she will give her all to the Church.

She is the kind of person who embodies some opposing Bible verses from Matthew. During the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus says two completely opposite things. Jesus tells all the people on the mountainside that they are, #1 – supposed to let their light shine; and #2 – not practice their piety before others in order to be seen. The widow seems to hold both of these verses in balance. She is not flaunting her offering for all to see. She is not sounding a trumpet so that others might praise her. But on the other hand, she is not hiding her light under a bushel. She is letting her light shine. She has found her quiet center. She has found room for hope to enter. She has cleared the chaos and clutter. She has found all the things that really matter to her.

This week, I am plagued by the first paragraph where Jesus warns the people following him not to be like those church-people… I read an article this week by Leo Hartshorn. The article is about the public persona of the church. He talks about the public church vs. the private church. And it seems that we church-types have developed more of a private church than a public church. We look at the church as a place to be nurtured. But then care of God’s world is oftentimes replaced by care for one another. We’re supposed to love each other, yes, but the focus should always be on God. The article states there is more therapy than theology in a private church. Mission is replaced by maintenance & worship becomes a private & intimate affair. If church becomes more of a public church than a private church, then the church becomes empowered by the Holy Spirit and turns toward the world. The public church doesn’t neglect to meet the needs of individuals and families, but its real reason for being is its mission to God’s world.

Then the author quoted John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that…” When I read these very familiar words, I suddenly got a whole new feeling. The letters of John in the Bible tell us that God is love, and that we know anything about love is the miracle of God loving us first & best. “For God so loved…” “For God so loved the world…” “For God so loved the world that…” God’s love isn’t just some sappy feelings about the world He created. God’s love is an active love that gave us His Son, Jesus Christ. And so if we know how to love through God’s love & God’s love gave us Jesus – then we are also called to love the world so much that we are ready to give ourselves so the world will know about God’s love.

Jesus is in the church teaching and preaching.
Just before this He had told the crowd
to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to give to God what is God’s.
Then he told them the great commandment to love God
with all their heart, soul, mind & strength.
And then he added another commandment like this first one
- to love your neighbor as yourself.
Then Jesus looked around at all those in long robes who were looking for the best place to sit. These were the people who didn’t come to the temple to see people, but to be seen by people. They were just pretending to be holy. But Jesus saw right through them.
Jesus sat down opposite the offering plate.
Can you imagine Jesus sitting in this house of God
and watching the offering plate?
Aaugh! That’s probably worse than all of our nightmares combined!

Here’s an interesting tidbit – there are about 900 more references in the Bible about the wise and foolish uses of money than there are about marriage, divorce & homosexuality. While I have had many conversations with many of you regarding divorce & same sex unions, I haven’t really had any conversations with you about how much you give. While we are willing to discuss intimate physical practices, somehow we believe that our wallets are more personal and somewhat taboo in conversation. What’s with that?

Jesus experiences this woman giving everything, and I wonder if He learns unreasonable passion from her too. When it came time for Him to demonstrate how much He loved us, He didn’t put the disciple’s communal purse into the offering plate. But He did give His all. He could have given 33-1/3 % and come down after the Cross after one hour. But no, he gave the kind of 100% He was called to. And in doing so, He reminds us of those great words to “Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your strength, and ALL your mind.” Jesus invites us to follow this commandment. It is a commandment to give your all. And I think there is a way to give our all, and I am not really talking about cash. I’m talking about unreasonable passion.

John Wesley, the founder of us people called “Methodists,” wrote a sermon called, On the Use of Money. He outlines three basic rules when it comes to what we have: Gain all you can; Save all you can; Give all you can. Wesley goes on to say that we are called to work for the Kingdom of God. I’ve proposed in the last several weeks that we need a new term for the Kingdom of God. I’ve talked about God’s ultimate dream where people only love God and each other. And I’ve talked about the Overlap – a place where heaven and earth Overlap – the place where Christ presides. We are called to tear down the barriers between earth and heaven. We are called to make the Overlap known to our families, friends, the community, the state, the country, and God’s world. Naturally, we are also called to constantly reach into the Overlap so that we can continue to be transformed into people who only love God & one another.

Wesley’s conclusions to his sermon are wonderful. As Christians, we are invited and called to giving our all to create a bridge into the Overlap so everyone can live in God’s ultimate dream. Wesley says that spending some on ourselves is good & right as long as we can call it an offering to God. He says that God’s Dream should be present in our family life – so spending our time, energy and money on our family as though it is an offering to God is good and right. He says that God’s Dream should come in our church life – so spending our prayer, presence, gifts and service in the church is good and right – as long as it is all an offering to God. And he also reminds us that if we have anything left after we have made sure God’s Kingdom is coming in those areas, that we should give all we can to the world so that the Kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven – so that the barrier to the Overlap can be removed. The Bible also tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. When you go about your daily tasks to make sure your family is a place where God Dream can come – it is not an offering unless you do these things with love. When service in the church is not done cheerfully and out of pure love, it is not an offering. We don’t produce the fruit of our faith when we are expection praise and recognition. When we have love in our heart, service to the world is an offering to God.

It is so easy for things to get in the way of giving our all for God’s Dream. We wonder about the boring, everyday tasks & we ask questions like these:

“Was I really born to do all this homework that I will never use when I grow up?”
“Was I really born to clean the house & do the dishes, to mow the lawn & shovel the driveway?”
“Was I really born to change diapers?”
“Was I really born to push papers?”
“Was I really born to flip hamburgers?”
“Was I really born to empty bed pans?”
“Was I really born to tell schoolchildren to keep quiet?”
“Was I really born to slave 12 hours a day for a boss who would just as soon let me go as soon as we downsize?”
We all have thoughts like this.

But we can train ourselves to remember this scene in the synagogue where a widow loved the Lord with ALL her heart, ALL her soul, ALL her strength & ALL her mind. We can train ourselves to go about our daily lives in love with God. We can train ourselves to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Each one of us has a special gift to give. Each one of us can find a way to give our all as an offering to God. And we can remember that taking care of ourselves, our families & friends, our church & our world – is giving our all to the Lord who has made all things possible.

Amen.