THE TRULY
EXTRAORDINARY GIFT
Mark 12:38-44; Psalm 104:1-24
November 8, 2009 – Rev. Jerry Duggins
I
find myself in a bit of a dilemma this morning. I want to talk about
stewardship, especially as it relates to our commitments of financial offerings
for the coming year… but our story from Mark’s gospel is a little resistant to
this application. I know this hasn’t stopped preachers from using the “widow’s
mite” on stewardship dedication Sunday. It is in fact quite a popular text for
this purpose.
“Look
at this widow,” they say. “What a marvelous example of sacrificial giving!”
These are the “give till it hurts” preachers. They love to tell stories about
people who write the church check first before paying any other bills. They
talk about the tithe and emphasize that it begins at ten percent, but that
those who are better off should really consider going beyond that. Sacrificial
giving, after all, can’t be a flat tax. There are plenty of people for whom ten
per cent doesn’t involve much of a sacrifice. These preachers don’t usually go
so far as to pull the “guilt” card. They try to keep the message positive,
focusing on the benefits of generosity and much of what they have to say is
true. As human beings, we have a need to give. Even scientists are beginning to
recognize this. Recent studies in evolutionary theory are suggesting that
cooperation is a third major principle alongside
So,
generosity is an important quality in the Christian life. Paul lists it as one
of the fruits of the spirit; but the story of the widow’s mite… well, there are
some problems here. Conveniently forgotten, before Jesus sits down to watch people
putting money into the temple treasury, he warns the people to beware of the
scribes, who, he says, “devour widows’ houses.” When you think about this, you
have to wonder whether the widow’s offering is an illustration of generosity
that we ought to imitate or an illustration of an oppressive system of
offerings that impoverish those who are already poor. I believe I talked about
this aspect of the story the last time I preached on this, but I want to say
some things directly related to stewardship that connect with this aspect.
First,
we should be aware that we are not giving money to God with our financial
commitments. We are only asking God’s blessings on these gifts to the ministry
of the church. The money helps the church do ministry. It does nothing for God.
As Bono says in a song with U2, “God isn’t short of cash, mister.”
People
will sometimes talk about the tithe as the portion of our income that we give
to God and there is some support for this kind of language in the Old
Testament; but in practical terms, the tithe supported the Levites, so that
they could focus their efforts on doing the work of faith. Our gifts are about
the ministry of the church, and our prayers are our way of seeking guidance
from God in the use of these gifts.
Because
our offerings are about the ministry of the church, they are in fact gifts to
the world, to God’s world. When we nurture people in the faith through our
education programs, it is ultimately not about our own personal welfare. We
nurture people for ministry in the
world. When we consider whether the church is being a faithful steward of the
money we entrust to it; one question we should ask is, “Am I being equipped for
ministry in my world?”
We’ve
been asked by a number of people to consider our contributions of time, talent
and treasure to the church. I want us to take this seriously, doing an honest,
rational assessment of what we can give; and this is exactly what the widow
does not do. She puts all her money into a temple treasury that supports a
religious organization that Jesus has just finished criticizing. The temple
treasury was probably not the best use of her money. But obviously she loved
her faith and trusted her leaders. Perhaps the temple had taken good care of
her in her poverty, but Jesus’ critique doesn’t suggest that they did.
So
the second point I want to make here is that you should make sure that your
mortgage can be paid before you write the church check. The church is not
interested in depriving you of your home. It is not interested in encouraging
the kind of sacrificial giving that leaves you impoverished.
There
are always some people who complain that the church is always asking for money.
If you are one of those people, listen closely. The church is not interested in
money that you are not willing to give cheerfully, and it is certainly not
interested in money that you cannot afford to give. In the church we provide
opportunities for people to contribute to ministries that make the world a
better place. Opportunities, not demands.
If
I seem a little sensitive on this point, it’s because I want to be sensitive to
the reality that some of us are struggling in these difficult economic times.
If circumstances prevent you from being as generous as previous years, don’t
feel guilty. If your circumstances are as good or better than last year, please
consider this an invitation, an opportunity to contribute a larger portion of
the church’s financial resources for ministry. In either case, we are doing
well, putting the resources entrusted to us to good use. Many churches will be
tightening their belts in the coming year, but I know that we will be expanding
our ministry in 2010, thanks to your generosity in previous years.
So
as we think about our time, talent and treasure, I want us to be realistic in
our estimates, generous as well, but I’m not interested in anyone bankrupting
themselves on any of these points. Stewardship is not an invitation to the
irrational; it’s the faithful exercise of God’s gifts to each of us. The nature
of those gifts is not in being used up, but in multiplying themselves. But this
is not what the widow’s mite is about. So you see my dilemma. It doesn’t really
offer us insight into what number to write on our financial commitment card.
It’s not about how much time we should give to the church, what talents we
ought to exercise.
No,
the widow’s offering goes deeper than this, for our time talents and treasures
do not define the core of who we are. There is more to us than these accidents
of fate. Most of us have little freedom in how we spend most of our time. Our
employers demand a chunk. Our children shape how much of the rest of it is used
and in this world filled with opportunities the competition for our time is
intense. Talent can be somewhat ephemeral. Age usually limits our abilities.
Things we were good at in our youth, we struggle to recall in mid-life. On the
positive side we develop new talents. They come and go, but still aren’t the
things that fill our lives with meaning. And treasures are a fickle thing. Hard
work does not guarantee wealth and many discovered in the last year that even a
sound investment can suffer loss.
All
these things can enrich the life of the church and bless its ministries, but
even so their transitory nature gives an ebb and flow to church life that
leaves us up some days and down others. They are not at the core of what holds
us together anymore than they define our individual value to God.
Jesus
sees something more than two small coins in this widow’s offering. He sees her
very life; all that she has to live on. And in this he sees his own death.
After making this observation about the widow, Jesus leaves the temple and
begins talking to his disciples about the destruction of the temple, the signs
of the end, and then the passion narrative begins. No more teaching, no more
miracles, no more healing: the rest of Mark’s gospel is about his offering, his
two small coins, all that he has to live on, quite literally.
Maybe
you’re starting to see my dilemma a little better now. The stewardship team has
asked us to consider how we might put our time, talents and treasures to use
through the church, but this story is really about putting it all on the line,
risking everything for the possibility of a new life. The Book of Order, part of
the constitution for the Presbyterian Church, puts it this way.
“The Church is called to be a sign in and for the
world of the new reality which God has made available to people in Jesus
Christ…. The Church is called to undertake this mission even at the risk of
losing its life, trusting in God alone as the author and giver of life, sharing
the gospel, and doing those deeds in the world that point beyond themselves to
the new reality in Christ.” (G-3.0200, 3.0400)
A
few weeks ago, we talked about the rich man, whom Jesus had asked to sell
everything he had and give it to the poor. You’ll recall that he went away sad
because he was very rich. Well, it isn’t any easier for a poor person to do
this, and yet here, we have widow who gives away everything she has to live on.
I remember times when Janet and I had to poke around the couch for bus fare.
Still I wasn’t poor, but I thought, if only I had a little more money, the
things I could do. I still think sometimes that a little more money would help
me get what I want. I still have this notion that money can make you happy,
that lack of money causes a great deal of unhappiness. These kinds of ideas
give money power over us. They can limit our sense of freedom. The widow may
have been as trapped in her dependence on money as the rich man, but she breaks
free with this extraordinary gift, all that she has to live on.
Please
don’t take this as an endorsement of gambling, but the image that comes to mind
with this widow’s offering is a poker player who’s “all in” with no intention
of showing his/her cards; puts all their money in, then folds and walks away
from the table. This widow isn’t gambling. She’s not expecting to leave the
temple and stumble on a twenty dollar bill because she gave all her money to
God. She’s breaking an attachment to money as a means of living, so that she
can live a whole new kind of life. And that is not what we are doing, or being
asked to do, on stewardship dedication Sunday.
Today
is about the ordinary gifts, not the extraordinary. After all, we’ll be asked
to do this again next year. So don’t sell the house to pay your pledge. Although, you might remember that for a brief
time in some faith communities, this was the practice. Acts talks about an
early group of Christians, who held all things in common, and shared with its
members as each had need. And you may recall the story of Ananias and Sapphira
who sold a piece of property and withheld some of the proceeds for themselves.
Churches use this story when they want to run a “scare campaign.” We’re not
doing that, but I want us to think again about these two small coins, because
there is a sense in which Christians are “all in”, a sense in which we put
everything on the line. In fact, we only live the Christian life through the extraordinary
gift, which is both the gift that Jesus offered on the way to resurrection, and
the gift of faithfulness and devotion to Christ that we offer.
You
simply don’t get to the new life without giving up the old. You can’t make a
new commitment without letting go of some old ones.
When
we join the church, we claim Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. What does
this mean, if it doesn’t mean putting our time, talent and treasure in the
service of the proclamation of the gospel? When did Jesus ever teach that a
little more money would make us happy? How does the church become “a sign in
and for the world of the new reality in Christ” without followers committed to
the extraordinary gift? You may think it good news that God doesn’t need your
money, but the truth is that God is interested in something far more costly,
your very soul.
Maybe
that word, “soul,” doesn’t resonate with you as it does with me; so let me tell
you what I understand by this word. I’m not talking about that piece of you
reserved for heaven, but something at the core of your being that is committed
to life, especially this life. The soul gives you courage in the face of scary
times, hope when circumstances seem to call for despair. It’s your connection
to God that reminds you that you are never alone. Soul is what the widow
discovered when she let go of those two small coins and what Jesus always knew
he had, even as he faced his own death. And most importantly, soul is the
energy that makes resurrection possible. Soul is what makes it possible to the
right thing, the good thing, even “at the risk of losing one’s life.”
Soul
is what the church needs to transform these ordinary gifts this morning into
something truly extraordinary. For the church, itself, must be seeking new life
as well; not because it does not value and celebrate its past, but because the
world is not the same and the church is not the same. The rise in the number of
memorial services this year should tell us that our ministry around times of
death is becoming more important than it was in the early days of this church.
Even so, medical technology has prolonged life and improved the quality of
people’s lives well into their senior years, making it possible for those even
into their nineties to offer significant service. On the other side of the age
spectrum, our young people face challenges never imagined by those of us past
our youth. As diversity becomes more evident, the need to be more intentional
about maintaining the bonds of peace and love becomes more important.
Maybe
this sounds like a lot of work, but being light to the world and salt for the
earth is not for the timid. These times call for courage, but I don’t think
it’s going to require all your money or that you spend all your time at church,
or that you devote all your talent just to