Devoted & Devoured
1 Kings 17:8-16, Mark 12:38-44
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church 2009 Pentecost 23B
The past month or two the readings from the gospel of Mark have been an unfolding drama – we’ve been following Jesus as he and his disciples traveled from the areas outside of Israel – foreign lands, unclean places, with wretched people – into the center of holiness, the temple at Jerusalem. Jesus foretold of his death 3 times and each time the disciples couldn’t understand. They sought to be first while Jesus taught they would be last. What we skipped over these past two weeks as we celebrated Reformation Day and All Saints Day is the Triumphal Entry into the holy city. The palms were waved, the cheers were called out, the coats laid down. And now we find ourselves in the Temple with Jesus and the disciples. Jesus is being tested on every side – Pharisees and scribes trying to get him to say something that will implicate himself. They have been trying since the beginning of the story to trap him and get him arrested to no avail. Now for the first time he’s in their territory, the temple. The drama is heating up. The tension is thick. Because while there, he starts bad-mouthing the religious elite.
They wear their robes long and like to sit in places of honor and say long prayers, fortunately for me and Pastor Al we’re not wearing robes today. Yet while they do all this outwardly religious stuff they devour widow’s homes. In other words they take from the very people they are obligated to care for. Women with no source of income other than what is given to them by the community. Beware of these scribes who are only concerned with looking the part.
Then Jesus moves to another part of the temple and watches as people give to the treasury. The rich give large amounts out of their abundance. What they have left over after they’ve paid the mortgage and made the car payments. After they’ve bought their clothes and set their table. After the cupboards were stocked and the children fed. But a widow gives a couple copper coins. All that she had. Practically worthless to provide any kind of upkeep in the temple. Barely worth a cent, what good did she expect would come from it? The frugal and wise thing would have been to save it – because she needed it more than the temple. Jesus sees this and calls his disciples to him and points her out – her giving is over and above the vast sums the rich had given. She didn’t give what she could afford, what worked into a budget, what was fiscally prudent. She gave all she had to live on. She gave what the rich young ruler could not. How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God – it’s easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. The worthless widow gave all she had to live on. The literal translation is, she gave her entire life.
Yet we give little of ourselves, proud of the abundance we have left over – that we might look the part. That we can have the status in our community that we think we’re expected to have. Whether it’s by the cars we drive, the places we live, the clothes we wear, the stores we shop – putting on airs so other will see our abundance rather than our giving. Striving for places of status. All this show on the outside – with mis-directed devotion on the inside.
Or maybe we don’t even show up – like the widow in 1 Kings, who had given up all hope for her & her son, ready to cook a last meal and die, we’ve lost all hope. We’re uncertain of what our future holds. Or we’re certain that the future holds nothing good for us. So we give up. Throw in the towel. Ready to savor the last little bit we have only to die. What’s the point of a couple copper coins? It’s not worth the effort. We’re not worth the effort.
Rarely if ever do we give our entire lives away to someone or something let alone an institution filled with people who have devoured our own homes. This widow shows her devotion – not to the temple or it scribes, not her own self-worth or perception. If these things were at the forefront of her mind, she wouldn’t have given, either out of anger at her oppression or out of her shame. Rather, the widow gives out of her devotion to God. How she uses her money – how she spends her entire life – which seems worthless – a mere copper coin or two – says everything about who she is. The rich gave out of what they could afford because it was easy. She gave her entire life – a few cents.
And the widow is the one that Jesus attends to. Jesus is always attending to the wrong people – the unclean & the outcast, the blind & the lame, the unworthy and worthless. Not the people have life put together. Who have their fortunes made and the lives set. Not the people whose kids act perfectly and as Rob Bell says, whose kid’s t-shirts are always ironed. Jesus lifts up as examples those have nothing to offer him or the world – little money, no prestige – only their entire lives. It is for these wrong people and the people who get it wrong that Jesus offers up himself. Like that widow who offers literally, her entire life even though the institution devours her home – Jesus offers his entire life for the sake of people who devour his life. Like those disciples who want the robes and the seats at Jesus’ right hand, who want to give out of abundance. Like us who struggle each and every day to be devoted to God in world that is ready to devour us if we don’t play by its rules. Jesus attends to us who haven’t figured it out yet. Who always seem to be behind the ball. Who missed their shot.
Fortunately, the widow is not a story about us and what we do with our money- as much or as little as we may have in our bank accounts right now. As Jesus faces his final days – knowing the pain and suffering, rejection and ridicule he will receive – this poor lowly woman, worth a couple copper coins is a sign of what Jesus is about to do. She is a reminder of the call to the disciples to give up everything – to be wholly devoted to being last and least to being the servant of all. To going the way of the cross. Because on the cross Christ demonstrates his devotion by being devoured. This story of the widow’s couple copper coins is really about Jesus.
His entire life is given over to death that our entire lives might be given over to life, life in abundance. His body and blood are given to us in this bread and wine. Bread & wine, which like the oil and flour from the widow of Zarapheth in our 1st lesson – never run out. In times of greatest famine – of hopelessness, of fear and uncertainty, when we are at the end of our lives – the bread and wine is given for us to devour. To enjoy avidly. To be filled with abundance of life. When we have nothing left, that is when God’ presence is most fully revealed and God’s provision is provided. God’s grace comes to us when we’ve lost it all. When our could ofs become should ofs. Grace is for those who have nothing to give, no corporate ladder to climb, no appearances left to maintain.
Last, least, and servant of all. That is the call of the cross. That is the call of the crucified. That is our calling. To give our entire lives. To give of ourselves not out of our abundance, but out of the very center of who we are. Christ as our center, our body, our blood we have confidence that we can give abundantly because we are sustained by God’s Spirit. Showing our devotion to the One who is devoured. Showing our devotion to those whom the world devours. The children who die of hunger and thirst and disease that are treatable. The women whose bodies are exploited as a commodity. The friends and family whose lives are full of famine and hopelessness.
No, today’s lesson is not about money. It’s not about stewardship drives and budgets. It’s about much more. The good news today is about Jesus giving his entire life to us. And in response we are called to give ours. Not out of abundance, but abundantly. For we have life to the fullest because of Christ’s death and resurrection, through this baptism where we bathe, in this meal we share.
May you go out this day full of life. May you go out this day confident that God will provide for you in your days of famine. May you go out this day and give your entire life, as you already are doing in so many different places and ways. May you go out this day trusting in Christ’s entire life given over for you and for the sake of the world.
