God’s grace, peace and
mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Discipleship and
Stewardship, and my focus is our Gospel (Mark 12:38-44). Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me,
‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are standing
within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit
enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we
pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
Discipleship. Discipleship
means being a disciple, student or follower of Jesus, for He is our master
teacher. It is more than learning his teaching because a disciple must apply it
to his or her own life, and live what He taught. You are either a disciple or
you are not. There is no middle way. That said, what do we learn from Jesus in
our passage today?
There are two passages
in our Gospel that Mark linked together on the grounds of the reversal of
status which they display: in vv. 38-40 the ostentatious scribes are the
exploiters and the widows the victims, whereas in vv. 41-44 a poor widow is
used to show up the ostentation of the wealthy. The theme of ostentation is the
link.[1]
To set up our scenes,
we keep in mind Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and what he does when he
arrives at the Temple. He cleanses it, and the chief priests and scribes seek a
way to destroy him. Recall even earlier in Mark that people were amazed at
Jesus’ teaching, and exclaimed that he teaches with authority and not like the
scribes. (1:22) The scribes accused Jesus of blasphemy when he healed the
paralytic (2:7), and later as being possessed by Satan (3:22). Immediately
prior to today’s passage, a scribe asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is
(12:28-34); and with the exception of this one, all the scribes we meet in Mark
are critics of Jesus.
Here, Jesus’
denunciation of the scribes is stronger than that of the Pharisees or even
Herod; and it is not because of what they intend to do to him. Jesus’ critique
of the scribes is because they are ostentatious, exploitative and hypocritical.
This passage is polemical, but nonetheless, it is based on what Jesus saw.
The scribes took
pleasure in and desired social prominence. They loved perks. They loved to
dress up in their festive robes – often reserved for celebrations – and walk
around the marketplace. Picture someone wearing a tuxedo at Costco or Sam’s. To
sit in the front seats of the synagogue meant they were facing the congregation
in order to be seen. And because they loved to be flattered, Jesus warned his
disciples against such behavior.
On the other hand, the
vulnerability of widows is a recurrent theme in the Bible, and anyone who would
defraud a widow is despicable. We must speculate how the scribes devoured
widows’ homes. Some bilked them through excessive legal fees, mismanaging an
estate as trustees, taking people’s homes as pledges for unpayable debts, or
promoting the temple cult which ate up the sources of the pious poor. Overall,
they exploited people’s hospitality and trust.[2]
Finally, their prayers
were insincere. Before Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he said, “When
you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray
in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.”
(Mt 6:5) For all these reasons, Jesus stated that they would receive the
greater condemnation. Their punishment would be more severe than that of Pilate
and Herod, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Romans and the pagans.
Mark then shifts from
Jesus speaking polemical words against the scribes to watching people throw
their donations into the collecting chests. The continual flow of the scene
tells us that Jesus has not moved. He was in the Court of the Women. The
treasury was near it. We know this because a woman walks by and throws her
coins into the chest.
This woman was not the
only person present, but Jesus singles her out as an object lesson. What she
placed in the chest was the smallest denomination of currency. It was a copper
coin worth less than one hundredth of a denarius. Her offering was known as a kodrantes
in Greek or quadrans in Latin, and was worth about 1/64 of a denarius, a
day's wage for a laborer. In our day, the minimum wage in Pennsylvania is
$7.25/hour, or $58/day. Her contribution today would be about ninety cents.
So, when Jesus calls
his disciples and begins with, “Truly, I say to you…,” he means,
“Mark my words.” He commends the widow’s self-sacrificing generosity as an
example for all God’s people, and turns upside down the human valuation of
people.[3] What matters in God’s
sight is not what a person has, but the devotion which causes her to give even
at great personal cost, even if it is negligible in comparison with the
enormous wealth of the temple. The gift does not matter so much to God as the
giver.
Her spare change would
never be missed, and lest you miss the point of this lesson, her behavior is
contrasted not only to the rich men, but also to the rich young man. With that,
let’s turn back to the brief conversation between Jesus and his disciples after
the rich young man walked away in sorrow. (10:17ff) Jesus said, “Children,
how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the
kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to
him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and
said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are
possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything
and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one
who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or
lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now
in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and
lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many
who are first will be last, and the last first.”
The rich young man
failed to sell all that he had to give to the poor, and follow Jesus. This
widow could have kept one of her coins, but voluntarily gave all that she had.
Like the widow of Zarephath, she was without means for her next meal, but “the
jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according
to the word of the Lord.” (1 Kg 17:16) While others dropped silver and
gold coins, the widow’s two tiny copper coins resounded clearest in God’s ears.
Stewardship. Thirty-eight
years ago, I had an experience that eventually led to my Master’s thesis at
Christ the King Seminary. The title of that thesis was Responsible Christian
Stewardship. If you receive the weekly email from the church office, it was
attached. If you did not receive it, I will email it to you. It is worth
reading, especially if you want to understand this part of my sermon.
There are a few ideas
in it that I would like to highlight. Stewardship is the practice of
controlling the affairs of a large household executed by a steward. Tithe was a
practice of ancient civilizations in which one-tenth was collected to support
public or religious purposes. First fruits are related to the first born, the
one sacred to Yahweh through whom life flowed.
Prior to the Book of
Deuteronomy, the is no direct evidence regarding the tithe. Abraham’s gift to
the priest, Melchizedek, is not from his first fruits, but from the spoils of
victory over Chedorlaomer. His gift is neither demanded nor explained; it is spontaneous,
as was Jacob’s (Gen 28:22).
The tithe was meant to
offer something to God who created and owns everything, even everything you
possess. Eventually, the tithe became a way for society to care for widows,
orphans, foreigners and priests. After the Babylonian Exile and the reform of Judaism,
the tithing system was restored and reinforced.
This brings us to
today’s Gospel, which is the only place, other than instructing Peter to pay
the Temple Tax, where Jesus refers to almsgiving. But, as I pointed out
earlier, “The Widow’s Mite” cannot be separated from the condemnation of the
scribes. That there is next to nothing taught by Jesus regarding the tithe, we
should note that it gives way to a practice more important than tithing, and
that is love. The commandment of love or to love is the cornerstone of the New
Law and the new practice. Almsgiving, prayer and fasting are the Christian
elements to loving God and neighbor taught by Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount
(Mt 6).
Although we can only
conjecture why Jesus did not teach much about tithing other than a couple of
passages, my personal opinion is that there are other teachings that Jews took
for granted because they practiced them so religiously that there was no need
to speak of them. The Evangelists did not record Jesus’ teaching about
abortion, however, that does not give a Jewish or Christian teacher a pass to promote
abortion as morally acceptable. Likewise, Jesus did not teach a lot about
tithing, but it’s more than covered in the Sermon on the Mount, the Dialogue
with the Rich Young Man, and the Widow’s Mite under the teaching of love of God
and neighbor.
St. Paul did write
about stewardship. In 2nd Corinthians 8-9, Paul appealed for a
collection for the saints in Jerusalem. Remember that Paul’s primary activity
was preaching the Gospel; the collection was secondary. His desire was to bring
together the various Christian communities, and the collection was an
expression of love of God and neighbor, even if they were in another country.
Christians in
Macedonia exceeded Paul’s expectations because they gave in a way that was
incompatible with their poverty. Their joyful attitude was an important factor
in stewardship. Paul’s writings also show us that he never commanded Christians
to give; rather, he appealed to them. Do not confuse this with prosperity
theology, but one who gives cheerfully is gifted with God’s blessings.
On the other hand, one
who does not thank God for graces received is morally and religiously corrupt
(Rom 1:18ff.). Because Paul’s appeal flowed from his preaching of the Gospel,
we see that he was motivated by the Gospel to bridge these communities into
one, and this left an everlasting impact on the Church. That brings me to
Stewardship.
Step back and look at
the vast horizon that everything is God’s and nothing is ours. Those golf clubs
that I gave to my son-in-law or grandson that he later sold are no longer mine,
and even if they are, they will belong to someone else when I am dead. Nothing
belongs to me, and everything to God. Yet, I am a steward of what belongs to
God and is entrusted to me by God.
That includes more
than my property and belongings. I am called to be a good steward of my spouse
and family. They belong to God, and God has entrusted them to my care for the
time being. I care for them not only by providing them with basic human needs –
food, shelter and so on – but also the higher needs – the desire to advance
their intellect and skills. As a parent or teacher, I encourage young people,
especially children, to study, read, research, write and speak publicly.
As a pastor, I am
called to provide you not only with what Scripture and Jesus teach, but also
how you can apply it to your daily living. Do you spend more time in Wordle
than you do in the Word? Set aside time for prayer and reading the Bible. Do
you love God and neighbor by living the Ten Commandments? Do you understand
them, the Creeds, the Lord’s Prayer and the Sacraments by reviewing the Small
Catechism? Do you seek forgiveness from your spouse or neighbor? Do you enrich
your marriage and family relationships by listening to loved ones without
interrupting them? Do you teach personal and communal responsibility to young
people?
As a member of this
congregation, how do you practice stewardship? Do you serve as an elder, usher,
greeter, acolyte or altar guild member? Do you pitch in when needed and without
being asked? Do you speak highly of other church members to outsiders? Do you
purchase goods for the food pantry when you shop? As a church council member,
do you seek how to better communicate with the congregation? Do you plan and
provide current written reports? And finally, do you use the Mite Boxes to
support Lutheran missions?[4]
There are many areas
where each of us can better steward God’s gifts that we should practice. Care
for widows, orphans, forgotten or neglected elderly people and unborn persons. Join
others who promote the right to life and security to our nation’s citizens. Seek
the Truth that only Christ provides. Share the Good News of the Gospel with
those who really need to hear that Christ freed them from eternal condemnation.
Friends, God gave us Law and Gospel. As stewards, take time this week and share
them with those who need them, and when you do may the peace of God which surpasses all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
