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A sermon is a manner of oral communication and therefore words and sentence structure/order would be added, altered, or deleted at the moment of delivery. + In Nomine Jesu + The Rev. Evan Gaertner 23rd Sunday after Pentecost “The Devoured Widow Returns” If I told you to beware of T.V. Evangelists that where too much T.V. makeup and seemingly only desire to get more people to donate money for their latest rolls-royce, probably you would say, “That’s a no-brainer, not very profound pastor.” The scribes in the New Testament make for an easy target, but they were not a target that everyone was bold to speak publicly about. A scribe was someone who had been trained in reading the scriptures. The scriptures in Hebrew included no vowels, and quite often many words were replaced with abbreviations. So the public reading of scripture required the special skills of scribe. Through that public position of reading the scriptures the Scribes gained power and prestige. The Scribes gained power not just in the setting of the synagogue but in the whole community. Jesus notes that they have abused that public position because they enjoy so much to walk around in long robes and like being greeted in the marketplaces and having the best seats at church. We may from our position of hindsight look at this image of scribes and say to ourselves what fools those scribes must have been. It almost seems silly that Jesus would have to warn us about the pompous scribes. Like duh? I know…Jesus is not being all that profound. But Jesus uses the obvious possibly to help us see what we don’t want to see as obvious in our own lives. Consider this woman that drops in two coins and compare her to the many rich people putting in large sums. Jesus knows our hypocrisy too well. Think if a woman quietly dropped two coins in our collection plate and the same day a man dropped in 20,000 dollars. Would we notice the woman’s contribution in an equal way. There are budgets to balance, boilers to pay for, hymnals to fill our pews. Praise and attention to the large donor is only natural. Shame on us for laughing at the ridiculous scribes with their long flowing robes and need for attention. While we may be able to hide our pride and desire for attention better than some, we too feed off being noticed. Casinos certainly have figured out the importance of cajoling the high roller. We don’t want to turn around this story of the widow who gives a penny as a story of virtue. As if saying, “she gave her all, why can’t you?” That would make us no better than the scribes that devour the widow’s houses with their manipulation. The story of the widow I do not believe is a story of character virtue told by Jesus for us to model our own lives. That of course is the tendency in the church, to turn the widow and her penny into a motivation for us to give. But if I do that I more am likely to engender giving by guilt and shame instead of giving with a thankful heart. The widow is not first a model for our behavior but she is given by Jesus to point to what he is going to do. Consider the context of this widow putting her money into the treasury. Jesus has just told us about the scribes that are devouring widow’s houses. He told us to beware of the scribes because of what they have done to the widows. Then he presents as an example at the treasury a widow who has nothing more than a penny. Her offering is her whole self to be used by the Lord for his purposes. This would puts in more than the rich men. Is this just because in terms of percentage she gave all her possessions or can we also consider that she is there even in the first place? Regardless of how she has been abused and manipulated by the Scribes she remains faithful to the Lord God. This vulnerable, devoured, widow is still faithfully going to the temple and placing her offering to the Lord. It is a remarkable statement of faith that she is able to see God at work even through the cloud of witnesses of Scribes that have worked to put themselves forward. I am more amazed at her returning to the temple than by whether she gives anything at all. She has been devoured by the scribes but she still returns faithfully to worship her Lord. NOW Let’s take a moment and look not at the woman but the man who speaks these words, Jesus. When Jesus goes to the cross he will be orphaned from his father, crying out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken.” Indeed he experiences on the cross the separation that our sin brings to our relationship with God. On the cross he has been placed into the position of the widow that has been devoured by the deceit of the Scribes. Jesus puts himself willingly on the cross into the position of the victim of all the world’s sins. He willingly becomes devoured by the world upon the cross. Then three days later he breaks from the tomb. No longer devoured by the world but alive for the world. Now take a look again at the widow that Jesus observes. She becomes not a model of what we should do, but in fact a symbol of what Jesus will do. Instead of pointing to the widow to guilt you into giving everything, I want to point you to Jesus to show you that he did give everything. He is faithful. As the widow that had been devoured of her home and all that she possessed returned faithful to the Lord. Our Lord and Savior was devoured upon the cross by our sin and guilt. He returns three days later faithful to the purposes of God to restore us to the Instead of trying to urge people to give like the widow gives to the treasury, I give thanks to our heavenly father that he gave his one and only begotten son, Jesus. Jesus sacrificed himself for me, though I am a sinner, in fact someone participating in devouring him by my pride and arrogance. Greater love than this has never been known. The shame of not being able to give in the same way as that widow is replaced by thankfulness that Jesus gave himself for me. I do not want people to give their offering of time or money to this congregation out of shame or a desire to be seen by others. I point you to Jesus and see that though we would attempt to devour God with our sin and pride, he still gives himself. Jesus is devoured on the cross but three days later he is alive and returns to his disciples to continue to build the With thankfulness and praise we hold onto Jesus. We love because we have been loved. We give because we have been given. Soli Deo Gloria -->> Home |
