Proper 24 B
Faith to Give Two Mites
Mark 10:38-44
8 November 2015 – Redeemer
Do you like the Gospel reading today? I’ve always thought this story was a favorite. Perhaps little children hearing this story in Sunday School think, “I’m like that widow,” as they drop their little nickels and dimes into the offering.
But in reality, those two little coins are more like the two tables of the Law crashing down on our heads. (Thanks Chad Bird for the illustration). How much are you putting in the offering this morning? Are you putting more than you spent at your last meal out? Is your offering more than you spent on entertainment? Hobbies? Hunting? Retirement? This widow hits us even harder because we give out of our abundance don’t we? We’re giving a percentage of our wealth. She gave out of her poverty. Ouch. Everything she had. Double ouch.
An artist named Tissot (tea SEW) who was trying to convey the depth of this woman’s faith painted this widow as a younger woman, with a child in her arms, having dropped her last coins into the temple treasury. Triple ouch.
What shall we do with this woman? The first thing we ought to do is repent. For we are far more like the Scribes that Jesus condemns than the woman He commends. My offering is in an envelope this morning – that will get recorded, by my name, and then at the end of the year, I can deduct my offerings from my federal income tax. I’m guessing most of you do the same. I want credit for my offerings. Sound’s pretty scribe-like to me – recognition, credit, look at me. If that tax-exempt status gets taken away, if you got no deductions, what would you give? Repent.
What shall we do with this woman? Well, what does Jesus do with her? While the woman’s actions condemn us, Jesus does not. He holds her up as an example of faith. He holds her before us. “Truly, I say to you…” Whenever Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you” He means, “Quit checking your Facebook and text messages. Stop scribbling in the bulletin or daydreaming about your afternoon errands. Pay attention. Hey, God is talking here. Listen up! … this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Anyone with a simple calculator could figure out that this woman’s offering was nothing. These temple offering boxes were thirteen metal boxes with a trumpet shaped openings. You can imagine the scene – a wealthy man comes along with 20 large coins (almost as much as he spent at Fleet Farm on Orange Friday). He drops them one at a time so everyone can hear how much he is giving. Ooohs and aaahss for he has given much according to earthly measure. The poor widow with her squirming infant drops her tiny little coins, so small that one doesn’t even hit the trumpet. There’s a tiny little ting, and anyone who heard it would have said to themselves, “She might as well have kept that for herself. It’ll do her more good than the Temple.”
But that is not what Jesus sees. He sees what we cannot see. He sees the faith of this woman. It is hard for us to understand, but a widow was the worst person to be in Biblical times, not the worst in the sense of sin or evil, but the worst in the sense of place, of economy. A widow was even beneath a beggar – because it was considered immodest for a woman to beg. Now see this woman’s faith. She hung her life on the Word of God. If you take the artist Tissot’s view of her, she even hung the life of her little infant child on the Word of living God. Her offering, as Jesus sees and says, is more than all, for her offering was given in faith. All she has and is belongs to God. Her life, her future, her hope, her daily bread, her child belongs to Him.
Perhaps this NT widow remembered the OT widow she heard about in Sabbath school – the widow in Elijah’s day, who had only a little bread and a little oil. And the prophet came with the Lord’s Word – “The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” And every day it was as the Lord said.
According to the word of the Lord, by faith, every day the widow went to the jar and found flour. Every day by faith in the Word of the Lord, the widow found oil in the jug. That day in the temple courts, as Jesus was watching, the widow dropped in her two little coins, by faith in the Word of the Lord.
In today’s collect we prayed for such faith – Grant us so firmly to believe in Your Son Jesus Christ that our faith may never be found wanting. It is Jesus, the One sitting in the temple courts, the One sent from heaven, the One born of the Virgin, the One bleeding on the cross, He’s the One who gives us faith and in whom we believe. He is in the temple because He will soon be making His own offering. Jesus is only days away from offering everything He has and is, not silver or gold, but His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. He will wear no fine robe. He will hear no applause. He will get no recognition. To atone for our selfishness, Jesus gave His all, His flesh, His blood, His life for the widow, for the single mom, for the child, for the Scribes, for you. In His love, He did not hold on to anything that was His. Not His flesh, not His blood, not His throne in heaven, not His Father. At the cross He threw it all in. It made not a sound. There were no trumpets. No clanging cymbals. No recognition from heaven and no applause from earth. The crowd mocked Him and His Father was silent. Any decent person would have looked away from Jesus at the cross and been ashamed.
But faith is not ashamed to look upon Jesus. That offering takes away all your sin. That offering takes care of your life, your death, your grave, your judgment, your future. What Christ offered on the cross and what was thrown into His grave has rescued us orphans who ran away from our Father and us widows who by sin wished death upon our Creator. Every week we come with heads bowed in shame and He anoints us with the oil of gladness – His forgiveness never runs dry. Every week we hunger for life, holding out our beggarly hands, and He feeds us with the living bread of heaven – Jesus Christ our Lord. In Jesus there is always enough forgiveness for your sins, always enough life to save you from death, always enough resurrection to give you hope.
Let us pray then for faith like that widow – that we would so firmly believe in Jesus Christ that our faith would never be found wanting. In the name of Jesus. Amen.