Sunday, November 11, 2018

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44

Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God.

I posted this joke on my Facebook page yesterday: “If I don’t post a selfie or mark “Voted” on Facebook, does that mean my vote won’t count?” A Christian satire site called The Babylon Bee posted an article that confirmed my suspicion. Of course, their article was also a joke. My vote counted whether or not I made a grand show of doing my patriotic duty. I did notice that my timeline was filled with people who were posting selfies and marking themselves as having voted. I have done it in the past, but have to admit that I was so burnt out by this election that I didn’t really care to put yet another post about it online. One friend set off a lengthy discussion about whether it was good or bad to post on social media. He took the position that the posting was little more than a self-congratulatory act. Others disagreed and felt that posting encouraged others to go to the polls.

There are those who truly think it is a bad thing, that it is what has recently been termed “virtue signaling.” Virtue signaling is defined by the Urban Dictionary, “to take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a good cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else.” I tend to look at people’s actions with more grace than this, believing that people are posting for all the right reasons, not to make themselves look better than their neighbors.

I thought about this idea of virtue signaling when I read the first half of this week’s Gospel lesson. Jesus warned the people to beware of the scribes because they acted in ways to make themselves look good to the world. “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts: those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.”

At this point in the book of Mark, Jesus was on his way toward the cross. He had entered Jerusalem triumphantly, but He was doing things that upset the powers of the world. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the leaders, how they walked around looking for compliments, acting high and mighty, using their power to harm the weak. They took advantage of widows by seeking payment for prayers. Jesus then noticed the crowds throwing their offerings in the coffers. I can imagine those teachers of the Law clapping people on the back, pulling them aside for private conversations, making deals in the corners as they looked for patrons to support their work.

I’m a people watcher. I like to go places and watch the people around me. It is fun to think about their lives, even though I know nothing about them. Why are they buying that watch? Are they in love? What will that child grow up to be when they are an adult? People do the craziest things, and if we are attentive to the world around us, we often have a front row seat to the joke, or the joy, or even the pain. And by being attentive, we can be a part of their lives, perhaps share a smile, or a tear. We don’t even have to speak to them to have a connection; sometimes it just takes a little eye contact to make a difference.

There were people watching people in the courtyard of the Temple that day. The leaders were definitely paying attention to the pilgrims. Who did they approach? Who interested them? Did they give any attention to the average pilgrim, or did they just focus on those who were well dressed and who threw great sums into the coffers? Did they even notice the widow who offered two pennies? She was probably invisible, unless they eyed her suspiciously.

There was another group of watchers in the courtyard: Jesus and His disciples. Jesus was watching the people as they gave their offerings. He knew their hearts. Jesus knew the ones who were virtue signaling, but He also saw the multitudes that were doing their duty with reverence and faith. He said nothing negative about the rich because they were generous; Mark tells us that “many who were rich cast in much.” They were generous, giving to God out of their wealth.

But Jesus paid attention to the invisible one, the widow who was lost in the crowd. We don’t know what she looked like or what she was wearing. We don’t know if she was a foreign pilgrim or a local. We don’t know if she was alone in that courtyard or if she’d traveled with a crowd of family and friends. We only know that she gave two pennies as an offering to God and that it was all she had. And we know that Jesus saw her. In this courtyard full of people, she caught His eye. He lifted her up as a woman with extraordinary faith. The lesson we learn is that we can be like her, giving everything to Him, even when it seems insignificant, trusting that He’ll take care of us. Despite the small amount, the widow’s gift was greater than all the others because she gave God her entire wealth.

Jesus saw her. Through all those crowds, He picked out the one person whom everyone else probably ignored. He saw the one who had no earthly worth. That’s what God does. He sees through the exterior and past the mundane; He points out value where the world might see none. She didn’t have much, but she had far more than the rest because she had great faith. That’s worth noting. Money won’t do us any good in the end. Faith is the only thing that will get us through the last days; faith will take us to the other side.

God saw the worth of another widow, as we see in the Old Testament lesson. There was extreme drought in the land where Zarephath was located. The widow was suffering. She had nothing left. She had perhaps two pennies worth of flour and oil, just enough to make one more cake for her son and herself. She had hope for a future despite being a widow because she had a son if she could keep him alive. Unfortunately, all the money in the world is useless in the midst of a drought when there is nothing to buy. No wheat in the fields meant no grain to grind. She was not the only one suffering; the whole land was suffering.

God promised Elijah, “Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.” She knew Elijah was coming, but her immediate response was fear. “I don’t have anything extra. I have just enough to eat and die.” She was not an Israelite. She did not worship the God of Elijah. I wonder what she thought when she first heard the command from God. Who are you? Why me? How will I know? Even those of us who know the Lord ask these questions. Can you imagine how hard it must have been for someone who did not believe? She should have been invisible to this God of Elijah, and yet He knew her and invited her into His plan. “Feed my prophet and you will be blessed.”

She wasn’t a woman of faith; she questioned the command. Even when she met Elijah at the gate of the city, she argued that she didn’t have enough to share. Yet, all it took was a few words of assurance from Elijah that his God would not fail her. She needed to know that this unknown God was really in the middle of this. “Go ahead. Do as you’ve been told. All is well and it will be well for you and your son.” Perhaps the widow at the Temple got the strength to give everything from similar encouraging words.

Do you ever feel invisible? Even as people of faith we can find it difficult to believe that God sees us or hears our prayers. I am nobody. I am just one person out of the billions who are currently living on earth, and just one out of the more than hundred billion people who have ever lived. Who am I that God would notice me? Who am I that God would point me out to His disciples and teach them a lesson using my life as an example? I’m probably even more invisible than those widows because I am one of the multitudes who give to God out of my wealth like the crowds in the Temple.

When things are fine, even when things are tight, most people of faith are good about giving to God first. We know it is important to give faithfully for the work of the Church in the world. There comes a time, however, when there just isn’t enough to do what needs to do be done. There are many people who are hungry, what good is one can of tuna fish? It is very easy to question charitable giving when there is not enough to money to keep the lights on. Have you ever been in a position when someone needed your generosity but you had nothing left to give? Have you ever had to trust God with such sacrificial faith that circumstances demanded everything?

I doubt that many of us are like the scribes or the widows. We are more like the crowds giving out of our wealth. The test comes when we are facing difficulty like the widow of Zarephath. When there is drought, when there is no hope, how do we respond? Is our charitable giving the first thing we drop out of our budget? Is our offering to God the last thing we pay when the money is tight? In the scribes we are reminded not to show off how much better we are than others. In the widows we see the image of faith: astonishing trust in the grace and mercy of God.

Our gifts, no matter how big they might be, are not worthy of praise. We are giving out of our wealth and God does not need anything we have to give. It is all His and He gave it to us to be good stewards for the sake of others. God deserves our first fruits, not our leftovers. Like the widow of Zarephath and the widow in the temple, faith means trusting that God will provide according to His grace. Even if those first fruits mean that we are giving “unto death” we need not fear, for God will bring great blessings out of our faith.

The psalmist reminds us that all good things come from God. “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God: who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners. Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous. Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.”

God raises those that are bowed down. This is not just about God taking care of those who are victimized, who are oppressed and outcast. God raises up those who are humble before Him, who trust that God will provide. He raises up those who give with the heart of faith, whatever our circumstances. Jesus fed the crowds whether they were poor or wealthy. He healed the sick no matter their circumstances. He raised the ruler’s daughter. He raised Lazarus. He was raised on the cross so that all who believe might be raised to the greatest gift of all, eternal life.

The stories of the widows foreshadow the work of Christ Jesus. The widows gave even their lives for the sake of others in obedience to the Word of God. The widow of Zarephath was blessed with life through the drought as the flour and oil seemed in endless supply. We do not know what happened to the widow in the temple, but when Jesus was only days away from being the final, permanent sacrifice, He showed us what it is like to sacrifice everything through her self-less giving.

For generations the priests in the temple had provided ministry to the Lord by offering sacrifices for the people. Over and over again they approached the altar with blood to atone for the sins of the people. They were paid for their services through the offerings of grain and meat; they enjoyed the fruit of the people’s labor. They benefited from the wealth of the rich. They oppressed the poor by demanding much more than necessary, claiming it was given to God. Yet, they walked with handsome robes and had fine homes. They thought themselves greater than others because they served God, yet they still needed to provide sacrifice for their own sins before they could provide for the people. The Temple was not heaven, it was merely a copy of the heavenly. The priests could never bring salvation; they were gifted and chosen to point toward the One who would truly save.

The offerings of the rich did little good; money never lasts. The priests would demand more temple tax to support their ministry to God. They would demand more animals for sacrifice, more grain and oil to present to the Lord. Sin never stopped and the blood of animals was never enough for atonement, so the sacrifices had to be repeated over and over again. Only Christ could offer the perfect sacrifice. He is the only one who could enter into God’s presence and bring salvation from sin and death. He died once and we are forgiven of all. The priests who had to offer lambs every year, but He did not have to die again and again. Jesus Christ finished the work of atonement on the cross. He gave all for the sake of others, making the ultimate sacrifice so that we might have eternal life. Now, in Christ, forgiveness is like the bottomless flour jar and oil jug. The Word of God is true and He is faithful. When we live trusting in His promises we see incredible things.

“Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God.” This is not a giddy kind of happiness, but rather the blessedness of knowing that everything we are and everything we have comes from God. The widows knew that God takes care of those who look to Him for help. They knew that He would lift those who are bowed, sustain the fatherless and widows and frustrate the way of the wicked as promised in today’s psalm. They did not put their trust in men; they submitted willingly to the Word of God and were greatly blessed. Jesus sacrificed Himself for the sake of the world, and in Christ we can join in the chorus of praise. “Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh, my soul.”