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Sermon for Sunday 8 November 2015

FIRST READING       1 Kings 17:8-16 8

The word of the LORD came to [Elijah,] saying, 9“Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.” 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

PSALM                Psalm 146

1 Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3 Put not your trust in rulers, in mortals in whom there is no help. 4 When they breathe their last, they return to earth, and in that day their thoughts perish. 5 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help, whose hope is in the LORD their God; 6 who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; who keeps promises forever; 7 who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger. The LORD sets the captive free. 8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD cares for the stranger; the LORD sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked. 10 The LORD shall reign forever, your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!

SECOND READING               Hebrews 9:24-28 2 4

Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

GOSPEL                         Mark 12:38-44 38

As [Jesus] taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” 41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Michael Corleone and the Widow

Many of you remember the 1970s motion picture, The Godfather. It’s was chilling film about an aging patriarch of an organized crime family who transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son, Michael. As the film progresses, we see what this responsibility, and the power that goes with it, does to Michael’s soul. The closing scene of The Godfather is particularly memorable. Of all things it’s a baptismal scene in which Michael Corleone’s nephew is being baptized. Michael is there participating, ironically, as the child’s godfather. As the baptism is taking place, the film cuts to images showing the murders of the heads of five Mafia families, murders that Michael has ordered. The images imply that the murders and the baptism occur at the same time. The vast irony between the different scenes is striking. As the juxtaposition of the baptism and the gruesome murders takes place, the music and voice of the priest seems to get louder and louder with each murder. The priest’s voice reaches it loudest point when the priest asks Michael if he rejects the glamour of evil and if he rejects satan and all of his works. The scene cuts and shows Michael’s rivals being murdered by his men. The guns blasting throughout the scene are very loud as well and the end of the scene cements the idea that Michael is now the new head of the Corleone crime family. Some of you may recall that powerful scene. It’s one of the most dramatic portrayals ever filmed–not only of corruption and violence–but of sheer hypocrisy as well. A baby is being baptized while its godfather is having his rivals murdered. However, one commentator suggests that the contrast of these merciless images from The Godfather is no more jarring than the words of Jesus in today’s gospel lesson. Speaking of some of the teachers of the Law in His time, Jesus says, “They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.” This certainly is a disturbing contrast–“devouring widows’ houses and saying long prayers.” I personally have been guilty of saying a long prayer or two, and devouring some unhealthy junk food, but I hope I’ve never been guilty of devouring any widow’s house. But what exactly is Jesus talking about? For one, Jesus was warning the people of His day to watch out for those teachers of the law who seek praise from people while at the same time abusing their privileges. Listen again to what’s recorded in Mark’s Gospel: As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.” On the surface, all of this seems rather harmless, though somewhat hypocritical–“flowing robes and important seats.” But who among us doesn’t like to wear nice clothes and be treated with honor–whether we’re a pastor or a lay person? Who doesn’t desire the best seats in the sanctuary, at the track or at the football stadium? All of us enjoy a sense of importance. It’s Jesus’ next charge that’s the one that’s so jarring. Jesus says of these same religious leaders, “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.” Then Jesus adds, “These men will be punished most severely.” It’s bad enough that these so-called spiritual leaders are self-serving and self-centered, but to “devour a helpless person’s house and then pretend to be pious? How could they get away with such a thing? We’re told that some of these religious bureaucrats were employed, in Jesus’ time, in making wills and conveyances of property. And because some were less than honest, they abused their position. When a man died, these officers of the temple made a visit to the man’s widow under the guise of counseling her about settling her husband’s estate. In those days, the wife didn’t necessarily inherit her deceased husband’s property or money. People often left their whole fortune to the temple, and a good deal of the temple money went, in the end, to these deceitful clergy. It was a despicable practice, and Jesus gave it the condemnation that it deserved. This of course, isn’t something new, such practices occur even today. Television crime shows will often portray greedy clergy taking advantage of weak, vulnerable people. This, too, is a despicable practice. Of course, producers of these shows unfairly characterize the many thousands of clergy who faithfully serve their people every day, some under very difficult conditions. But, like it or not, there are, of course, a few rotten apples in every barrel. Pastor Scott Knowlton gives us one example. Scott tells about a well-known pastor who was supposed to go to a prison to talk to the prisoners. A problem arose when the people wanting to bring him into the prison and this man of the cloth couldn’t agree on the money he was to receive. The result? He didn’t go and minister to those in the prison. To me this is inexcusable. It’s intolerable for any minister to refuse, on grounds of pay, to visit a prison since visiting prisoners is one of the directives of the Gospel. But it happens. Knowlton also tells about watching a televangelist soliciting gifts for his ministry. He was offering to “give” his viewers a study Bible . . . for a $125 gift to his ministry. That’s a pretty expensive Bible. Of course it came with a promise that anyone who gave money to the ministry would receive a hundredfold in return. I guess convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff had nothing on this evangelist. Fleecing gullible religious people out of their money via television is just as evil as “devouring widows’ houses” was in Jesus time. These teachers of the Law, that Jesus described, abused their influence with widows. They took advantage of their helpless condition and confiding character to obtain possession of their property. The fact that they did so in the name of religion makes their sin particularly odious. As Jesus said, “These men will be punished most severely.” One translation infers they will be damned to hell. For me the fact that they used long prayers to hide their cynical practices multiplies the offensiveness of their sin. A trusted leader that is a liar is shameful, a trusted leader that is a liar and a thief is disgraceful, but a trusted leader that is a liar and thief that takes advantage of the helpless is beyond contempt. Jesus passed sentence on those who do such things; “They will receive the greater condemnation.” But what’s especially interesting is what comes next, and it’s important. At this point in our lesson for today, we have a most amazing transition that simply can’t be accidental. The scene cuts from the court of the Gentiles, where Jesus has been conducting His public teachings, and where He’s been condemning religious leaders who take advantage of vulnerable people, to the court of the women which Jesus enters after making these sharp denunciations. Against the wall of this courtyard are 13 trumpet-shaped vessels for collecting the freewill offerings of the people. Jesus is observing how the Passover crowd is putting their money into the temple treasury. In contrast to the many wealthy people who are giving large amounts of gold and silver coins, His attention zooms in on one poor widow . . . a woman whose name we do not even know. She is dropping into one of the temple vessels two small coins. Lepta, they were called. A lepton was the smallest bronze Jewish coin in circulation, worth one penny each. In comparison to the large sums of gold and silver, her gift was miniscule. But that’s the view of the average observer. Jesus, on the other hand, looked at her gift, given in secret and without any show and praise from other worshippers, solemnly says, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything–all she had to live on.” In other words, she gave the church her last two cents. She gave everything she had. We say, “What wonderful faith in God”–and it was. But here’s what both disturbs me and yet also gives me hope. What if she was one of the widows who had actually been victimized by an unethical temple official? Consider that for a moment. She may have been giving her last few cents while, at the same time, she may have had every right to be angry with the religious authorities. There are people in churches even today who have been hurt by clergy or other church leaders, or perhaps by the church itself. Oh, it may have been unintentional. The vast majority of pastors I know are ethical, caring people. But sadly, not all. And some churches are quite rigid and judgmental. As is often said, the church is the only army that shoots its wounded. What is the response of Christian lay people who have been hurt by someone who is considered to be a representative of the church? Many drop out, to be sure. But, thankfully, some hang in there. They stay committed to the church. Somehow they’re able to separate their hurt by someone in the church from their commitment to God and to the church. And they are greatly to be praised. Certainly this widow in the temple that day was faithful in her commitment. So much so that Jesus noticed her and held her up as an example for others. She was faithful in spite of the fact that she could have easily had issues with the church. And, she also could have been angry with God. It would have been very human for her to have issues with God as well as the temple. After all, she was a widow. She could easily have blamed God for taking her husband away from her. I’m sure there are many here today who know people who blamed God for taking away a loved one? It happens and it’s quite understandable and very human. This widow also could have also been angry with God over her poverty. That happens as well. In fact, people get angry with God over many things large and small. One man tells about an incident that occurred when he was about 7 years old. He lived on a dairy farm and he was given the responsibility for bringing the milk cows in from the pasture to be milked each day after school. They separated the milk cows from the other cattle that were allowed to stay out in the pasture to graze. On one particular afternoon the milk cows just didn’t want to come in. They wanted to stay with the others. The man says he would get one or two headed the in right direction and then they would run and circle back. When he chased after them they would dodge to the side and stand looking at him as though they were engaged in some sort of game. This young man got madder and more frustrated as he tried to herd these cows and became exhausted from running and shouting. Finally, with tears running down his cheeks and his face red with anger, he stopped, looked straight up into the sky and shouted, “It’s all your fault up there!” He just knew, he says, that God was up there and could have done something about this problem but for some reason God didn’t seem to be paying attention to his problem with the cows. He had this powerful sense that God knew everything about him but that afternoon God just wasn’t helping. Now, we could pass this off as the immature theology of a seven-year-old child, but haven’t many of us felt the same way as adults? Life can sometimes be quite rough, and God sometimes seems non-responsive. Getting angry with God occurs more often than we’d like to admit. What’s amazing is that there are so many people who have been hurt by life or hurt by the church who don’t transfer their feelings of anger to God. Oh they may have felt that way at one time in their life, but somehow their faith has conquered their feeling of perceived betrayal. With time they have both remembered and discovered that God is the best friend they could have in a time of hurt. You may have heard me mention a man named Victor Frankl before. Frankl was a Jewish psychologist who was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during WW II. While seeking to survive the horror of this imprisonment, Frankl began observing his fellow prisoners in the hope of discovering what coping mechanism would help him endure this horrendous existence. What Frankl discovered was this: those individuals who could not accept what was happening to them, who could not make their present suffering fit with their faith, who could not find its meaning in their worldview . . . they despaired, lost hope, and eventually gave up and died. But it was those individuals who could find a meaning from their faith to fit their circumstances, who were then able to find hope for a future beyond their present suffering, and so could accept what they were enduring as a part of their existence, and they survived. This poor widow, who caught Jesus’ attention, was evidently in that latter group. She was able to incorporate her present condition into her faith and find meaning in it. And so her faith in God remained strong. She knew when she threw her last two cents in the offering plate that God would provide for her. She would survive. She was a woman of courage, of maturity and of a strong faith. And Jesus praised her because she gave out of her poverty and gave everything, while others had given out of their abundance at little cost to them. In giving to God sacrificially and for no acclaim or to be seen by others, she completely trusted God to provide for her needs. Jesus used her example to teach His disciples the value God places on wholehearted commitment. It’s no accident that Mark put these two very different stories side by side. . . One story about religious men who took advantage of peoples’ piety, especially widows, and actually stole from them . . . They would be severely punished, said Jesus. The other story . . . about one of these widows who may have been taken advantage of . . . Jesus praised her for her total commitment to God. Although she had practically nothing left, she gave what she had to God. Few people are capable of her kind of faith. As Jesus said about the widow, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything . . . .” These two stories, set in contrast to each other, are certainly something to ponder. When it comes to how we treat others, do we smile as we stab them in the back? And when it comes to how much we trust God, is our faith as strong as the widow’s? Amen.

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