The Suffering Widow

The church and money, money and the church. It seems inevitable that the topic of church funding and believer tithing should crop up. And as I was researching for this very sermon I discovered that the Disciple's lectionary included the text regarding the offering of the poor widow. So here I was, wavering between the lectionary text and the distaste for preaching on such a “tricky” topic. I have never been one to take church offering and donation lightly. I recognize its importance in the life of any church. I also understand the importance of committing financially to this church at this particular time in its history. However, I find it very challenging to encourage other's to give, especially when it can be construed that faith, grace, or salvation is somehow intricately related to the value or sincerity of the gift. In fact, it is not only this possibility that makes me wary, but it is also the very presence of such a perspective in our culture today. There are churches all over our nation and ministries all over the world which equate financial offering and faith, wealth and blessing.

Where might you find this theological understanding? Maybe you have stumbled upon a televangelist on a sleepless night. If you have, you probably sat and listened to their captivating stories of faith, blessing, and healing. They offer their message with power and passion, confidently attempting to bring about a new faith within television viewers. I often sense their energy and listen for their solutions to life's most difficult problems. And maybe you have done the same. Many times as I skip from channel to channel looking for something worthwhile to watch, I stumble upon a zealous preacher proclaiming the transforming power of Christ and promising their viewers unfathomable riches and blessings.

I hear stories of broken—and often broke—individuals who have received blessing—often financial—from giving their lives over to God. The televangelist time and time again instructs his or her viewers to have a true faith measured by the willingness of financial donation. The televangelist confidently promises that healing, blessing, and riches are promised to those who give of themselves, specifically through monetary contributions to God's work. And what better way to give to God's work than to give heartily to the very program or network that has inspired the new-found faith? After a few stories of miraculous healings attributed to the financial gifts of disease ridden Christians, we are asked to follow the words of Old Testament prophets and give so that God might give unto us. We are left with the promises of God seeming so close. All that needs to be done is call the telephone number and pledge an amount. We are told that sowing this seed will bring us the fruit of our grandest desires. Desires that God wants to and will satisfy, provided we give enough.

If you are familiar with this process, you may understand its peculiar use and interpretation of certain biblical texts. This message, often named the “Health and Wealth Gospel,” establishes a financial relationship between God and believer. Here, the gifts of believers demonstrate the faith required to receive further blessing from God. Thus, the conclusion is that healing and wealth can only come when individuals test the limits of their financial security. This is often supported by texts from the Hebrew Bible along with scattered New Testament passages.

But I can't help but ask myself a few important questions: Is God's Blessing that of financial riches or spiritual growth? Can God bless us without giving us wealth, health, or security? Is it possible for our faith to be adequately measured by the degree of monetary investment we make within a ministry or organization? Despite the message of the televangelist, there are more ways to demonstrate our Faith than with gifts to TBN or other televised ministries. Moreover, God's blessing is not limited to financial wealth or physical healing. There is power and richness in suffering and persecution. In addition, there is an equally great need for gifts of time, participation, and effort to ministries in our local community, in our state, in our nation, and abroad. When we boil down the message of the Health and Wealth Gospel, we see a suspect relationship between God and Humanity along with a suspicious accumulation of funds by televangelists and their organizations.

This is the very shaky theology that makes me hesitant to preach a sermon on tithing and our financial responsibility to the church and its ministry. But it is also this very misconception of church finance and believer tithing that inspires me to touch on this subject. And what better way to tackle such a topic than with a text that is often misinterpreted. Our passage this morning is repeatedly used to inspire everyone, poor and rich, young and old, ignorant and wise to make enormous financial sacrifice for the church and God's ministry. What is omitted, what is left out, is the very context of this passage and the attitude of Jesus toward the religious system that is being described. Today, this morning, you have the opportunity to witness the radical nature of Jesus' ministry and his passionate displeasure with the social ills that pervaded the religious scene. We will observe a dedicated widow, but we will not overlook the corrupt system that drove widows into destitution and poverty.

Turn with me to our text this morning.

Mark 12:38-40

If you have joined us in bible study over the past few weeks, you will remember that as we studied the book of Matthew the theme of “Hypocrisy” became extremely important to Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus sought inner purity and motive, not outer demonstration for the good of personal glory. Jesus lambasted the empty actions of the religious leaders of his day, something that surely left those very leaders frustrated and angry. Here, in our passage this morning, we find Mark portraying Jesus in much the same light. Jesus, fed up with religious hypocrisy, teaches his disciples not to follow in that folly. He cautions them against the scribes who walk around in long robes and are greeted publicly in the marketplace. These robes would have been readily understood by Mark's readers as lavish dressings made for show and display. The greetings in the marketplace involved common Jewish worshipers prostrating themselves in front of the religious leaders to kiss their feet. The vanity and excess of the scribes, pharisees and religious leaders of the day appears to have driven Jesus virtually insane.

Thus, Jesus' message was not only aimed at his disciples, but it seems to be a radical call for change in the religious system of the day; a system that not only thrives on vanity and worldly glory, but also exploits the weak and vulnerable to achieve this goal. Here, in verse 40, Jesus explicitly mentions the widows' houses being devoured by the scribes. This is not to mean that the scribes ate people's homes, but rather that the estates of widows were being exploited to benefit the religious leaders of the time. Often, widows were looked after by the “scribes” and Jesus seems to understand that they were being taken advantage of; used for their possessions and monies to support a religious system that paraded in vanity and hypocrisy.
Given Jesus' displeasure for the religious leaders and their actions, we turn to a specific example of scribal exploitation. Return with me to our text. Verse 41.

Given the context of Jesus' recent teachings, it is almost as if Jesus is bringing his disciples on a field trip to witness the plight of the widow as a definitive example of poor religious leadership and an exploitive religious system. The widow, in all her poverty and need, gives to the offering offering box just as the rich give. But what is amazing here is two-fold: the first important thing to notice here is traditionally understood as the perseverance and virtue of the widow, who having nothing, still gives to God what she feels to be God's. There are no excuses for this woman who willfully sacrifices the source of her future livelihood, all that she has left. She has given out of her poverty more than any of the rich have given out of their abundance.

This first observation usually leads to the conclusion that we, in our abundance, have much that we can give and few excuses to fall back on. The church and God's ministry needs money and offerings and we should be willing to go great lengths to provide such support and funding. However, this is one interpretation I do not believe to be complete unless we fully understand the total intent of Jesus in teaching about this event. Jesus' final words are this: “Truly I say to you, 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 that she had to live on”... and although Jesus does not use the following expression, the context and the mood of Jesus' words seem to be adequately concluded with the phrase: “What a shame!” Jesus is not only drawing our attention to a virtuous widow, but also to the evils of a system where a widow, who should be the recipient of these offerings is actually a contributor. The widow, in all her destitution is still expected to contribute even though it will break her. And this system not only exploits such people as these, but it does so while maintaining a false disguise of piety and religiosity. Ultimately, Jesus is revealing the evils of the religious leadership by not only pointing out their personal flaws and weaknesses, their hypocrisy, but also reveals the systematic evil of a religious society which perpetuates poverty and suffering instead of alleviating it.

This radical message of Jesus may be the very source for his arrest and eventual crucifixion. What we witness in these texts is a man who passionately seeks to overturn the evil, not just personally in individual instruction, but collectively in social reform. Jesus calls for the end of social injustice and exploitation as much as he does for personal purity and repentance. Like a prophet of the Hebrew Bible Jesus makes lasting statements about the nature of society and its religious circumstances. These are not to be taken lightly or swept away to be ignored. Jesus is a radical who brings a profound message aimed at transforming not only people, but peoples. This is a message that will change both individuals and the world.

So today, as we think about our offering and tithing, let us remember the plight of the poor widow. We are not asked to sacrifice our livelihood for the good of the church. No, the church's very aim is to maintain, sustain, and even create the livelihood of its people for the Glory of God. The offering plate should not be seen as an over-whelming source of hardship and suffering. Rather the offering plate should be a beacon of Hope and Love, Grace and Mercy. We who are not in a circumstance of financial poverty should be joyfully willing to give a portion of the abundant blessing we have received already from God. Not so that we might receive more from God, even though we might, but to provide for the ministry of a church that relies on the contributions of its members.

Finally, let us not forget that the contributions we offer extend beyond tithing. God asks that we give to our religious community, and this giving can take many forms. This church desperately needs your time, effort, and energy. This church, as it moves forward with important and lasting projects, begs for your willingness and dedication in many aspects beyond money. Ministry requires people willing to minister, and as much as money can minister, money needs people or it loses its voice and character. Money does not talk, people talk. Money does not comfort, people comfort. Money does not encourage, people encourage. Money does not have a helping hand, people have hands. Money is not God's Love, people must be God's Love. Thus, do not feel as though God requires money for salvation, or that if you cannot give that you are somehow spiritually inferior. God's favor does not rest in wealth and health, but in hope and love.

However, we should also notice that because we have such abundance, we must be willing to give back to God what is truly God's. We cannot excuse ourselves from giving to the church. If we do not have money, give effort and energy. If we lack energy and effort, give time. But do not think that money is all the church needs. And for those of us who do have money, who have been blessed abundantly by the most high God, please give joyfully to the One who sustains your livelihood in generosity. We have much to offer, let us not hinder the work of God out of our selfish ambition and desire for personal gain. We gain only in the Love of God, and that Love is found not only in our personal ministry, but in the collective ministry of this Church. May that be a powerful transforming ministry for the Glory of God. Amen.

Let us Sing.

Benediction:

May the God of Grace and Peace give us strength and courage to pursue God's everlasting Cause of Righteousness and Justice. May the Most High God provide us the means to make such glorious Kingdom a reality. Let us not squander such means, but may we recognize that all we have is truly God's so that we may further God's Will and Way. There are many gifts we have to offer, may we not hoard them up to maintain our own glory, but may we offer them to God's work, to toil in sacrifice and hardship for the Glory of God. For it is in God that all things are given, and in God all things are one day returned. May we wholly step into the offering plate this morning. Amen.