The debate amongst the
pastors this week studying this Gospel to prepare for preaching, was whether it
was a good thing that the widow gave all she had to live on or not. Is
she someone to be emulated and admired, or are we supposed to see that the
systems, the governments and churches we are part of, hurt vulnerable people
sometimes, or even often.
Let's look first at
the Widow of Zarephath. There is a drought in the land. The
drought is caused by the Israelite King Ahab's disobedience. It is affecting
those nearby. His actions are having consequences for those who have no
say. God's prophet is instructed to go the unbelievers, these Canaanites, who
are not outside God's love and care. He indeed finds someone there who is
faithful to God, who cares about others, even though she only has a little, and
who is generous in a moment when she had almost nothing. So God points to
the Woman, the widow of Zarephath as an example to all of us about how to learn
from unexpected people, people who have little, people outside our faith, and
to be sure to tend to their needs to decrease their suffering and the suffering
of vulnerable people. This is a woman to emulate, to share what we have,
to build relationship, to have faith in difficult times. Even more, this
is a prophet to emulate, going to people who are suffering, seeing that they do
have something to offer, value in their lives, and asking them to be a part of
the revealing of the Kingdom of God.
So back to the Gospel,
we are first warned. Beware! Watch out for, do not be drawn in by
people in long robes who pray long prayers and like to get attention. We
are warned against leaders in government and leaders in our churches who are
there to take for themselves and their friends--power, money, attention, to
puff themselves up, give themselves security, amass power. They devour
widow's houses. In taking for themselves, they hurt other people, they
hurt vulnerable people who have no safety net. They take from those who
have already lost almost everything, believing that no one will hold them
accountable or notice.
Our faith tells us to
notice. The scripture is full of reminders to look out for widows,
foreigners, and all those in need. Our faith gives us a conscience.
It reminds us that we were once foreigners, the Israelites in the Exodus moving
through the desert, depending on others. Abraham, moving in his old age
from his spot to follow God's call, a foreigner through many towns and cities,
depending on people's kindness. Many of you have traveled and found a
welcome, helpful people willing to give directions or share a table. And
when you have not been welcomed, it is a moment of reflection, to ask ourselves
what we want to be like. Do we want to be welcoming or not? We have
a choice to be kind and compassionate or selfish and rude.
Beware of those who
like to get attention and power for themselves and take from poor people and
those who are hurting. Jesus is now seated opposite the treasury at the
Temple and he notices something very few people would. Here are these
leaders, marching up and down and make a big deal about themselves, when
someone small enters the scene. It reminds of the Richard Scarry book
where you would always be on the lookout, was a it a little bug hidden on each
page? Here comes this person, not calling attention to herself, the
opposite of these leaders, and she has two small coins, all she had to live on,
and she puts them in the treasury.
What's going on
here? First of all, she doesn't put them in or donate them or even give
them. She throws them in. This doesn't seem like an act of
generosity. She doesn't seem happy about it or gentle, even. It
could be that this is her Temple tax, that this is how much she owes in order
to have access to God through the Temple system. She is paying into a
system that is supposed to have her back. How often are churches, houses
of worship, willing to receive offerings, and then unwilling to give back, to
look out for people who are hungry and suffering and losing their houses?
We don't know what
happens to this woman. She throws in all she had to live on, into a
system that may or may not have her back, may or may not be faithful to
her. Maybe she is hopeful that the religious people will be faithful and
do what God commands. Maybe she knows that is unlikely. More than
that it is a challenge to us. In what ways does our church notice,
support, and help those who are hurting, who are losing everything? In
what ways does our government notice, support, and help those who are hurting
and losing everything? In what ways do we take, take, take from those who
have less to build up our own power and money and attention?
There is a difference
between giving to the church and giving to God. Churches are
imperfect. Churches are institutions that don't see people and their
suffering. Churches are working to keep themselves afloat and increase
their power and money. But churches can be full of people who care, and
people who are paying attention to who is in need. People can give
themselves away, make sacrifices for the sake of people like this widow.
Churches are institutions that may sometimes help and sometimes harm, run by
people, who are invited through the scriptures to be like Jesus.
We are first invited
to notice like Jesus. That's the major good news in this Gospel.
Jesus notices this woman and the tiny contribution she makes. He notices
her suffering, her defiance, perhaps, in throwing in the coins. And Jesus
knows where her story goes from here, the stories of all the people who fell
through the cracks, and the stories of all who were received into community and
cared for. Jesus notices. Jesus sees. And Jesus sees and
holds accountable all who ignore the poor, oppress the foreigner, and refuse
those who are hungry and in need. Jesus even works through us, to point
out and hold accountable our institutions, whether they are doing harm or
helping those most in need.
And we are invited to
give like Jesus. We are invited, as churches, as the body of Christ, to
give all we have to live on, to give it away, to bring new life, to die to sin
and selfishness, and to rise to new, abundant life. This widow today is a
Christ figure, giving all she had and holding nothing back, but
she shouldn't be asked to make that sacrifice since Jesus gave his life to
redeem us and show us a better way. We are invited to die to sin and rise
to new life, a new way of sharing life so that we don't cause hurting people
more suffering.
The Psalm says it
best. Put not your trust in rulers. They are temporary. Put your
trust in God. When you read the Hebrew Scriptures, 1 Kings and 2 Kings,
it can be really surprising how few good Kings there were. The people
asked for a King and God told them it was a bad idea. They
insisted. God knew people are flawed and that power corrupts. God
tried to give them a good king by choosing David, the youngest of all, a
shepherd. David's job as a shepherd was to notice--to look out for the
little ones, to protect and guard them. These are good skills for
kings. David was a good King because he was humble--he could see when he
made mistakes, took responsibility for them and worked to do better. He
was a good King because he was generous, looking out for people on the margins
and making sure people were cared for and had their basic needs met. He
was a good King because he noticed the little ones, like any shepherd is
trained to do. He was a good King because he kept relationship with God,
taking instruction, pouring out his heart, listening, and following the way of
the shepherd.
We find ourselves in
institutions, churches and governments that devour widows' houses, amass power
for themselves, hurt people, have no conscience. But we the people are
the church and we the people are the government and it is important that we
stand up against injustice done by our institutions, the systems that hurt
people, that we work to change them. It is important that we notice
hurting people, have compassion on them, remember that could be us and is us at
times, and to take risks and make sacrifices for the vision that Jesus gives
us--that all will be fed, the foreigner welcomed, the prisoner and sick will be
cared for, the widows will be a valued part of community, the wolf will lie
down with the lamb, the child will play over the snake's den, the trees will
clap their hands, and all will be at peace.
I have a song I
learned at God's Work Our Hands week of service projects from Alys, our friend
from Pilgrim Lutheran Church up the road. It has really helped me focus
this week when I have been anxious. God has no body now on earth but
yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through
which he pours out compassion to the world. Yours are the hands blessing
me now. Let's go and do God's work.
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