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 friendsi--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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