To hear this good news message preached by Pastor Yolanda, please click the link above. Thank you!
SCRIPTURE
Time After Pentecost - Lectionary 32
Mark 12:38-44 (NRSV)
A widow's generosity
As he taught, he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 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. 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."
In many churches around the country, today will be the start of our stewardship campaigns. It is at this time of year that pastors and church councils lead congregations in a time of reflection, prayer, and discernment regarding how we will invest our financial resources in the coming year.
For many of us, this kind of talk about money is uncomfortable and it causes us to squirm in our seats. We have been taught that money (and sex) are taboo subjects and that it is not polite to discuss either in the company of others.
I—and the Holy Bible—beg to differ, my friends. It has been said that there are more than eight hundred verses in the Bible about money and money management.
Jesus, our Teacher, Lord, and Friend, talked about money with his disciples all of the time. He was constantly reminding them of the importance of being a sharing and A generous person.
On more than one occasion my wisdom has been sought by young people or couples in my church who are experiencing financial difficulty. They seek me out because they simply cannot find the money to pay all of their bills. I tell them, “Give me your checkbook. In the next 15 minutes I will tell you what you value most in the world.”
It is a rare soul whose professed values match up with what their checkbook declares to me about them. I believe that most Christians would say that God and family are their most critical concerns in life. Yet, upon examining their checkbook, we find that McDonalds, Starbucks, and Macy’s are where they put the bulk of their money. Jesus once said, “Where your heart is, your treasure will be also (Luke 12:34)
Well, in today’s scripture, we encounter a woman who truly captured Jesus’ attention! As he sat watching people toss their money into the temple treasury, he pointed out a widow woman who put two small copper coins into the plate. Today, we know that her “offering” would be less than one penny.
That doesn’t sound like much, does it? In 2009, we might say in regard to an offering of this size, “What in the world could a church do with just one penny? Would that penny keep the heat on? Pay the pastor’s salary? Keep the parking lot clear of snow? Why didn’t she just keep that little penny? What a waste of everybody’s time!”
But, if we were to say such things we would be in opposition to Jesus’ assessment of the situation. When Jesus saw the widow’s mite, he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 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."
Now, wait a minute! Why would Jesus praise her for putting all that she had into the plate? After all, she has to eat and house herself doesn’t she? God doesn’t call us to be foolish! We need to use good sense when discerning our stewardship goals for the year, right?
Right! But, as we are exercising our good sense, we need to throw in a dash of faith and a good long meditation on the lessons learned from the woman who gave all.
So, what can we learn from the widow woman? Well, first of all, we can be sure that God is not looking for equal giving, but equal sacrifice. See, if God “graded” our giving by who gave most, then the scribes and the rich folks should have received the greatest praise from Jesus. But, they did not.
Instead, it was the poor woman who gave less than a penny that got the attention of Jesus! He said that whereas the rich were giving out of their abundance, the widow gave out of her poverty.
Jesus was excited by the person who gave, not of her leftovers, but of the first fruits of all that she had. Can you imagine if each of us approached our giving to the church in this fashion?
What if all of us made up our minds to abundantly give God the best of what we have been given? What if we decided to give God the first fruits of every paycheck and not the leftovers after we paid the bills, McDonalds, Starbucks, and Macy’s?
Wow! We would be able to do so much more than just maintain the church and pay the pastor! We would certainly have all that we needed to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, house the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, and care for the widows and orphans, wouldn’t we?
Although her one penny couldn’t accomplish this all by itself, the widow’s penny joined with the abundant and generous gifts of others certainly could! See, I don’t want to spend my time looking around at other people wondering who is giving less and who is giving more. I just want to be able to trust that all of us are doing our part, to the best of our ability, to give an abundant and generous gift to the work of God!
Secondly, the widow teaches us the importance of giving joyfully and selflessly to God and to the work of God’s Church. Sometimes I try to imagine how that widow woman felt as she cast her two copper coins into the treasury.
Was she scared? Was she anxious? Was she worried? Did she wonder how she was going to pay the bills? Or was she joyful? Excited? Anticipatory or thrilled?
I like to believe that the woman was joyful and excited. When I was in college I studied abroad in Ghana, which is in West Africa. Every Sunday morning I would go to church with people who had very few material possessions. It was not uncommon for people to show up at church without shoes on their feet.
But, on the first Sunday I was there, I got a tremendous surprise! When the pastor announced the offering time, the people jumped up and began to dance! The musicians played lively and upbeat music, the drums filled the air, and those Ghanaian Christians held their offerings over their heads and danced down the center aisle to the plate—joyfully giving of their very meager sustenance.
That was a very humbling moment for me. Although those folks were much poorer than I was in terms of material possessions, they were much richer than me in terms of their love, hope, and faith in Jesus Christ!
They were not afraid to give abundantly, generously, and joyfully for they knew—and believed—with all of their hearts that God would open up the windows of heaven and poor out a blessing on them so great they would not have room enough to receive it (Malachi 3:10)!
Those folks truly took God at God’s Word! They believed that God was well able to supply all of their needs according to God’s riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).
And this brings me to the third lesson learned from the widow woman. She teaches us that we can trust God in our giving! I love to use my holy ghost inspired imagination to guess what happened to her later that week. Scripture does not tell us the happy-ending to her story, but I believe—by faith—that there was one.
Perhaps some folks from the temple stopped by her house with gifts of food and clothes for the widows of the congregation. Maybe, as she walked home, she found money in the street. Maybe her neighbors invited her to dinner each evening. We just don’t know.
But, what we do know is that you can’t beat God giving, no matter how you try! We see the proof of that 1 Kings 17 when we read the story about the widow of Zarephath who had the courage to share her very last meal with the prophet Elijah. Because of her abundant, generous, joyful, and faith-full gift to The Man of God, her meal never ran out and she and her young son had all that they needed to weather the drought that had consumed her land!
Hallelujah!
Just as God blessed the widow of Zarephath, I believe God blessed the woman who gave the widow’s mite and I believe, by faith, that God will bless us too!
Now, you might ask me how I can be so sure about all of this. My answer is simple. There is another who gave all that he had to God and to God’s people. His name was Jesus.
Jesus gave all that he had abundantly, generously, joyfully, selflessly and faith-fully on an old rugged cross on Golgotha’s hill. He could have held back. He could have refused to give. He could have chosen to turn a blind eye to the needs of others. But, he did not. He gave, and he gave, and he gave, and he gave until there was nothing else to give. And then he died.
God’s love gave Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life. Wasn’t that an abundant gift? But, Jesus did not stay dead. Generous, abundant, joyful, selfless, and faithful gifts are always rewarded. On the third day, Jesus was resurrected from the dead. And because he conquered sin, death, and the grave on our behalf—his gift is the one that will keep on giving forever and ever amen!
See, when we give our best to God, God then assumes the responsibility of giving us the wisdom, understanding, and discernment to utilize those gifts in the church to do God’s work with our hands!
It is our joy and our honor to give to God. We cannot begin to repay God for all that God has done for us. There is not enough time, talent, or treasure in the world to make good on the debt Jesus paid on our behalf when he died in our stead.
But, every day of our lives, we can do our best to give God the best of ourselves---our time, our talent, and our treasure—so that God’s concerns can be addressed in our world!
What a blessed privilege to assume the heart of that widow-woman. As we step into her shoes as we fill our stewardship cards, I believe, by faith, that we will surprise ourselves with the abundant, generous, and joyful gifts that we choose to give to God!
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work (2 Cor 9:8).
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
You may be ready to give God all that you have by putting all of your hope in Jesus today. If so, please pray with me:
God, thank you for giving me the best of what you had, when you gave Jesus to die on the cross to save me from my sin and gift me with eternal life. I believe that Jesus died and rose again on the third day. Please forgive me of my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit. Today, I am putting all of my faith in Jesus. Please help me to share this faith with others as I give abundantly and joyfully of my time, talent, and treasure to the work of your Kingdom. I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
SPECIAL NOTE
If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, today, you are saved! Let me encourage you to tell a Christian friend that you just put all of your hope in Jesus. Ask him or her to help you find a Bible that is easy for you to understand and to find a good Bible believing church where you can be baptized and make new friends who will walk with you on your Christian journey!
I would be honored if you would let me know about your decision today by clicking "YES" in the poll located in the upper-right hand corner of the good news blog in answer to the question, "Did God save you today?"
Congratulations and Happy Re-birthday! Your salvation is our GOOD NEWS, please go and share the GOOD NEWS with others!
No comments:
Post a Comment