This Is Not About Money
The ultimate Sacrifice
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and
the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts.
Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Today's gospel passage from Mark seems to have a lot to do with money. Given that the widow puts in money, Jesus is sitting watching people put their offerings into the money box, and then Jesus talks about money, this is obvious. There are some good messages about money here. It is good to give. Jesus doesn't condemn the rich who give lots.
And his comments and approval are given toward the poor widow who gave what she had. Giving money is good. And if we take what Jesus says about the widow seriously, giving till it hurts is good -- in fact giving till its has gone way past hurting may even be better.
However, there's more to today's gospel than just money and giving. You see, I believe that for us to give something, and let's stick to money here, is not hard. Any of us can throw a few coins into a UNICEF box, a loony or two towards the Veteran thin cup, or a few dollars on the offering plate as it goes around each week, and not suffer too badly for it.
Twenty-five cents here; a loony there. Ten or twenty dollars another place. In the bigger picture, it doesn't matter. It's not going to kill us. It may mean one less coffee at break time, or one less lunch at MacDonald's or even one less supper at Vishey, but not much more. We can each give. In fact, I believe that we all love to give. This we are good at it. If someone in the community came forward with a problem; financial or otherwise; we would respond. Chores would be done for them.
Donations of goods, clothes, food, shelter, would be found. We did this four years ago during the ice storm ….. well, you may fill in the blank here... perhaps it was a neighbour who was widowed, - a family member who became unemployed. We are reasonably good givers. In fact most of us are very good givers. We know that God wants us to give and love and help where we can.
We know that Jesus calls us to look after our family, our church, and the people around us. We know that there are always people who are worse off than we are. We know all that, and that places us firmly into the story we read today from Mark's gospel. If Jesus were sitting here watching as we put our envelopes or our cash onto the offering plate he would see a lot of giving. And I don't believe that he would get up and storm out in a huff because we weren't givers.
However, the question must be asked, would we be credited in the same class as that widow? Would we be worthy of special notice? As an example of real sacrificial giving? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be put in that class. Even though I give a percentage of my income, when I ask myself the question, " Samuel do I give out of my surplus?" the answer is pretty well, "Yes." When I look at the "stuff" I own, and other stuff I want, I have to say, "Yes, I do tend to give from my surplus."
Yet in today's gospel story, we are faced with this widow who gave everything she had. Widows were right down at the bottom of the social order in Jesus' time. They had no male to defend them, or work to support them. They were like unclaimed baggage at Dorval airport or a train station.
People weren't sure how they fit in, or what to do with them, but they were sure that widows were not theirs to take care of. So widows and poverty went pretty well hand in hand. To expect a widow to have money to give away, was totally unrealistic.
It is no surprise that this particular widow only gave two small copper coins. Yet, those two coins were noteworthy to Jesus.
Imagine if you will, that the next time this offering plate comes around, you would place on it, let's say $500. Or maybe you're feeling really good that Sunday, so you put $1000 on instead.
Where would the money come from? What would you do once the money was gone? How would you feed the family this week, pay rent or mortgage this month? Would you lose your house? OK maybe this example is pushing it a bit, but what I'm talking about here isn't just generosity . It isn't just giving , or tithing , or donating . It's not even about money . This sermon is not about money
What I'm talking about here is faith . The faith to really risk - to really sacrifice – and give all, that one has to give to God. To really give all that one has for what is right and good and true in the trust that God somehow, someway, will use that sacrifice and honour it.
Honour it not for the sake of me or us- the giver, rather honour it for the sake of the work of God in this world. Honour it for the sake of the Kingdom. For the sake of others in need, for the sake of the peace that God promises to our world. Today, as I speak - I look out upon a number of you who were involved in Scout, and who believed in the principles outlined by Lord and Lady Baden Powell almost 100 years ago.
It is said in Goma - near the border of Rwanda ( during that terrible time of ethnic cleansing) - three Scouts who were working in Katale Refugee Camp, were injured and put in hospital after bandits attacked the camp. At first it was thought 30 Scouts had been killed.
Thankfully it was not that bad. But the story is instructive for us as we near Remembrance Day. From the start of the dramatic events in Rwanda , the Scout Associations of Burundi, former Zaire , Rwanda , and Tanzania mobilized their forces to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees that fled the massacres. The first action undertaken by the Scouts in the camps was to carry out a census of displaced people.
This difficult task, was carried out with very few means and with no official recognition, enabled many families to find relatives, even though they were sometimes in camps more than one hundred kilometres apart. Then hundreds of Scout volunteers collected and buried the bodies of the victims of starvation, exhaustion, and cholera.
In twelve days, in appalling conditions, conditions that resemble the worst scenes from Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped, the Scouts collected and buried of 26,634 bodies.
This in addition to caring for orphaned children, distributing food to as many needy persons as they could, digging sanitation ditches and providing clean water to the thousands of people moving into refugee camps each day. How do we give in comparison to this? How much do we sacrifice for the work of bringing health and hope to our world?
We read in the New Testament this morning about the widow, who put her two small coins in the temple treasury. She gave everything. As the Scouts working in the former Zaire and Rwanda gave everything, as the veterans of World War II and our nations current peace keepers gave and are giving everything, because it was the right thing to do, the loving thing to do.
Think of it for a minute: Did the widow in today's scripture reading knew for sure what the outcome of her giving would be for herself - she did not know if she would live or die because of it. Her two small copper coins were all that she had. As for the Scouts in Rwanda they gave all they had.
And all the soldiers peace-keeping in former Yugoslavia, and all those who served in Holland and France during the last war, to be beaten, attacked, shot at, and endure hardships beyond our wildest nightmares -- and all for the sake of others - all for the sake of freedom - all for the sake of dignity - all for the sake of their love for their fellow human beings.
What is our faith like? I'd like to imagine we are the widow giving all we have even our whole living remembering God to the final hours of our lives. But are we like her. As people of faith - do we care so much for those around us that we actually give up our comfort?
Not to mention our ability to be hurt by the thoughtless words of others, and our desire to be recognized and approved by those around us? Brothers and sisters - We're often uncertain of our calling, and what it means in the context of God's plan.
We don't know if or how our experiences can be put to use in "The Church". We don't know if we are really able to serve God. We often feel inadequate when we look at ourselves in comparison to others, especially if those others are characters from the bible... ( the story about ‘giving' from Briercrest Bible College ). Word of caution.
Aside from our desire to care for others, many of us we come with nothing evident to offer. We bring fears, vulnerability, neediness, confusion, embarrassment loneliness, and a profound lack of time and energy . We bring our poverty . And that is OK! In times when we feel this way, In times when we don't know what to do, or we know what to do, but feel that there is no way we can do it, remember, remember and trust in God by offering what you have:
Remember the Scouts who, at the risk of their very lives, do a good work each day in places like Rwanda and recall that you have neighbours who need comfort and support, that there desperate needs to be fulfilled in our own backyard, needs which your real sacrifice of money and of time, and of love can go along way in meeting those needs.
Remember the widow who gave her last coins, and trusted God - and as did Jesus - when he gave his life for us on the cross. Jesus calls each and everyone of us this morning, to give freely as we have freely received from his abundance of grace. For we can never out give God, never.
Loving God, because we believe you work through ordinary lives, we re-dedicate ourselves to you with this offering, that we like it, may be used according to your good purposes. In the serving of our sisters and brothers may we be living expressions of the Good News we offer to our world. May we be empowered through the Sacrament which we are about to receive and ‘make us channels of your Peace' Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
November 9, 2003