[The reason we started recording our sermons was for those who miss the service, for shut-ins, for folks who might want to share with others.]
I will also include a few extra things in this post, such as the sign outside the church, the bulletin cover, etc.
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“Giving
Everything We Have”
Mark
12:38-44 (CEB)
November 11th, 2018 (25th Sunday after Pentecost,
Veterans Day)
Flintstone UMC
Mark
12:38-44 (CEB)
38 As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets. 39 They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. 40They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly.”41 Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money. 42 One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny. 43 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury.44 All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.”
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THIS
IS THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
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Today
we continue in the Gospel of Mark. Today’s
passage can be looked at in several different perspectives.
I
suggest that this passage allows us to see stewardship in a different
light. Let’s look at it through the lens
of stewardship. At the end, I will
suggest some other ways we might look at this passage. As we prayerfully consider the passage, may we
be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading.
The
stewardship theme comes from this passage as the widow is giving her all to the
temple treasury. What IS
stewardship? Is it only giving of our
money?
No,
when we talk about stewardship, we are talking about being stewards of anything
that we can give: time, energy, gifts, all resources, and yes, even financial
resources.
[If
you ever want to know where your money goes, you can see the chart in the UMHandbook on page 25.][These are available on site at each of the three churches in the Holston Georgia Parish.]
Giving,
in whatever form---be it time, energy, gifts, or finances--comes down to being
a matter of the heart. What we give, what
we do comes from our hearts, from our relationship with God.
We
see that in today’s passage, where Jesus points out that the widow has given
all she had.
Physically
and financially, what DID she give? She
gave 2 lepta. A lepta was the smallest Greek copper coin. It was equivalent to about the size of our
dime. Each lepta was worth about 1/128th
of a single day’s pay. One source I
found noted that these coins were
actually bronze, that they were minted during the reign of Alexander the Great
(336-323 BC) and remained in circulation up to the time of Christ. A lepta could buy a bath at the public bathrooms.
This is all this widow had. It wasn’t much. Yet it was everything. Her choice was to give it to the temple
treasury.
The poor weren’t required to give, yet she
gave. The widow reminds us that giving
is a matter of the heart.
What do we learn from the widow who gave her all?
What does it mean for us to give our all today?
Because
we have established that giving isn’t solely giving of our finances, let’s
consider giving our love as one way of stewardship that which God gives us to
give others.
Have
we given all we have in sharing the love of Christ with others?
Who
isn’t here? (Look around…. Those who normally come, but might be out for
whatever reason…. How can we reach out to them?
Call? Send a card?)
Who
isn’t here? (those who don’t already
have a church home, are put off by the church, or who have never been to church--who
in your neighborhood, where you shop, where you work, etc.?)
How
are we doing in engaging folks in conversation, getting to know their names,
building relationships, asking them questions about their lives, telling them
about our faith as that relationship grows, and inviting them to a dinner, a
gathering, a picnic in the pavilion, a worship service, etc.?
What
is a practical action you can take today, this week to become a better steward
of what God has given you to give to others? Whether that is giving of your time, your
energy, your gifts, your money, think about something practical you can
offer. Write it down.
As
we look at this passage and consider how it speaks to us, in Dancing with the Word, Rev. Janet Hunt
noted three reminders that this passage might offer:
- A reminder
to pay attention to those we might normally ignore — to pause long enough
to hear the stories behind the most obvious one. For oh, don’t you
just wish Jesus had stopped her and asked her where she lived, what
routines made up her every day, how long since her husband died, or what
finally compelled her to come and give away her last bit of money that
day?
- A
reminder to all of us of what really matters in this world? That
it’s not the size of the gift that matters, but the manner in which it is
given?
- A model for all of us of what it is to be utterly dependent? Oh, I expect this is a position not a one of us would envy but that all of us are called to as we live in our relationship with God.
She
then went on to offer to some reflection questions:
- What do you
think Jesus is trying to teach in his using the widow’s gift in his
teaching today?
- Can you think of examples when someone has given their ‘all?’ What did that look like? What does ‘giving your all’ look like for you?
Lastly,
as we look at this passage, maybe there is a glimpse into Jesus. Jesus points out to his disciples this widow
who is giving all she has, literally “the whole of her life” (verse 44). She is giving this to a system that is
corrupt and condemned. From here in Mark,
Jesus goes from public ministry to the temple discourse to the passion
narrative. Jesus gives the whole of his
life to a system that is corrupt and condemned.
What can we learn from the passage if we look at it in this light? We can see that we too are called to give our
all, give everything we have, give the whole of our life for a world, a system
that is corrupt and condemned. (ideas
and notes from Feasting on the Word,
Pete Peery, 287, 289)
Because
of our relationship with God, we freely share the gift that we received and we
do not judge who is or who is not worthy of such a gift of what we have to
offer. We are called to offer what we
have.
James
Edwards reminds us in The Gospel
According to Mark: “No gift, whether of money, time, or talent, is too
insignificant to give if it is given to God.” (382)
We
remember that it all belongs to God to begin with and that what we are giving
is not ours, but God’s.
May
we be the church that Jesus calls us to be, to bring hope and healing to a
world that desperately needs it.
May
we give everything we have for the sake of sharing the good news with others,
recognizing that Jesus knew how to take time apart to rest, pray, and prepare
in order to be able to give all that he gave.
Jesus gave of himself from his relationship with God.
We,
too, are called to be diligent in taking time apart to rest, pray, and prepare
as we follow Christ’s example, giving from our relationship with God.
The
widow’s example is all about discipleship.
As
we give from our relationship with God, we will continue to grow as disciples
of Christ, continuing the ripple effect of making disciples of Jesus Christ for
the transformation of the world.
May
it be so.
Amen.
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Comments and feedback are always welcome. I'm interested to learn about you and your journey.
May there be adventure on your journey,
Debra
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