Mark 12:38–44

Stewardship Sunday

³⁸And in his teaching he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁰who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation." ⁴¹And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. ⁴³And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

One might consider it A Tale of Two Widows. The first widow had nothing left but a handful of flour and a little oil; just enough to make one last loaf of bread for her and her son. It would be their last meal, and then they would die. As she was gathering sticks for the fire to bake the bread, Elijah the prophet calls to her: "Woman, bring me a little water to drink and a morsel of bread that I may eat." How could she do that? It would deplete her flour and oil and there would be nothing left for her or her son.

But Elijah told her, "Bring it to me and do not be afraid. The Lord will provide." So she baked a loaf of bread and brought it to this man of God, fully trusting that the Lord would provide for her son. Which he did. For the next several months she continued to bake bread for herself, her son, and for Elijah and the flour jar was never empty and the oil jug did not run dry. She didn't know how it happened, but she always trusted that God would put just enough in the jar for one more meal; and he did.

This is the story of faith. The faith of a woman and her child who were the poorest of the poor. They were outcasts of society. They were helpless. For in those days there was no social security; no welfare; no pity or mercy for widows of orphans. They were left to die of hunger. No one cared; no one bothered. But God cared; and God bothered. And they did not die of hunger, but trusted in God.

The other widow was in the temple in Jerusalem. There were 13 money chests in the court of women along the wall where both the women and the men had access. They were shaped like trumpets pointing down; that is, the narrow opening and neck were on top and the large part was the bottom, or base of the coffins. As Jesus sat there watching people throw in their tithes and offerings, he noticed a widow. The poorest of the poor. Alone in the world with no one to help her. There was no system of welfare for widows. No one cared; no one bothered. They were the least of all, the most insignificant of society.

This widow had just two coins left, two small copper coins called drachma, which in an eight hour work day would have amounted to under 4 minutes worth of wages. That is all she had. This too is a story of faith. She put it all in the offering box.

Others of higher rank and great wealth walked by and put in large sums. They were honored and esteemed. They wore extravagant clothing to show their status and position. People greeted them on the streets with great respect and gave them high honors. In church they were given the best seats. At feasts and banquets they were given the place of honor. They were regarded as the most important, the highest ranking in religious the church. They represented one extreme of social rank and honor. On the other extreme was the widow.

These were the people who kept the temple running. They were the ones who made the budget work. And for that they received the honor, the status and the esteem of the people. The widow was insignificant in the greater scheme of things.

Jesus called his disciples over to him and said to them: "This widow has put more in the offering box than all these rich people together." They were shocked. He put down the scribes, the highest ranking people of the church. He was disparaging the very people who supported the church most, who made the budget work; without whom the church would fail and its doors would close. He was telling them: "Something has gone very wrong with your idea of religion and the church." Their values were not the values of God's kingdom. What they considered important was not what God considers important. What they esteemed was not what God esteems. What is despised in the eyes of man is honored in the eyes of God. And what is honored in the eyes of man is despised in the eyes of God.

Today the majority of churches have sold out. They have bought into the corporate model for church. They measure success in the same terms as a business measures its success. They look at the bottom lines of money and size. They want the praise of others.

But Jesus destroys that model. He reverses the entire concept of what is important and who is important in the kingdom of God. In fact Jesus' entire life was a reversal of that concept. That is why the scribes and Pharisees did not accept him in the first place. They wanted someone who would increase their glory and power. They wanted the Messiah to be a powerful king and ruler with riches and glory and that they could share in his glory and reign. But what they got was a Messiah born in poverty and clothed in rags. He was of such little significance that they wouldn't even make room for his pregnant mother in the hotel. Instead of a royal castle, he was born in a barn and slept not in a bed with silk linens, but in a feed trough for animals. Rather than wealthy, he was a homeless wanderer. Rather than a high ranking official and respected leader, he was a criminal, executed by a Roman court. That is the Messiah they got and they were offended by this Messiah. They rejected him. They despised him.

Little wonder that today people still reject him. He is offensive to the powerful. He is an embarrassment to respectable people. Churches today take his body off their crosses. They sometimes even take down their crosses. Crosses represent weakness, shame and failure. People today, just as then, don't want a god who failed, who was weak, who suffered and died.

Yet it was because he was a weak, suffering servant who died on a cross that God exalted him. It was because of his poverty that God considers you rich. It was because he made himself guilty of your sin that you are forgiven. It is by becoming poor that he made you rich to God. It is because he is despised by men that you are esteemed by God.

Our two widows who were despised by society and looked down on and trampled on, were, as it turns out, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because the one gave Elijah some food? Was the widow in the temple honored by God because she gave all that she had for the offering? No.

They were honored by God because Jesus exchanged his honor for their humility and shame. They were honored by God because Jesus died for them and forgave their sins. They were honored by God because of the gift of faith God gave them. Whatever the world thought of them, however much the world despised them, they had received the honor and favor of God on account of Jesus' death on the cross. Because Jesus became the least of all men, despised by all, these faithful women were exalted in the kingdom of God. They are honored still today by believers wherever and whenever the Scriptures are read. Just as you are honored by God on account of the sacrifice of Jesus. Your sins are forgiven. You are reconciled to God. You are proclaimed righteous in the kingdom of God. You are honored because God in his love and mercy had compassion on you in Jesus Christ and has forgiven your sins.

By faith the widow used up her last flour and oil to give food to the prophet of God. By faith the widow put her last two coins in the offering to support the work of the temple. The faith of these two women was at work in their service to others and support of the church. By faith these two women understood that everything belongs to God. All that they had, including their own lives, was God's. Their handful of flour and the last drop of oil and last two pennies belonged to God. When they gave their last food and coins to support the prophet of God and his temple, that was stewardship; faith in action. Stewardship is faith expressing itself in deeds of love and service for others. It is Christ dwelling in us. It is our relationship with Christ expressing itself in our relationship with each other.

That is what stewardship is all about. It is faith in action. Stewardship is Christ's bodily presence in the world. Christ lives in you. He dwells in his people. He makes you his body. You are all members of that body, the body of Christ. You are not individuals living for and by yourselves independent of one another. You belong to one another and are each one part of the body. Each part of the body belongs to the rest and the entire body depends on each individual part doing what God has called it to do. You have a responsibility to each other.

St. Paul tells us,

"Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say "because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, " that would not make it any less a part of the body...but God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. There are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." God has so composed the body that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

That is what stewardship is: each member doing its job, its function, as God has given the grace: if prophecy, prophecy according to your faith. If service, serve one another, if teaching, teach, if contributing, contribute generously, if mercy, show mercy cheerfully, each according to the gifts that God has given you.

As you live your daily life, Christ permeates the world. His body extends throughout the world as husbands and wives, as parents and children, as employees and employers, as citizens, as church members supporting its mission and ministry. When you are at home, at work, at school, in the community, in the store and in the mall you are the body of Christ penetrating every corner of the world providing for the spiritual and material needs of all mankind and helping the poor and needy.

That is how the body of Christ is composed. That is how Christ lives in the world. That is how Christ works in the world to supply the daily bread for one another and making disciples in all nations, baptizing and teaching his word for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Stewardship is using your gifts, talents, time, finances, and ability to do your part in the body of Christ. For together you are the body of Christ. When we confess faith in the "holy Christian church, the communion of saints," we are really talking about the communion of the body of Christ with each other. And this body lives in the world in daily life as husbands and wives, as parents and children, as employees and employers, as citizens, as church members working in the church and supporting its mission and ministry. When you are at home, at work, at school, in the community, in the store and in the mall Christ is permeating the world and society in his body helping those in need, providing for the spiritual and material needs of all mankind. Stewardship is Christ at work in the world through you, his body, by being what you are and doing the function he has given you to do in his body.

Amen.