"The Life That Really Is Life." A Sermon from Littlefield Presbyterian Church, on November 19, 2027.

"The Life That Really Is Life"

Mark 12:38-44; Matthew 19:16-30

            We don’t know the woman’s name. We really don’t know anything about her, other than that she is an impoverished widow in first century Palestine, living on the margins of her society, with no safety net. No husband to protect or advocate for her.  No pension.  No Social security. She’s part of a poor and vulnerable class of society. 

            So, don’t you wonder what it means to point to a destitute woman who gives her last two coins to the Temple?  Should we applaud her self-sacrifice—or see her as naïve and impractical?

            Mark only uses this word for “widow” twice in his gospel, both times in the passage we just heard.  Unlike Luke, Mark doesn’t emphasize a mission to “the poor” in his narrative.  The first time Mark mentions the poor is when a wealthy man comes to Jesus asking how he can inherit eternal life.[1]  Jesus responds: “Sell what you own and give the money to the poor.”  The man couldn’t do it.

            But this poor widow does just that. She gives it all.

            What do we do with this?  Why would this poor widow give everything she had to live on?  Surely her small gift couldn’t make any difference to the Temple, and it wasn’t required.   In ancient Israel, the “poor” were not required to give to the Temple.[2]

            In the two parts of the story from Mark, we hear contrasting examples of discipleship.   These are teaching moments for Jesus as he calls his disciples to pay attention to the scribes, who “will receive the greater condemnation.”   Then Jesus points to the widow’s giving.

            This is one of the widows Jesus had just accused the scribes of abusing—offering her copper coins amidst the grand displays of generosity from the rest of the temple crowd.        

            The widow gives sacrificially—all she has to live on.  Her sacrifice is complete—so complete that Jesus wants his disciples to witness it.   “Truly,” Jesus says, “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. “That is why we know about her today, this nameless woman—because she gave all the little she had, holding nothing back.

            But don’t you wonder?  Are we really supposed to admire a poor woman who gave her last cent to a religious institution?   Was it right for her to surrender her living to those who lived better than she did?   By ordinary human standards, what this widow did makes no sense.  Is Jesus saying we should all follow her example?  What does Jesus want us to learn from her?      

            Did you notice?  Nowhere in this passage does Jesus praise the widow for what she is doing.  Nowhere in this story does he say, “Go, thou, all of you, and do likewise.”   He simply invites the disciples to contemplate the disparity between abundance and poverty, between large sums and two copper coins, between grand donations--and real sacrifice.   He doesn’t dismiss the gifts of the rich.  He simply points out that the poor widow turns out to be the major donor in the story.

            In Mark’s gospel, this is the last of Jesus’ lessons in the upside-down kingdom of God, where the last shall be first, and the great shall be the servants of all.   When Jesus leaves the Temple that day, his public ministry is over.  In four days, he will be dead, giving up the two copper coins of his life.  The widow withheld nothing from God; neither did Jesus.   

            In the scriptures, there are recurring themes of abundance and of trusting in God to provide what we need.

            In today’s lesson from the Hebrew scriptures, God tells Elijah to go to Zarephath, and that a widow there will feed him.  The widow is preparing to bake the last little bit of meal and oil into a last supper for her and her son—everything she had—and then they would die.  Elijah says to her, “Don’t be afraid.  Make me a little cake, and then make some for yourself and your son.  God promises you won’t run out of meal and oil as long as the drought lasts.”  And it was so.  There was enough.[3]

           

            Jesus, the one who gave his all for the sake of the world, for the sake of all of us, calls us to follow him… and learn from him., and he talks a lot about our relationship with money and possessions.  The gospel gives us clues about how to live joyful lives of freedom and trust. 

            Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell the story about a rich man who came to Jesus asking, “Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life? Jesus told him to go and sell his possessions and give the money to the poor, and he would have treasure in heaven. “Then, come, follow me.” When the rich man heard this, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

            The rich man went away grieving.  He couldn’t trust in God’s generosity and abundance.  What a contrast to the stories about the poor widows!  Friends, these stories challenge us, don’t’ they?

            Like the angels who keep showing up in the Bible, saying, “Don’t be afraid,” so Jesus uncovers our motives, those habits of the heart that keep us holding on tightly to things, to money, clinging to the things we think might keep us safe.  Then he invites us to care for the poor, and he offers us a new life of freedom from fear-- an abundant life of gratitude and contentment.

           

            So, how are we to love God?  With trust, instead of fear.  With gratitude, instead of demands.  With hope, instead of despair. 

           

            How do we comprehend the poor widow’s offering in the Temple?  I think we can see it as a statement of radical trust.  She chooses not to play it safe.  Instead, she gives her love gift first, trusting in God to provide what she needs. 

            But how does this happen?  How could she give everything?

I don’t have a simple answer for this. But I wonder if she somehow has come to feel that she has enough, and that she will continue to have enough.  I wonder if she has allowed herself to experience life as a blessing.  I wonder how this poor widow has come to trust in God as the one who blesses and provides—abundantly, predictably, faithfully. 

            I wonder if she has discovered something about the ultimate meaning of life: that when we give, we are most like God… that when we are lavish and gracious and generous, we are most like our lavish and gracious and generous God. 

            We don’t need to have a lot of money or possessions in order to trust in God to provide what we need. To the contrary, in the story about the rich man, Jesus is showing how having many possessions can keep us from a life of freedom and trust.

            Those of us who have attended presbytery meetings have worshipped together with our brothers and sisters from around the presbytery. One of the things that we’ve learned from our African-American brothers and sisters is a call-and-response affirmation from their tradition.

            “God is good--All the time.”

            “All the time--God is good.”

            Many of the congregations who say this often as an affirmation have a number of poor people in their midst. And yet, they can say in faith that, in the midst of troubles and challenges, they can find things to be grateful for and reasons to trust in God’s goodness.

            “God is good--All the time.”

            “All the time--God is good.”

            During stewardship season, we are challenged to hold our relationship with money up to the light of our Christian faith.  Our faith challenges us to strive to overcome our tendency to live out of fear, guarding whatever wealth we have left-- and instead open our lives more fully to the truth we hear in this year’s stewardship theme taken from First Timothy: “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”[4]

            What is the life that really is life?  It’s the life that focuses on the only true security that human beings have in this world, the completely reliable love of God.  “Take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you were made,” says First Timothy.

            It’s one of the many paradoxes of faith that-- at the very times when we feel most anxious about our own sufficiency-- the act of sharing and generosity can give us great joy and peace.  It changes the lenses through which we see our own situation. 

            It is an act of freedom that can replace false security with the real security of God, “who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” It is an act of faith to commit ourselves to giving God the first fruits of our lives.

            “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.”[5]

            The “life that really is life” is a life of contentment.  The “life that really is life” is a life of trust in our gracious God to provide what we really need.

            So-- let us be generous in our giving.  Let us open ourselves to the riches of the “life that really is life.” 

            Amen!

           

Rev. Fran Hayes, Pastor

Littlefield Presbyterian Church

Dearborn, Michigan

November 19, 2017

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[1] Mark 10:17-24

[2] Emerson Powerey, Commentary on Mark 12:38-44 at www.workingpreacher.org

[3] 1 Kings 17:7-16

[4] 1 Timothy 6:18-19   

[5] 1 Timothy 6:6-10

"Where Your Treasure Is." A Sermon from Littlefield Presbyterian Church.

"Where Your Treasure Is"

Matthew 6:19-24; 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 24-34

In the movie “Jaws,” a marine biologist is desperate to find out what’s gone wrong with the sharks in the area.  A large shark is brought in, and the biologist lays the shark up on a table and proceeds to do an autopsy.  He slits open the shark’s belly.  Out of the belly comes first one fish…and then another.  He takes dozens of fish from the shark’s belly.  Then there’s a blender.  An old Florida license plate.  Assorted bits and pieces of this and that.  The shark really is an “eating machine.”

            But it’s an utterly indiscriminate eating machine.  The shark was consuming everything in sight—whether it was good for it or not.

            Someone said that the story of the shark is a parable of modern society.  We consume indiscriminately.  We have deep, vast hungers.  We try to satisfy them in different ways.  But often we consume and collect much that we don’t need…and that isn’t good for us.

            And so, for a while I’ve been wondering if part of our calling in the church today isn’t to find out what people want and then give it to them, to try to satisfy all their hungers-- but rather to give people food that’s worth having and to school people in how to be hungry in the right ways.

            The gospel lesson we heard is from a collection Jesus’ teachings on assorted matters in the Sermon on the Mount.  There’s a theme in this section: the urgency of seeking the kingdom of heaven above all earthly distractions.[1]

            In this passage, we hear Jesus warning against the human tendency to collect things and treasure them    and to judge peoples’ status by what they have.  In some cultures, one is judged by one’s livestock, in others, by the possession of precious metals and rare gems.  In some societies, a woman’s dowry might have been treasured clothing or jewelry.

            In a money economy, those who aspire to a higher status work to acquire monetary wealth. Then, when someone has enough money, they can show their wealth with luxury cars, large and elegant homes, fine artwork or valuable jewelry--to name a few of our treasures.  

            The problem with investing our sense of worth and safety in money and possessions is that it is never truly safe.  Cash can be lost or stolen. Expensive cars can rust…and clothing can be damaged by insects.  Homes and other treasured possessions can be destroyed in wildfires or floods.  Deadbolt locks, safety deposit boxes, bank accounts--none of these can protect what we desire most deeply in our hearts.

            I think Tom Long is right when he says what our hearts truly desire is “to count--to count for something and to count to someone. To come to the end of a day--or the end of a life--with the satisfaction of having stood for what is good, with the joy of having been loved and having loved well in return, with the memory of having shown mercy, and with the peace of having walked with God--these are the true treasures, the treasures of the kingdom, a fortune no thief can plunder.”[2]

            The call to store up treasures in heaven is radical call to be oriented toward God’s way of love and abundance and justice in how we see the world.  If we see life as a gift from God, a bountiful outpouring of God’s providing, then we can be free to hold possessions with a light grasp and to be generous toward others. In contrast, if we see things through spiritual eyes that are “unhealthy,” we’ll see life as a competition between winners and losers over scarce resources. In the wise words of Proverbs, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist. When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes wings to itself, flying like an eagle toward heaven.”[3] 

             If we see the world in terms of scarcity, we won’t be freed from fear and selfishness. But if we have a healthy vision of life, we can trust in God’s goodness and abundance, and we will be free to be generous. 

            “No one can serve two masters,” Jesus teaches. “You cannot serve God and mammon--or wealth.”  “Mammon” is an Aramaic word that means “money” or “possessions.”

            Many of us like to believe we have chosen to serve God-- not mammon. But in our daily life it is often mammon that sets our priorities. Of course, we’d like to share more toward the poor, but it’s too hard, because we need so much for ourselves. We hope to be more charitable in the future, but at the moment we have too many obligations.  We’re afraid we won’t have enough.

            We live in such a materialistic society that it’s hard for us to look critically at how much power money and possessions have over how we see things and make choices.

            Ultimately, whether we serve God or wealth depends upon trust-- trusting God to provide what we really need.  

            Jesus continues, and the “therefore” in verse 25 tells us that this is all connected. “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith?

            “Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’…. indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

            “So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

            In the original Greek, the verbs translated as “look” and “consider” are strong verbs that suggest more than a casual glance. They invite us to study, to really look, at a world that God has created and has pronounced “good,” a world where God provides abundantly, a world where we don’t need to be imprisoned by worry or anxiety. Jesus invites us to imagine living in such a world of goodness and abundance.

            Yes, the rent or mortgage and insurance and taxes still have to be paid, and we still need to buy groceries, and the checkbook still has to be balanced. But we have seen this other world-- the world of God’s gracious, faithful care and abundance. 

            During stewardship season, we are challenged to hold our relationship with money up to the light of our Christian faith.  Our faith challenges us to strive to overcome our tendency to live out of fear, guarding whatever wealth we have left--   and instead open our lives more fully to the truth we hear in First Timothy:   “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”

            What is the life that really is life?  It is the life that focuses on the only true security that human beings have in this world, the completely reliable love of God.  “Take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you were made,” writes the author of 1 Timothy.  “It is God alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to God be honor and eternal dominion.  Amen.”

            It is one of the many paradoxes of faith that-- at the very times when we feel most anxious about our own sufficiency--   the act of sharing and generosity is the act that can give us the greatest joy and sense of peace.  It changes the lenses through which we see our own situation. 

            It is an act of liberation to be generous, an act that frees us from the bondage of anxiety, disappointment, and resentment over the loss of the false security.  It is an act of freedom that can replace false security with the real security of God, “who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”     It is an act of faith to commit ourselves to giving God the first fruits of our lives.

            “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.”

            The “life that really is life” is a life of contentment.  The “life that really is life” is a life of trust in God’s gracious providing for what we really need, rather than endless desire and striving for more.

            So-- let us strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness…and store up treasures in heaven.   Let us open ourselves to the riches of the “life that really is life!”

            May it be so!

Rev. Fran Hayes, Pastor

Littlefield Presbyterian Church

Dearborn, Michigan

October 22, 2017

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[1] Thomas G. Long, Matthew. (Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), p. 73.

[2] Thomas G. Long, Matthew, p. 74.

[3] Proverbs 23:6.