We think of the homeless widow as just a story that sets a high bar for faithful giving. But, Mark pairs her story with the story of those who devour people’s lives, a story that reminds us of the problems in the world and the price others make people pay for the success and recognition. What does this widow have to teach us about a gratitude that is so deep and complete that she is willing to give everything in thanks.

1. Prayer: Psalm 42

Reading: Mark 12:38–44

A Divided Pair

There is so much in this passage. I’ve heard people preach about the widow and others preach about the scribes. But interesting things happen when you put the two together.

Scribes

The legal experts… or the scribes… are not painted in a very flattering light. These were not everyday scribes but the ones who liked the trappings of wealth, who want to be noticed and put up on pedestals.

Widows

The Widows, on the other hand, were powerless and honorless in a society emphasizing status and honor. While they were expected to be protected under Jewish law, someone else had to advocate for them in court. And here, we have a widow in what one translation calls hopeless poverty. 

In spite of that, she has scraped together a few pennies to put in the offering plate. Somewhere out there, pastors are using this passage to preach about faithful giving.

Still need a nudge to submit your pledge card?

But… our stewardship series is done, so we’re not going there.

Connecting them

I think there’s something interesting in the way Mark has brought these two passages from different moments together. 

In the first, Jesus talks about scribes who like expensive clothes and want to be put on a pedestle and accuses them of one crime that harms another person: they cheat widows out of their homes. 

Then there is a story about a widow living in hopeless poverty. 

The question were left to answer is why is she in hopeless poverty? Is she in this situation because of someone like the scribes scribe? The unspoken story is about the relationship between these two, about how one treats the other –even if they never directly face each other– and what they do in the situation that flows from that treatment.

The Psalm Reader: In The Widow’s shoes

Let’s back up to the beginning of the service. We had a reading from Mark. Someone else read it and you, during that time, listened passively, some may have tuned out, some may have fiddled, some may have checked their phones. There was a second passage: from Psalm 42. The opening prayer and call to worship though were adapted from Psalm 42. In both cases, we all spoke the words together. I hope I put all of you in the shoes of those who originally spoke those words. Part of the power of reading, speaking, words is that puts you in the their shoes. Did you feel what she felt? Are you living through something that feels like what she went through? Maybe this week? Maybe you expected things to turn out differently on Tuesday, maybe you hoped…

Those like the Scribes: Grifters, Connmen, Broken Systems

When it says cheat widows out of their homes, or in some translations, devouring widows houses, it might mean directly or it might mean favoring other people who were more powerful, it might mean seeking extensive contributions. They could impose tithes as high as 20-30% on top of the government’s heavy land taxes. They would also have in various ways supported a system that allowed Rome to mine and strip the resources of it’s vast empire, at times leaving little but a devastated creation behind. 

What connect these stories is a relationship in which the least of these are harmed … while other people in the relationship benefit from the harm. The scribes –with the power they were entrusted in society– represent both those who directly cheat others, those who enable people  who cheat others and the organizations, businesses and governments that inflict unbearable burden

s on people and creation. And, the scribes become a symbol of everyone who satisfy their desire, their want, for status and power by playing their part on that side of the relationship.

And for everyone who had sat through the Jewish equivalent of Sunday school… in fact for most people who reflected on the story Jesus told this was a primary example of our failures in how we treat what the Bible terms the least of these. Everyone who had gone through the Jewish equivalent of Sunday School probably knew that when James wrote that true religion is to look after orphans and widows, he was quoting. The bible is full of variants of this phrase that points out how wide the net of neighbor is cast. The true test of people’s spirituality and philisophy is how they treat widows, people who are parentless, those living in poverty, those society casts out, the strangers from another place, the people who we give the least voice. 

I’ve been ignoring the disciples. Jesus is telling this story to his followers. Some in his community knew what it was like to be the least of these. Some in his community, like the man who would provide a rich man’s tomb for Jesus, knew what it was like to be in a position to benefit from devouring the homes of widows and the lives of the least of these. And the rest of them probably thought of themselves as watching this drama from the outsider, neither widow nor scribe. But, that didn’t mean they were not the widow’s neighbors. That did not mean that they could avoid wrestling with how they should act when facing this event in the world around them. Instead of pointing out what they should go do, these stories are held up knowing that those who follow Jesus know the part we play, recognize the problems around us, and that must choose choose what we do when we see scribes come to devour the homes of the least of these.

Gratitude in Nothing and Gratitude for Nothing

Jesus has a way of doing that, of telling stories that don’t answer questions but question our assumptions and answers, that call us to a deeper love for our neighbors, all our neighbors (whether we’ve ever seen them or not) and the creation in our care. Here, the question is posed but his spoken lesson calls the widow’s gift of two coins everything… and the larger sums others give, spare chage. The simple lesson is that our generosity is not measured in absolute numbers but is relatively to our situation. 

Another question that’s not asked her is why are people generous? Why are the people who are doing well so stingy? Where is she finding something to be thankful for? What is the source of her gratitude? In the midst of hopeless poverty. Can she find a place that has rent she can pay? Is herlife being devoured by others –a scribe, maybe a billionaire developer, maybe a corporation trying to be competitive in the AI game that needs to build a few nuclear power plants to power a host of new data centers, maybe the policies that sacrifice individual’s well-being for stock market gains. And what of those who stand aside while this happens because they think she’s not from here, maybe see her as a little odd, maybe see her as in the way of the way they think the world should be.

And still she finds a source for gratitude. Somehow, even as her life has been devoured, something has not been devoured, something has not been consumed, there is something that she holds on to that’s beyond all that can be taken that drives her to expressing gratitude that is so deep and total that she is willing to give everything she has to express it?

Conclusion

Some of us follow Jesus. For some of us that looks like following him here on a morning like this to be fed, to be reassured, to hear good news, to be reminded that we are valuable in of ourselves and beloved no matter what our lives are like and no matter how others view us, and no matter what we will find outside these walls this day and in the days to come. Jesus tells us stories that remind us that we can not ignore how the lives of others are devoured for more expensive clothes and a better place at the table. But, first, Jesus says, find what is true and enduring and beautiful and loving in your life and learn a gratitude that is so deep and complete that you will give everything you have in thanks.

Benediction

    The Lord bless you
            and keep you;
    the Lord make his face shine on you
            and be gracious to you;
    the Lord turn his face toward you   
            and give you peace

    May you know that you are valuable and
    beloved of the All that is Holy 

    May you find what is true and enduring
    May you find what is beautiful and loving in your life
    May you learn a gratitude that is so deep and complete
      that you will give everything you have in thanks