Our Two Hands
23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Nov. 8, 2009
Mark 12:38-44
Would you be the Pastor for a moment? There is an elderly couple in the congregation you serve. They have been married for over 50 years. Their marriage is not perfect, but much of their marriage has been good. There has been a caring for each other, a pulling together in most things. They have both been active in raising their children. They have worked hard at their jobs to provide financially for each other, for their family, their church and different things within their community. There have been some bumps along the way. For years their two children haven't been getting along with each other. At times these 2 grown children play their parents off against each other. Despite this, the couple continues to care deeply for each other. In ongoing ways they attempt to love and care for their 2 estranged children and all their grandchildren.
But the husband now well in his 80's has dementia. As time goes by the dementia worsens. Now, when he goes outside he easily becomes lost. His nights and days are mixed up. He some- times awakens at 3 AM and wonders outside not properly dressed. At times his frustration with his deteriorating memory boils over and he becomes very angry. He has now shoved his wife and raised his hand towards her for the first time in 53 years. He would never have done such things before. The wife is beside herself. She literally stops sleeping soundly. She tries to listen for her husband to stir. Once he moves she rushes to her feet ready to attempt to convince him that it is night time and that he must not to outside.
But the care he so desperately needs that she attempts to provide is taking its toll. Their children don't see the fullness of this reality because when they do come to visit they never stay overnight. The elderly wife tearfully asks her Pastor, "What shall I do? How can I continue to go on like this? Shall I literally give my life for this man I love? Or, shall I place him in a home? How could I ever do that? That too could kill me. It would be so very difficult for me to see how not with me, cared for by someone else."
What would you tell her? How could you help both she and her family?
The text we hear from Mark's Gospel is familiar to many of us. For years the Biblical title over this account was 'The Widow's Mite'. I have preached on this text many times. But these past years I have begun to see it in a different light.
Did you hear the few verses that preceded this account? Listen: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in market places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widow's houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."
Christ says this in the temple. His teaching seems quite straightforward. Beware of the leaders of any system - religious, political or economic where those with influence make decisions to destroy or devour others who are vulnerable in order to satisfy their own greedy selfish wants. Beware! Avoid! Do not emulate such people. In fact don't give into them. Mark may have been playing on words when he says that Jesus sits opposite (was that opposed to the treasury?) All of this is the first part of the text. Then follows the story of the widow's mite.
Given such a context would Jesus be telling any who are poor to give everything they have to a system, religious or otherwise that was already destroying them? It's obvious that the "poor" widow, (Mark's way of saying a beggar), has already had her house devoured by the systems she lived in. Would Jesus be expecting her, demanding that this poor widow give what little she has to a system that in manipulative ways now would claim that by such giving she would be blessed? I wonder!
Fast forward to our time: Would Jesus be telling the elderly woman in our story, the wife of the man with dementia to keep giving her life until she is killed or all used up, while her family and others including the people of the church do so very little or nothing to help either her or the man she loves?
Remember who Jesus is. He is the very Son of God, the Beloved, who is on his way to Jerusalem. Why is he going to Jerusalem? To watch the Grey Cup where BC's own Lions would like to be? To make his millions? To become more famous? No! Jesus is going to Jerusalem to give His all. Why? Because, we human beings need to be freed from ourselves, from our desire and obsession to secure ourselves at the cost of others' lives and well being. Jesus gives his all because the world needs to be freed from our mentality of blame and violence. Jesus gives His all because despite ourselves, God loves us! Yes, God loves all of us, including the scribes Jesus is speaking about and the widow, our elderly woman and man, you and me, all of us, all who are broken.
We are often shattered in our relationship with God. We are broken in our relationships with others, people and creation. Think about that! When did any of us last make time to sit down or kneel in order to speak honestly with God about who we are, about our joys and fears, about the places where we are feeling trapped, squished or spent? When did we last open ourselves up to God, saying, "Your will … not mine be done? Guide me, help me, forgive me, help me to change?" When did we last admit to those we deeply love our wrongdoing to them, either by our action or our inaction? How could we go above and beyond to help them?
I realize that many of you do the latter. I am blessed to live with a woman who goes above and beyond for me, for our children and for many others often. But I don't consistently do that. Some of you may be able to identify. The hockey game's on, it's the third period and the dog starts to bark because she needs to go outside. What do I do? "Hon, could you take her out?"
What seems small, like my laziness, or selfishness also works itself out on a much larger scale. Do we honestly see our relationships with others outside our family, outside our denomination, beyond our religion, our country? Do we ever allow them to carry us – to provide us with the luxuries we enjoy by giving their all while we give significantly less?
Remembrance day is only 3 days away. Sometimes I do reflect on the sacrifice of those who have gone before us. Perhaps this is because both of my parents are WW II veterans. Yet as I read the history accounts of many different wars, as I continue to see the caskets and the wounded come home from Afghanistan, I also ask, "How long, O Lord, how long, will we send our young men and women off to war to pay the price of our collective human hatred, human greed, our stubborn refusal to spend money, time and serious effort at getting along with each other, working together so that all may have their daily bread?
Why God do we turn our back on seeking to obey you in your command to love our neighbors as ourselves? Nor is it only the soldiers and their families who pay such a great price. The land, the civilians in all war zones pay an incredible price, as so many of you know better me.
So, Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem. There He suffers. There He dies. But He doesn't die in vain! In all of this - His life, suffering and death, Jesus seeks to obey God. His life, suffering, death and resurrection are given to bridge the gap between humanity and God, between humanity and humanity, between humanity and creation.
As Christ's sacrificial love washes over us our selfish impulses can be drowned again and again. We don't need to devour others by word or deed. We can choose to resist, to say no to those impulses that demand that we demean or take advantage of others. We can say no to participating in systems that would seek to devour any. As Christ's suffering, and dying love washes over us we can become part of God's transformation.
Being loved and accepted by God we will want to give to others on many levels. We can give as we are receiving. Is the reason that God has given us 2 hands is that with 1 we are to receive and with the 2nd to give away?
We don't have to do anything to get right with God, despite the fact that so often we do things that cause rifts between ourselves and God, between ourselves and others. In Jesus, God gives God's all FOR US both to bridge the gap between us and to bring about new hearts and minds within us.
I can't tell you for sure what the poor widow's attitude was as she placed her only 2 coins in the temple offering. She may have meant well and truly believed that by giving what she had she would be honoring God and helping others. Or she may have dropped those coins out of a sense of duty. In any case she was destitute.
But I can tell you that God wants us to beware of people in any and all systems and institutions who seek to take advantage of ourselves or others so that they can benefit. I can also tell you that Christ gives His all for us to prevent us and the world from being devoured.
We can begin to realize even now that all we have is a good and wonderful gift from God. Each person, each creature is important to God. We who have voice and influence are called by God to listen to the vulnerable, to give them voice and when necessary to advocate for and on behalf of them.
Finally, this life that we are given by God in Christ, is a life that also open to the contributions of others in this world. All others are also children of God. We can only benefit by listening with open ears, eyes and minds to God speaking through all around us. God in Christ's life, death and resurrection wills to bring new life to all and for all.
May God help us so to listen. As we listen may we also respond humbly and joyfully in all of the decisions of our lives, however clear or difficult they may be. May we both receive and give for the life of the world! In this God is glorified. Amen.