Giving It Your All

 Today's gospel is Mark 12:38-44.
 
By now you have heard that the recent presidential election was the most expensive in history. Adding up what both candidates spent plus their parties plus the SuperPACs, the initial total spending is $1.5 billion. And I suppose you are going to expect me to say something about how that might have been spent on all kinds of things, like helping the victims of hurricane Sandy. But that's not the purpose of this illustration. Rather I want to point out that money is a measure of value and of what we put our trust in so this shows how much people valued getting or keeping their candidate in power. It was worth $700 to $800 million dollars for the supporters to each candidate. Though the attraction of SuperPACs was that you could give as much money as you wished with no possibility of anyone knowing, a few people were not shy about being known for giving millions to get certain people elected or defeated. We must give credit where credit is due: they put their money where they mouths were. They showed what they valued the most.

In today's gospel Jesus is talking about people showing what they value. At the beginning of the passage, he is denouncing the scribes, the men who made the copies of the Torah by hand and were thus experts in the law. Apparently this sacred trust went to their heads and they loved the respect they got from the average person. They walked around in long flowing gowns, which looked impressive but were impractical for either working or hurrying in. (A friend once remarked that when we give a man power, we often put him in a dress--a judge, a surgeon, a clergyman!) They loved being greeted with reverence in public. They liked being seated in the front of the synagogue where they could see everything and be seen by everyone. They liked being put in the seat of honor, next to the host, at banquets. They loved making extra-long prayers that made them seem super-pious. They loved all the trappings of being a rabbi, which literally means "great one."

They also, according to Jesus, devoured widows' property. It was not Jewish custom then to pay someone for serving God. Rabbis and scribes were supposed to have a trade. But some convinced people, especially rich widows, that supporting a rabbi in comfort was the highest of privileges, almost a duty. And Jesus saw, as we do today, that some of these religious leaders were taking devout women for more than they could afford to give.        

"They will receive the greater condemnation." As Jesus says in Luke 12:48, "To whom much is given, much will be required." Those who are given the gifts to interpret and apply God's word will be held to a higher moral standard. You think you hate it when it turns out some priest has molested children, or some preacher has embezzled from the church, or some TV evangelist has been exposed as a charlatan and a hypocrite. Imagine how God feels about that! These people are supposed to be preaching the good news, comforting the afflicted and, when necessary, afflicting the comfortable. When they instead use their position of trust to exploit people, or to enrich themselves, or to court worldly power and acclaim, they discredit God in the eyes of those who need him and thus drive people from God. And as they do this, they reveal what they really value: money, power, fame, material goods, physical pleasure.

Next our gospel tells us Jesus sat opposite the treasury. Tradition has it there were 13 collection boxes there called the Trumpets, because of their wide metal funnels that made a loud noise as people threw their coins in. Each was for a different need of the temple. Jesus notices one particular woman, a widow in shabby garb, who drops in 2 coins of the smallest denomination available. And he draws his disciples' attention to her. She has put in more than the rest, he points out. And so she has. Others may have given larger amounts but she has given a much larger percentage of her money--all of it!

How did Jesus know the poor widow gave all she had? Perhaps he saw her shake out her purse only to have 2 small coins fall out. Maybe she hesitated throwing both in. Maybe she dropped one in and then started to walk away in dismay because she couldn't afford to give God much. And then maybe he saw her stop, walk back and drop in her last coin, say a short prayer and walk out of the temple, trusting in God to provide. It would have been an extraordinary drama, overlooked by those around her because unlike the richer donors, she didn't want to draw attention to herself. But Jesus saw her. He watched her expression change from shame to determination to faith. Perhaps he had seen a similar struggle go on in the heart of his mother after Joseph died and she had a house full of children to feed and clothe. He  knew firsthand the look of a poor person giving all she can for God.    

I can't help but recall the gospel passage we examined a few weeks back, where a rich man asks Jesus what he should do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell all he has, give it to the poor and follow him. That man couldn't do that. This widow can. The rich young man showed that he valued and trusted in his possessions more than God. Perhaps he was unable to trust that, without his wealth, his needs would be taken care of. This woman obviously did. We know that Jesus and the disciples had a common purse and for that reason alone, he should have known that he would not starve. Jesus also had a way of stretching bread and fish. As for the widow, it was common practice for synagogues to take up a weekly collection and give it to the person who needed it the most. So her getting help was not a sure thing, depending on whether she or someone else (like someone with kids and no money) was judged to be the most needy by her congregation. She was acting on faith. She not only put her welfare in God's hand; she was all in!

You rarely see that kind of faith these days. We all like to hedge our bets. We seldom trust God for our entire wellbeing. We probably feel that anyone doing what Jesus asked the rich guy to do, or what the poor widow actually did, is just foolish, though we might not say that out loud. Not in church. Because isn't that what we are supposed to do?

Yes, we are. We are supposed to trust God in everything and for everything, concerned instead on doing what he commands us. And of course we don't do that. I don't think it's the idea that the person who does what the widow did will fail that scares us as much as their possibly succeeding does. If someone can actually trust God that radically and manage to live, then the question is "Why don't we do the same?" Are we afraid we won't make it?

If we have literally nothing, perhaps. But between a quarter and a third of the people in the world live on the equivalent of less than $2 a day. That's 2.4 billion people, more than 7 times the US population. Granted the vast majority live outside the affluent West where things are cheaper. Still it's not like they live well on $2 a day. And half of those live on $1.25 or less. My point is that we can live on less without even getting close to reducing our expenses to $2 a day. Poverty in the US is figured at around $11,000 a person or $23,000 for a family of 4. Most of us make a good bit more than that. And we can afford to give more and still not drop anywhere within reach of the poverty level.

Jesus never asked anyone but that one rich man to give up all his wealth. But I'm sure he approved of the tithe every Jew was to give for widows, orphans and the poor. The tithe is the Biblical standard of giving to God and to the folks who rely on him to survive. And we even fall short by that measure. Stephen Anderson works as a consultant to churches and has found out that, no matter the size of the church, giving works out to about $1038 per member per year, or less than $20 a week. Which would be fine if we made about $200 a week or just over $10,000 a year. As it is many of us are living much better than the rest of the world but giving as if we were poor.

The average American spends $5 a day on junk food--candy, snacks, soda, fast food. That's around $35 a week, just under twice what we drop in the offering basket. Does that mean we value empty calories over the Bread from heaven? The average family spends $2698 a year on entertainment, more than twice what we give to the church. Does that mean we put a greater value on entertainment than on enlightenment and empowerment?

I know people have other expenses. That's why I've never been part of the "Priest/Pastor needs to your income" school of church management. Just knowing what you make doesn't tell a person what you spend on taking care of a special needs child, or alimony, or child support, or getting someone to stay with your ailing mother, or paying for your spouse's medical expenses. For that system to be fair, a priest/pastor would have to pore over everyone's tax returns, and nobody wants that. Besides, if being a good steward of your time, treasures and talents is a spiritual discipline, then it falls to each of us to prayerfully consider how much out of all God has granted us should we give back to him.

We Christians are accused of hypocrisy, one thing Jesus really hated. And if we act differently than we say we believe, we are hypocrites. So if we say we believe Jesus when he said to love our enemies, we must act on that. If we say we believe Jesus when he said we must care for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, and the immigrant, we must act on that. If we say we believe Jesus when he said we must love God with all we are and all we have, we should act on that. If we say God is number 1 in our lives, we need to display our commitment to him with how we spend our money, how we spend our time, how we use our talents. As we have seen in this election cycle, we've got more than enough noble-sounding promises. What we don't have enough of in this world is selfless action.

The widow in today's gospel puts us all to shame. She who had the least gave God the most. Perhaps the reason why Jesus noticed her is that he knew he would give his all on the cross so she and we could have eternal life. He got whipped, punched, betrayed, abandoned and executed…for us. And our response? We show up for one hour a week, drop a bill in the basket and we think we've done our part. We need to ask ourselves, "Well, have you? Have you done all you can?" And would you being willing to tell God you're giving him your all?