Sunday, Nov. 11 - 24th Sunday after Pentecost
Mk. 12:41-13:2; Capital Campaign sermon #2
Before I give you what you might expect about the widow’s mite by urging you to give with all your might to the capital campaign we are conducting now for the improvement of our churches facilities, I need to say something that might blow it, that might undermine all of that but will at least protect the soul of the church. Jesus says something right after his praise of the widow that should trouble us. Remember that Mark didn’t put chapter headings in his original work, let alone divide sentences as verses. So when Jesus says to his disciples at the beginning of the next chapter that not one stone of the great Temple in Jerusalem will be left upon another, that the building and all that happens in it will be destroyed, that could just as well be the conclusion of his counsel that we should all give like the widow.
This is sobering. I would like to tell you that if you give to this church’s building program, you are doing something that will last forever. But that’s not true, and you know it. After we finish remodeling and expanding and beautifying, the decay begins immediately. Anybody have a house? If you built it new, you probably had the foolish notion—okay, I’ve had the foolish notion, don’t you know?!—that at least I wouldn’t have to worry about things breaking down for a while, right? I’ve got a new house, and I’ve already had to have service calls for one thing after another. Nature has a way of bringing everything we build and even ourselves back to dust, which is to say, back to itself.
Alan Weisman has written a new book entitled World Without Us, in which he imagines what would happen to the planet if human beings were suddenly to disappear from it. The short and long of it is that it takes a lot from us to hold back nature for our own purposes, and if we were off the scene altogether, it wouldn’t take long before nature destroyed what we have made and would take back its sovereignty over earth, sky, and sea.
It’s a humbling thought. And one that leads me to tell you that if you have any illusions that giving to this capital campaign is an eternal gift to rnsure that the church’s buildings last forever, forget it. They won’t.
But the Temple in Jerusalem was not destroyed by nature; it was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, just a matter of 40 years after Jesus spoke these words about the widow’s mite. And yet Jesus seems to indicate that it would not so much be a Roman judgment as divine judgment that would cause it to fall. Which leads us to look even more closely. Just before the widow makes her offering in the Temple, Jesus criticizes the scribes—certain religious leaders of the day—for their outward piety that calls attention more to themselves than to the matters of God. And the chief matter of God that they neglect has to do with justice and charity for the poor. They devour widows’ houses, Jesus says, and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.
Here’s the indictment that reaches its peak with the widow’s offering of two small coins: the widow shouldn’t have had only two small coins to put into the collection the first place. If the Temple leaders had been fulfilling their duty, she would not have been so vulnerable. The Temple was the Social Security Administration of the day as well as the Benevolence Center. The Law of God taught that widows and orphans and aliens in the land were to be cared for by the community so that they could participate meaningfully in all things with everyone else. But this woman’s poverty itself—even before her gift— was a judgment against the leadership and the whole system that kept her poor at the expense of others.
Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa has called for an investigation into the financial dealings of six prominent and wealthy TV evangelists. Their lavish lifestyles are a judgment against them, regardless of what the Senate committee turns up. And what is more devastating is how they sometimes devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. How many poor and vulnerable widows send them money they really need to live on, trusting them as agents of God, only to be mocked? Well, God is not mocked, and like Jesus looking things over at the time of the offering, God sees and knows who gives what, who gives not, and who is abusing whom.
If this church preys upon the weak and vulnerable in order to build its buildings or pad my pocketbook, then not just the buildings but the whole enterprise will come crashing down under the judgment of God. You must not give to a fundamentally unjust system, even if some corruption is inevitably part of any human venture. And I pray God does not look upon us with this judgment. Our concern for the poor, our mission to the world, our care for those who are hurting within our own fellowship must be the heart and soul of our ministry. Buildings only serve to make ministry better; they do not substitute for ministry by keeping up appearances.
If you give to this campaign or if you tithe to the ministries of this church, you must give to make the church better, not to make the church look better. I am giving to this campaign because I believe that is so, but you must give only with that conviction. Wilshire Baptist Church is not a building; it is a people. It is not a deadening organization; it is a lively organism. It is not a for-profit enterprise with tax-exempt status; it is a ministry of prophets that relentlessly taxes the consciences of anyone seeking status instead of service. We are here to raise stewards, not to raise money. We are here to build a church, not only to build church buildings.
The Temple had many rich people funding its ministry. Anyone could see them and know who they were. That was partly the point. And it often is so in the philanthropic world. Some people will only give large sums of their wealth that they do not need themselves to live on comfortably unless their name is somehow attached to it. We don’t do that in this church. I am happy to say that two gifts that account for exactly half of the total pledged so far in this campaign come from people who insist on remaining anonymous. Now that is true of everyone in our church as a matter of practice, but these specifically do not want the size of their gifts to cause anyone to think differently of them or single them out as special. God has given them the ability to give large sums, but they understand that honor is accorded equally to those who give small sums with the same measure of sacrifice.
On this Veterans’ Day, consider with me those who have received the highest honor our country may confer for service. The Congressional Medal of Honor is given irrespective of rank to those who exhibit great bravery in defense of the country, those who put their lives on the line for others. They give not just a piece of themselves but their whole selves. Privates and generals receive equal honor because of equal sacrifice.
Why did the widow put in her two cents? Did she really think her little bit would put the Temple over the top in its annual fund drive? Did she think the latest remodel would not get done if she didn’t add a mite or two? No, she gave because it was her nature to give. She gave unto the Lord, not unto the project. And she gave to the community of faith, trusting that they would take care of her as the Lord commanded, instead of her keeping what she had in order to take care of herself.
I hear people all the time talk about how their first concern is to have enough money when they retire that they will not be a burden to their children or anyone else. So they save and save and save, believing that one day maybe they will have enough to give. The same is true of young adults who figure their families are their first priority, but they never get past their families to the family of God. I can tell you that if that is your strategy, you will never have enough to give. You need what our dear friend, the late Phil Strickland, called a “theology of enough” that will free you to give. If you do not marry generosity to responsibility early in your life, responsibility will ultimately desert generosity, and you will be left alone with your money.
Let me be clear about this: I am not counseling you to give away all your money so that your kids will have to take care of you in your old age. That would be generosity divorcing responsibility. But if your kids do get to share in your care at the end of your life, that may be more of a privilege than a burden anyway. When did the goal be that we all die without needing anyone we love to offer us support? I know you think that should be only moral support, but when did it become immoral to receive financial help from those you love who are younger than you?
So back to the widow and us. I think the widow gave for one more reason: I think it was not just a love for the Lord or a trust of the Temple administrators to do the right thing and care for her. I think she gave because she wanted to a full partner in the full ministry with everyone else.
Some of you heard the announcement today that we have more than $5 million in advance commitments from 125 households. Whew! That’s great, you figure. The rich stepped up. My little gift won’t amount to much. It won’t be missed. No, but you will be.
When Jesus says that the widow gave out of what she had to live on, Luke translates his word into the Greek as bios—as in the root of biology, as in life. She gave herself, in other words. She didn’t just give her heart to God; she gave herself. She wanted to be counted, even if only God knew she counted. She didn’t want the community of God to be divided into rich and poor, givers and takers. She wanted to be counted rich before God, and to be a giver along with everyone else.
I must speak frankly. Some of you have allowed others to make ministry possible to you and your families. You have said to yourself that your little bit is only a mite, that others have more to give, that you will give time and talents while others give tithes and offerings. But to do so runs the dual risk of becoming a taker instead of a giver and also allowing the church to be divided into givers and takers. You don’t want to be that kind of person, and you don’t want to have that kind of church. You want to be counted with the widow as rich before God, and you want to be counted among the people of God as a full participant.
So I urge you to give something to this campaign, even if only a widow’s mite. I am hearing stories of people making wonderful sacrifices to be able to participate. Some people are getting their affairs in order just to do something small. Some are giving up eating out, giving up a twice-monthly housekeeper, giving up a new car purchase for a used car. Did you know that giving up is what the word sacrifice means: giving up something you would have used for your purposes, and giving it up to God to use for God’s purposes. Any time you do that, your gift is worthy of the widow who gave herself when she gave her mite. How mite you give?
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