Photo credit: Eberhard Grossgasteiger, used with permission via Unsplash
Rev. Dvera Hadden, preaching:
On this lovely, crisp autumn day I am aware of the seasons changing. Some leaves on trees are putting away their green chlorophyll for the season and revealing their glorious, underlying color. Some trees are releasing their leaves, perhaps to prepare for a dormant time through the winter and renewal in the spring. Each moment has a new touch of light and shadow, every day has a new arrangement of color in the trees. We expect this cycle in nature- the release of autumn, the dormancy of winter, the renewal of spring, the rich harvest of summer. Nature changes through the year, and we, like nature, change throughout our lives.
In our scripture readings for today, we see God’s people at different stages in their life with God. In our reading from Exodus, we see the Israelites just barely getting stared into a life free from enslavement in Egypt. In our reading from the Gospel of Mark, we hear Jesus teaching his listeners what it looks like to be in community shaped by God rather than popularity and Empiric rule. We come, week by week, month by month, year to year to continue to learn what it means to be God’s people and grow deeper into a life modeled after Christ’s attention to the widow, the outcast, the marginalized, the under-resourced.
Today, we meet the Israelites in the wilderness - just 45 days into freedom from life enslaved to Pharaoh's rule. Not for the first time, they are grumbling, complaining to Moses and Aaron about their living conditions. They don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and it makes them grumpy. The grumpiness spreads from person to person, from tent to tent, household to household until the whole company of the Israelites is complaining, complaining to Moses and Aaron about the scarcity of food resources out in the wilderness.
Did you notice who answers their grumbling? Not Moses, not Aaron, but God! God provides manna for them, bread from heaven, enough for one day at a time, double on the sixth day of the week so that no one is working to find food on the seventh day, the day of rest, the Sabbath. Sometimes, when we encounter this scripture, we wonder how it is the Israelites could complain about freedom, but let’s step back a moment for reflection. When we are hungry, do we think straight? When we are in need, do we cry out? When we are feeling uncertain about today or tomorrow, do we wish for a time that felt more certain and predictable?
Perhaps we may find ourselves in company and sympathy with the Israelites, after all. And, perhaps, in company with the Israelites, as we recognize our own need, our own sense of scarcity or uncertainty, we, too, may be met with God’s provision of manna - of life-giving sustenance, enough for each day, and the promise for the next. Perhaps, we may learn along with the Israelites that God’s abundance is present with us, even in our perception of scarcity. As with the Israelites, God provides for us even in the midst of our uncertainty and disorientation.
The Israelites will spend a couple of generations in the wilderness learning to release their sense of scarcity and to embrace the certainty of God’s provision of enough, enough food, enough water, enough sustenance to move from one day into the next.
In our reading for today, we hear the first instruction about honoring a day of rest. It is the beginning of God’s shaping of the community, the company of Israel. God is teaching and shaping us in community still, providing for each new day, dwelling with us in the midst of our lives- in our sense of certainty and our experience of uncertainty, in our sense of scarcity and our experience of abundance, in our disorientation and confusion and in our confidence and assurance.
In the reading from the Gospel of Mark that Ann read for us today, we hear God-in-Jesus teaching on the Temple grounds. In Mark, this teaching of Jesus’ is the last of his public ministry. He is in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival with his disciples. It will be the end of his public ministry. He will lose his life on a Roman cross because his teaching centers and prioritizes God’s care for the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the alienated and forgotten rather than the powerful and the elite.
In the two short stories about Jesus’ teaching that we heard this morning, Jesus observes the people around him- the scribes who love adoration, and the people, both rich and poor, bringing money to contribute to the operations of the Temple. In verses 38-40, Jesus gives a little social commentary, or perhaps a “reign of God” commentary. "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."
Jesus recognizes how the adulation and appreciation by those around us can lead us away from God’s attention to care for those who are vulnerable, marginalized, or in need. We feel good when someone complements us on our clothing choices. We are grateful to be greeted in public by people who recognize us. We like to have a front row seat and a good view of what’s going on in our neighborhoods, in our communities, in our world. The scribes in our reading for today are trapped by the honor and adulation they have received from the public, in public. They are drawn into the way of the powerful that exploits the vulnerable, that devours widows’ houses. It is not every scribe. The Biblical Greek is grammatically structured so that we can read it, “beware the scribes, the ones who like to walk around in long robes.” It gives us the opportunity to realize that those scribes are not the only ones. We, in positions of authority, acclaim, respect, or honor, don’t have to be like those scribes who take advantage of the vulnerable, we can be like the scribes who were following God’s teaching and administering the Temple funds rightfully, righteously- caring for poor widows, caring for the hungry, the needy, the marginalized, the immigrant. On this side of the Biblical story, it is easy to sit in judgment of those scribes, the ones who say long prayers for the sake of appearances, but let’s be careful to ask ourselves what motivates us to do what we do. How are we sharing God’s love and care in a privileged world?
In the second brief story in verses 41-44, we get a record of what Jesus noticed about the poor widow who brought her offering to the Temple. He celebrated her as the one who contributed more than all the others, her whole livelihood.
I wonder what he thought about the others who came to bring their gifts? I wonder what motivated them, and what motivated the widow to bring their offerings. I think sometimes, when we read these two stories together, we imagine that the rich, who are not lauded by Jesus, fall into the category of the hypocritical scribes. But if we give them the benefit of the doubt and their own consideration in the story, we could imagine that they were bringing their gifts in gratitude for the abundance in their lives. Or, perhaps, they had been in a rough spot, and now they came rejoicing to be able to offer their gift. Perhaps they came, fatigued and worn down by work, but glad to be able to contribute to the Temple, to be able to join in God’s care for the vulnerable in their midst.
Where might we find ourselves in the crowd that day? Perhaps we are in the crowd bringing our contribution to the Temple. Perhaps we are gathered with Jesus’ disciples to listen to him and learn to see the world with attention centered on the ones who need God’s care most. Perhaps we are among the scribes who care for God’s beloved people in need, perhaps sometimes we are in the company of those scribes who do things for the sake of appearances.
Sometimes, when we read this story of the widow and her two small coins, I think we often imagine her destitute and down-trodden. I am grateful to the Biblical commentator Henry Langknecht who stopped to wonder, what if we imagined her proud, head held high, bringing her contribution to the work and service of the community, with dignity? What if we imagined her giving her two coins, confident that God will provide what she needs, whether it be food, or shelter, or community, or certainty for her future? What if we imagined her two coins added to all the offerings from all the others who came that day to give their gifts? We begin to see how scarcity is transformed into abundance. When we imagine her experience of scarcity, perhaps we can also imagine the experience of God’s abundance that allowed her to give her two coins to the Temple’s work of caring for her community.
As we ponder experiences of scarcity and abundance, in the wilderness with the Israelites and in the widow's life, we see how God’s provision underlies the stories of the ancient Israelites, the Jews of Jesus’ times, and the communities of the early Christian church that bring us the Gospels. The title for this morning’s sermon is taken from a book by Paul Escamill- Longing for Enough in a Culture of More. It is a simple enough premise, seeking a greater simplicity of life in a culture that seems to value more over less. I was struck by the first chapter in particular. Escamill notes that in Genesis, in the story of creation, God uses simple language to describe God’s own work of creation- “good,” and then “very good.” Not “magnificent,” “tremendous,” “stupendous,” or even “super,” simply “good.” If “good” is good enough for God, then as we continue to learn and be shaped in community with one another by God’s teaching, perhaps, in our own experiences of scarcity and abundance- lived within God’s provision; all we need is enough, enough to show God’s care for the vulnerable in our midst.
All honor and praise to the Triune God! Alleluia, amen.
© 2024 Dvera Hadden
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