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Pentecost 24B – Mark 12: 38-44
A farmer woke up one morning and decided he would have ham and eggs for breakfast.
He went outside to the barn, found his best-laying hen, rounded up a prime, tender hog, and said
to both of them, “I’ve got a taste for ham and eggs this morning…..how about it?” The hen
responded immediately by delivering two fine grade-A extra-large eggs. But the pig hesitated.
The hen turned to the hog and said, “what’s your problem?” This farmer feeds us and protects us
and gives us everything we need. The least we could do is give him some ham and eggs for
breakfast.” “Yeah, well that’s easy for you to say”, said the hog, “all he wants from you is a
contribution. From me he wants a real commitment.”
I mention this little story to you today because the gospel lesson you just heard teaches us
the difference between a contribution and a commitment. It is a lesson that both comforts and
afflicts. It comforts us when we feel that we have little to offer. It is a story that afflicts our
comfort when we wonder if we have given enough. And let me tell you, many preachers around
the world today are afflicted with sweating it out in their pulpits, because whenever they have to
address stewardship and giving, you have to wonder if the congregation is thinking, “oh oh, is
the pastor going to give us one of those ‘you have to give more’ sermons. Yes the subject of
giving afflicts all of us.
You have heard it said before that we are at the same time, saint and sinner. Each one of
us live our lives as saint and as a sinner. And a part of that life is to experience the battle
between giving and looking out for ourselves. As saints, we have a basic, spiritual need to give
that always competes with the selfishly sinful desire to hold back. There is a part of each one of
us that wants to give…..that knows that we should give…..that does give. It’s like an instinct
that must be satisfied or else we won’t feel quite right. An instinct that says, “I have to give
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because that’s what I am here on this earth for.” “I have to give because others are just as
important as I am.” But this instinct that we have inside of us has competition doesn’t it?
There is another part of us that says, “I need to look out for number one. I need to take
care of myself and those closest to me first and foremost.” And, I’ve said it before, there is
nothing wrong with this. It’s just that the frantic consumerism of our world today wants to take
that part of ourselves and keep us there. The world today wants us to stay in the realm of “lets
look out for number one” because that is what feeds the world of advertising. “Forget about
others” it says, “worry about yourselves.”
Today’s story of the poor widow gets to the heart of this struggle and it causes us to
reflect upon the meaning of the story and how it relates to us here today. Some of you may
know of this story as it is sometimes called, “the widow’s mite.” Mite, as in m-i-t-e, like the
very tiny spider like creature……mite, as in a very small, insignificant offering. But it’s not
about the total dollar value is it? In fact it’s not always about money either because we can give
in many other ways. In the poor widow’s offering…..this widow who is weak, helpless, without
any status, with no job, little money, no family, no support, no welfare, no hope…..proves
herself to be mighty enough to turn the heads and perhaps even the hearts of all those in the
temple courtyard. This poor widow gets the attention of Jesus, who uses her commitment to
teach the disciples a lesson in giving…..a very powerful lesson that we are still talking about
centuries later.
In the poor widow’s day, all faithful Jews were obligated to pay temple taxes. These
funds were used to purchase animals, grain, and oil for the ritual sacrifices of the temple priests.
As Jesus watched, “many rich people put in large sums.” Their gifts resounded as the coins
clanged down into the metal boxes. There were no cheques and no paper money in those days so
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the rich people attracted as much attention as someone dropping a double handful of loonies and
toonies into our offering plates. For them appearances were everything. They gave for their own
benefit more than for God’s and so were no different than the scribes who liked to walk around
in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market places, and to have the best seats in
the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. And we all know what Jesus thought of them.
But this poor widow comes in and places two small copper coins, which are worth a
penny…..two small, thin coins which wouldn’t have made very much noise as they dropped into
the box…..but Jesus heard it. Oh yes, he heard it. And it is very clear that the noise those coins
made…..the commitment that they represent is what Jesus wants to hear and see. That is why
that story is in our New Testaments…..that is why pastors still preach about it today, because this
kind of commitment is exactly what Jesus wants out of us. Jesus is happy with contributions, but
he wants us to move further down the road to commitment.
There are many people in our world today who refuse to give a single dollar to the
institution of church because they mistakenly see church goers as the hypocritical scribes of
Jesus’ day. But they miss the bigger picture…..they miss what all of us, including themselves
were created for. You see, the scribes were looking out for number one. But God didn’t create
us for that purpose. We are not isolated individuals but rather a community, a group of people
gathered and bound together by mutual need and caring. We were created to be in community
and to look out for the members of that community. Family, church family, friends, you name
it…..even the most introverted person you can think of needs community, because we were
created for this purpose. We are here for each other…..created and blessed with many abilities
and assets and drawn together to care for each other and the world God made. So when you are
giving to the church, you aren’t giving to an institution, you are showing your commitment to
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Christ and showing the world that all church goers are not hypocrites.
And so we give….we give in trust that our money, our time and our gifts will go to
Christ’s church and will be used by God for the building up of community…..both near and far.
Commitment is the building block of a Christian life. Out of our commitment comes many
blessings. Some of these blessings we see, and some we are left to trust God with. As good as
contributions are, commitments are better…..for in commitments we give a larger portion of
ourselves to the community that God loves. Commitments are a better sign of our gratitude to
our Savior, who by his own commitment gave us everything when we had nothing. The
commitment to die for us while we were yet sinners; to come to us in Holy Baptism and name us
and claim us for his very own and keep us in the sign of the cross we bear on our foreheads.
It is the commitment we ourselves make in our confirmation, when we promise to live as
Christ’s own people. It is the commitment we make in our marriages, when we promise to love
each other as Christ loves the church. It is the commitment we make at the baptism of our
children, when we promise to be teachers and examples of righteousness for them. It is the
commitment each one of us has made in joining this congregation, “to live among God’s faithful
people, to hear his Word and share in his Supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ
through word and deed, to serve all people following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
strive for justice and peace in the earth.”
It is the kind of commitment to which Christ continually calls and recalls us, commitment
not just of time and talent and treasure, but commitment of ourselves, with a passion that
becomes the power of God’s kingdom breaking into our lives in this time and this place. Jesus
holds up for all of us to see a poor widow who showed this kind of commitment. A poor widow
who gave with her heart…..a poor widow whose story reminds us that God created us to have no
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other gods before him…..even ourselves…..a story that proclaims that God will take what we
have and what we are and will make of it and of us far more than we could ever imagine. So the
next time you sit down to breakfast over a plate of ham and eggs, think about the farmer’s hen
who gave that which she really didn’t miss. Think about the farmers hog who gave up far more,
although he never really had much choice in the matter. And then, think about and give thanks
to our Savior for his commitment to us…..and then I hope and pray that you will be moved to
say thank you with a commitment of your own. Thanks be to God. Amen.