Once again in today’s gospel we have a teaching on money and wealth. If the story of the poor widow makes us squirm a little then I think it has done its job. It is not the first time we see Jesus criticizing the wealthy; a few weeks ago we had the story of the rich young man who walked away from Jesus after Jesus told him to sell all he had and give the money to the poor. He had great wealth and Jesus’ words sounded harsh to him; so much so that he was saddened by them and we never find out what he did.
Widows are difficult characters in scripture. Whether it’s the widow from our Old Testament Reading or the widow in the Gospel we are confronted with a harsh reality; widows are at the mercy of everyone. They need to have either a husband who provided for them after death, or an adult son or a father – a male who could gather them into their house and care for them. Without that person, the widow would be at the mercy of friends and family to take care of them. Yet, both of the widows we hear about today go far above their means to help bring about God’s kingdom and also to show us that the “system” that is in place is one of human design and not God’s.
If the kingdom of God were here on earth as it is in heaven, we wouldn’t need these women to teach us about the kingdom.
Both of these women were poor; so poor in fact that the widow that is ready to prepare her last meal for her and her son and then die because of their poverty. Elijah reassures her that there will be enough if she feeds him, and that the jars of grain and oil will continue to feed her and her son for quite some time. We know even less about the widow that Jesus notices. All we know of her is that she put in two coins that didn’t amount to very much into the treasury, and that it was all she had. She may very well have lived on the street.
What came to my mind as I read these passages is how the temple, which was supposed to care for the most vulnerable, the widows and the orphans, has failed to observe the law that they were so quick to accuse Jesus of not following. The temple should have been taking care of this woman and others that were in her situation; basically the temple needed to be taking care of the poor. We don’t know why the widow in the gospel does what she does; is it out of love for others? Was it money she owed to the temple? We don’t know. Both women gave to others out of their poverty. It could never equal what the rich gave because the rich didn’t give all that they had; they didn’t risk having less food because a prophet came by and wanted to eat. It may be a lesson to us that temples created by humans do not always do what they should. I have no doubt that caring for orphans and widows is costly; but there is no price on human life; If one of God’s children is hungry and suffering, that should have an effect on us; as disciples we should be helping to aleve the suffering of God’s own children. Temples and I dare say government programs are not enough; we need to challenge the “systems” in place to make sure that they are serving the needs of God’s people.
I remember doing a study of the whole “mega church” movement when I was in seminary. A few of us went to one of the churches that birthed that whole movement. What I found was that the church itself was in a fairly wealthy suburb of Chicago. And, the church did quite a bit of outreach, even collecting and giving cars to those who needed them. However… There was no way that the people they served were ever going to be able to be part of that community. It cost a lot of money to belong to this church, not just in the expectation of tithing, but also in the cost of program literature for the numerous bible studies that people in the church belonged to. And so, we had a structure in place that gave help to “those people” over there but there was no building of relationships between the church people and those whom they were helping. “Those people” were always going to be “the other” rather than fellow brothers and sisters on the path toward the kingdom.
Here’s the thing my friends. Systems, governments, and even the church seem to forget about those whom they are supposed to serve. It doesn’t matter who is in the White House or any other other government position; the poor are STILL poor, and looked at as “the other” someone who we might try to throw some crumbs to so that they will go away; or promises might get made in order to keep them quiet and compliant. No matter whom we elected this past week, the poor will remain poor; wars will continue; innocent civilians and children will continue to get bombed in other parts of the world. BUT, do you know what else hasn’t changed as the result of any election we might have? What hasn’t changed is our mandate as disciples of Jesus. Our discipleship compels us to feed and clothe the poor… our discipleship compels us to respect the dignity of EVERY human being. Government does not give us that mandate; Jesus does, and we have much work to do because the “systems” that are in place will not make a dent in the poverty that surrounds us. And because we are disciples we don’t just try to make the problem go away; rather we welcome the poor and the stranger into our midst, inviting US to share of ourselves with them so that they can be in relationship with us and with God. That has been the hardest part of my work as a missioner; getting people to understand that mission is about relationships with others. We cannot share the love of Christ if we do not get to know our neighbors. We cannot love God if we are not loving our neighbor, whomever they may be. So, beloved, roll up your sleeves. Loving your neighbor is still what Jesus commands, no matter what principalities and politicians may say or do. Love God, love your neighbor. That’s where you and I get our purpose. From the Lord our God.
Baptismal Covenant page 304