Mark 12: 38-44
“Beware of
Dog” is not an uncommon sign to see in any neighborhood. It’s there to let you
know that you should be careful when you are in a dog’s presence, even a dog
you may know well. I’ve seen other signs that say “Beware of Attack Cat!” in
people’s homes or “Beware, two year-old at play.” All of these signs caution us
about what we are about to encounter, but I have never seen a sign based on
Jesus’ teachings for this morning. “Beware of the scribes.”
It seems
like an odd thing to say doesn’t it? “Beware of the religious leaders.” We
typically have thought of religious leaders as someone worth trusting. In
Jesus’ time the scribes were teachers of the law. Their opinions mattered on
just about everything in your spiritual and physical life. The priests trusted
them so they should have been trusted and respected by the common folk. Even in
our society, where clergy have been tarnished by scandals recently, there is
still a level of trust with a religious leader that you might not give your everyday
stranger. So why is it that Jesus says to beware of the scribes?
It is
important to point out that Jesus did not make a blanket statement to beware of
all the scribes. After all just verses ago Jesus tells one scribe that he is
not far from the kingdom of God. Jesus points to specific actions of those to
beware of. He says, “beware of those who like to walk around in long robes, and
to be greeted with respect in the marketplace, and to have the best seats in
the synagogue and places of honor at banquets.”
I must be
honest with you and say that there isn’t much on this list that couldn’t
describe most preachers I know, even myself. I love to wear my long robe, I
appreciate being treated with respect in public, I sit up front, the best seat
in the house at church, and you all have done a fine job of letting Steve, the
kids and I go first at every potluck we’ve had at Christ Church! These things
are usually associated with being a clergy person.
These would
have been normal benefits for any scribe or high priest. These actions
themselves are not the problems, rather the motivations behind them.
The scribes
cautioned against wore their clothing so that people would notice them. They
sought out people’s attention in public for personal gain. They sat in the best
seats so that everyone would see them and comment on their piety, and they
coveted the best seats at a banquet so that others would know their high place
in society. While they do these things, Jesus gives us an insight into their
hearts.
“They devour
widows houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.” Many scholars
tell us that the scribes might have been put in charge of widows trusts if she
had no male relatives to care for her after the death of her husband. The law
commanded that the synagogue care for widows and orphans. Yet here Jesus
accuses the scribes of taking everything away from widows. Perhaps that is how
some gained their fortunes, by skimming off of the top of the widows’
retirement assets. Jesus also accuses
them of praying for the sake of appearances. They seem to be saying “Look at
me, I can pray and talk to God for long periods of time because of my goodness
and closeness to God!” They prayed out loud and in public so as to be noticed.
I believe
that Jesus teaches to beware of the scribes as a way of telling his disciples
what not to do. He knows that the disciples will be the leaders of the faith
and he does not want them to fall into the same patterns of behaviors as these
particular scribes. Jesus emphasized service over self and that message is one
we still need to hear today. We, as Jesus’ disciples in the world today need to
be outwardly focused. We need to be serving others rather than our own egos. As
if this were not plain enough teaching, Jesus continues by moving over across
from the treasury tables in the temple and giving the disciples an object
lesson.
They crowd
was passing through the temple and stopping at the treasury to pay their temple
tithes or taxes. The coins of the day had ceaser’s picture on them so they had
to be exchanged for “temple coins” in order to be paid to the temple. So there
would have been several places that moneychangers sat at tables exchanging
roman coins for temple coins. Anyone giving to the temple would have visited a
moneychanger first. The treasury might have been a place people gathered
waiting to exchange their money, to give their money, or perhaps to see how
much your neighbor was putting into the pot. So while everyone is watching the
rich people pouring their money into the treasury here comes a widow who drops
in two little coins.
I am sure
that had this been an ordinary day, the widow’s act would never have been
noticed. In fact I think that most of the time this widow was all but
invisible. I wonder what she was thinking when she gave everything she had to
the temple. I was taught in Sunday school that she was generous and gave
“cheerfully.” But that’s not found anywhere in the text. In fact, given the
fact that Jesus has just told us that scribes “devoured widows houses” and
scribes were a part of the oppressive temple system, I doubt that her giving
was cheerful. I tend to see her as angry. Maybe even shaking her fist at the
leaders thinking, “You’ve taken everything I have but these two coins. What can
I buy with less than a penny? You might as well take it all!” She gives all
that she has, what little bit it is, and goes on her way, relying on God to
care for her, because she knows she cannot rely on humankind.
She reminds me a little of the widow in 1
Kings 17 who meets Elijah. Elijah asks her for water and a piece of bread.
There has been no rain in the land and the woman has very little to live on.
She tells Elijah that she only has enough flour and oil to make a small meal
for herself and her son to eat and then they will die. Elijah promises her that if she feeds him
first then God will not let her run out of food until it rains again. She had
nothing left to loose, she and her son where going to starve, but she gives up
everything and in the end does experience a miracle from the Lord. The widow in
Mark does not have a prophet standing in front of her promising good things for
her gift. She just gives it. There is no promise for food and oil tomorrow,
there is only today.
Jesus calls
the disciples together and praises this woman. She has given everything she had
to live on to the very system that devours widows’ houses. She has given more
than anyone else.
So what can
we learn from this widow? There are so many things. There is the point to be
made about sacrificial giving. She gave everything and in a few short days
after this teaching Jesus would give all he had to give on a Roman Cross
overlooking this very temple. There is the point to be made about trust. Even
though she did not have anything else she still gave trusting that God would
provide. Bu the lesson that strikes me the most is the lesson of faith. She
gave to the very organization that should have been giving to her. She did not
excuse herself from giving because she had been hurt. She did not choose to
send her money elsewhere because she didn’t like the leadership. She did not
punish God for the acts of created beings.
When it gets
right down to it, that is who we give to. Not humanity, not buildings or
organizations or programs, but to God. To our creator. And when God has given
so much, who are we to hold anything back?
