Giving Everything They Had

Sunday, November 10, 2024 – Mark 12:38-44, also 1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 34:1-8, Hebrews 9:24-28.

Two of our readings today feature people who were living on the edge, people in a very vulnerable position because of their relationship status. They were widows with no husband to support them, no real security.

Many women past middle age have found themselves in exactly those circumstances. It’s a scary place to be, especially for women who have historically had less assets than most men. Though I haven’t been a widow, I know what it’s like to be living on the edge, without the support of a spouse. That’s been true for my entire life.

I do remember a time when I was out of work. I literally had about $100 left in my bank account and no idea where any other money might come from. I was driving toward home and suddenly got the urge to turn into the law office of my friend Ann. Ann and I went to church together in Marietta, Georgia.

I had previously helped Ann with marketing support. On the day I visited, we started talking about ways that she might spread the word about her practice by speaking to groups and I made several suggestions. Next thing I know, she’s pulling out her checkbook and writing me a check for a few hundred dollars to complete some of the steps I’d suggested.

From one minute to the next, I went from a dangerous financial situation to at least a bit of breathing room. And it only happened because I followed an intuitive prompt that I can only assume came from the Holy Spirit.

The key was that I had to trust that message.

The widow who encountered Elijah was in a similar situation. She was down to the last little bit of meal and oil – the only food she had left for herself and her son. But Elijah told her to go and use what little she had to first make a cake for him. That must have seemed like a devastating request, because the widow really had little choice in the matter. Her culture dictated that she must be hospitable to strangers, especially to a traveling man, someone who would have had more status than she did.

She could have left him hungry and on his own, but she didn’t. She trusted his words, and, as promised, her supply of grain and oil did not run out. She and her son were provided for by God. We see this theme again and again throughout the biblical story.

This widow gave everything she had, from her most vulnerable position, and in so doing she was given new life.

In our gospel lesson, we meet another widow. This woman, too, is living on the edge. She too is vulnerable. Though we may not know the details of her circumstances, Jesus gives us a clue about the conditions for women like her when he says that the scribes “devour widow’s houses.”

You see, at that time, married men would often appoint one of the scribes – the legal experts in the community – to serve as executors of their estates. Those scribes were given the power to determine what happened to the husband’s assets when he died. And often, those same scribes would cheat the widows out of their homes, leaving them destitute.

Jesus criticized the scribes because they didn’t practice what they preached, using their power to take advantage of others. As we’ve seen before, there’s almost nothing that gets under Jesus’s skin as much as religious leaders who strong arm the poor and vulnerable.

He says that they “like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!” They also like to make a big show of their donations to the temple treasury.

What the scribes give, they give out of their abundance. But what the widow gives – just two small coins with the value of a penny – she gives out of her poverty. And though her donation is tiny, Jesus notices. He says, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.” Because like the widow in our first reading, this one also gave everything she had.

Both women made these sacrifices because they trusted in God.

Sacrifice has been an important part of most religions historically, and Judaism was no exception. People had to go to the Temple regularly and purchase an animal there to make a sacrifice. The idea was that all the wrongs committed by the people could be symbolically placed upon the animal, and the animal’s death would then ensure the continued life of the people.

With the animal’s blood went the animal’s life, and so when the animal’s blood was given, the people received the power of that life. The animal gives everything it has – its very life – for others, but it doesn’t do so by its own choice.

Jesus, on the other hand, had a choice.

And he chose to give everything he had; for us and for the truth. He chose to trust in God and in God’s life. Jesus wasn’t a widow, but he lived his entire adult life on the edge, moving from place to place, trusting in the mercy and kindness of others to support him. And at the end of his journey, he was asked to give everything he had, his very body, his very life. He gave it willingly.

He gave his life to ensure ours.

Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian watchmaker and writer, along with others in her family, saved many Jews during the Holocaust. She certainly lived her life on the edge. Her actions led to her imprisonment in a concentration camp. She wrote that,

You might never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.”

Many of us now find ourselves on the edge. Maybe we’ve been battered by storms – physical or emotional. Maybe we’ve been strong-armed by people in power who abused us. Maybe we’re just facing an uncertain future. Can we be faithful in such times?

Can we trust the love of God?

I think we can. But we are asked to listen for the promptings of the Spirit. We are asked to listen for where the Spirit wants to take us and then be willing to make that turn even when there’s no certainty in the outcome.

It’s not easy to make hard decisions. As Richard Rohr writes in his book Falling Upward,

The human ego prefers anything, just about anything, to falling or changing or dying.”

But as Christians, we know our egos don’t give us life. We rely on our loving God for that.