25th Sunday after Pentecost

Texts: Mark 12:38-44
Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us speak to some hard truths, beloved. Let us not shy away from the pressing questions that are affecting us right at this moment. I’d like to begin with the following thought expressed by the great Black American writer James Baldwin, when he said:

“Love is not a popular movement, and no-one’s ever wanted to be free. The world is held together by the love and passion of a very few people. Otherwise, of course, you can despair. Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you’ve got to remember is what you’re looking at is also you. Everyone you’re looking at is also you. You could be that person. You could be that monster, you could be that cop. And you have to decide, in yourself, not to be”.

We often talk about love as being this all-pervasive sentiment, one that we all share and can agree on. Yet, in light of the political moment we are currently hurdling towards, like Baldwin, I want to put a question mark on this view. Yes, Love is a universal experience, all humans yearn for its embrace. We can say, of course, we all want to love and want to be loved. But like Baldwin astutely observes, we persist in ways of life that seem to contradict this all pervasive sentiment. We say we love, and yet our actions, our ideologies, our policies, our silence speak out something else. We say we love and are loving, yet we hate our neighbor, we reject the stranger, we ignore the hungry, and uplift the deceitful, the violent, and the cruel. Why is this? Is it perhaps because love, honestly observed, is not as pervasive as we thought? Is it perhaps that true Love requires a risk that is too great, and so we confine ourselves to lesser attachments like idolatry of money, power, nation-state, and control? When presented with the choice of being or not being utterly loving, by which stream does our heart take us? If one thing is true about a Love that is transformative and worthy of the name, it is that Love is the treasure hidden in the field, the lucky find for which we sell everything we own to acquire it. It is the risky venture that puts our whole lives at the greatest point of vulnerability, and also at its greatest feeling of being real. This is not about attempting against our wellbeing, but rather that our wellbeing is rooted in the faith that gives our whole lives for the sake of God’s Kingdom, the mutual gifting of ourselves for the sake of others’ flourishing. Yet, we are witnessing before our very eyes an inclination towards the opposite of Love in God’s way. Attempts are being made where the love that can embrace the whole of humanity is being drowned in the streams filled with slogans of hatred, suspicion and callousness towards the suffering of others. Like Baldwin remarked, we all can become that monster if we are not aware of the sin that crouches at our door. We will always be faced with the decision to not be that, and instead cling to the Christ that shows us a life rooted in a love more powerful that anything the world can throw at it.

In today’s Gospel text, Jesus takes notice of two figures: the scribe and the poor widow. Here we are posed another to be, or not to be question. “Beware”, Jesus says, of the scribes. These leaders that are supposed to follow God’s law, but instead they “devour widow’s houses” and seek the highest positions of power and honor for themselves. They know what is right, they know that God commands justice and mercy. Yet, the love of God they supposedly uphold is devoured in attachments to wealth, power, and greed. Beware, says Jesus, of these that fill their mouths with long prayers, distracting speeches, and hypocritical living. For they say much and reflect little of what they preach. They could read and teach the prophets, yet the prophets message did not sway in into their hearts. And so we see a grand temple, we see abundance of riches, and we see great contributions of wealth, yet is God being honored? Is God being praised, when so little is risked, for they gave out of their abundance, meaning they gave little of their whole life? They gave partially, and retained much for themselves. And we know this is the case. Because then comes in the poor widow with a penny for a contribution. The fact that there was a poor widow at God’s temple, was an indictment on the giving of the wealthy and high end religious leaders. The fact, that this woman is in this precarious position, speaks volumes of the heart of the society. The world would ignore her small contribution, they would ignore her existence, for no one would invite her to banquets and offer her a seat at the table, she would not be wearing the long robes and be asked to give the long prayers. But Jesus notices her. He uplifts her. He uplifts that contribution that does not enhance the temple’s wealth and appearance, yet God is truly worshiped by a penny. Why so? For the widow has given “everything she has”, meaning her whole life she has entrusted to God. For love and devotion she does not withhold her portion, she gives it away. Her generosity reflects God in Jesus Christ, contrary to the scribes and the wealthy. God does not give partially. God gives Himself totally. He stakes His whole being for us. He takes the risk, He is present in the vulnerability, in the giving all to acquire that lucky find: the true Love that transforms and flourishes.

The big question is then posed to us: How much will we give? With the world that is beckoning with its needs, what are we to be or not be? Will we be of those few by whose love and passion the world is sustained with life, or will be carried away by the currents of a world that has ceased to care with an open heart? How much love will be poured? Only a little bit, or our whole love which God calls out from the very fountain of our being? The time is now, the moment in which our love is called for is now. Now is the time in which the plight of our neighbors indict our comforts and privileges. We have many unhoused and migrants in search of a good life, now is that our hospitality is called for; now the workers of the world are in need of just wages and livelihood; now is the time in which the hungry must be fed and thirsty quenched. Now is when peace must be demanded, when so many brothers and sisters are being killed unjustly. Now is the time that the lonely feel that they belong in beloved community, now is the time in which the unloved know that God loves them and they are made with love. Now is the time in which justice and mercy must be practiced to praise God rightly. It began in God, and its flows through us now to be a people that are loving, that actively turn to love instead of hatred.

So, beloved, in this month where we think about Stewardship, about how we use our resources to honor God and strive for the common good, give with an heart in stream with loving purpose. To know that this community can be a balm for those that are suffering. That this community can be generous to the point of giving everything it can to further God’s will of love for everybody. We can be the difference, we can be the passionate and loving people that God calls us to be in Jesus Christ. That if its true that right now love seems a rare and lucky find, that we might be this community’s lucky find of a people that live and gather because of a love that cares for the world around us. God is love for us; may we be love for others now. We are made to be an oasis of grace, notwithstanding the turning of the world. Let us pray to God to form us ever closer to this Jesus that gives and risks it all for us.