Sermon

Mark 12:38-44

Radical Faith

By The Rev. Charles Hoffacker

Today may we consider the two choices that are always before us, choices we face regardless of our status, our income, or even our political affiliation. In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus draws the attention of his disciples — and our attention — to someone who otherwise would be overlooked: a poor widow, just one figure in the crowd at the temple, who without ceremony tosses her last two small coins into a metal receptacle intended for offerings. As soon as she does so, she disappears again into the crowd. Jesus draws our attention to her because otherwise we might never notice her, and he does so to celebrate her faithfulness, her radical trust in God.

But in today’s Gospel there are others about whom Jesus chooses to speak. These others are visible enough, but Jesus mentions them to warn his disciples — and us — against them. These are a certain kind of scribe, religious professionals gone bad. They like the best seats at banquets, the respectful greetings in public, and the splendor and state of their long robes. Most of all they like the wealth that comes their way because they betray their roles as trustees of estates, using lengthy prayers to cover their theft. They do not conserve these estates, but despoil them.

Jesus offers us the widow as a model of faith. He warns us against the corrupt scribes for their selfishness and crime. In doing so, he presents us with characters of two types. The corrupt scribes are concerned with gaining power over other people in order to enrich themselves. The widow, on the other hand, surrenders power over herself in order that God may work through her.

It would be one thing if we could leave this story as simply character sketches of two types of people. But the story is not so safe as that. Jesus is pointing to two roads that lay in front of each and every one of us, regardless of our place in society, our role in the church, or our income level. Each of us can become the corrupt scribe, someone whose life misses the mark. Or we can become the widow, a person of radical faith.

The scribes were religious and legal professionals. They were honored because they were supposed to be competent, responsible, and above reproach. They were trustees of the spiritual heritage of their people and of the worldly wealth of certain estates. They were thought to be trustworthy. Certainly many of them were, but some were in it for themselves. These fell victim to the temptations that accompanied their position.

The high office of scribe has parallels in our society. There are many people today who are trustees in one form or another. Because of such factors as training, commitment, experience, and election, these people are entrusted with public oversight in various areas of life. Some of them are committed to what they do and those they serve. Others, sadly, are in it for themselves. Thus there are doctors and lawyers, business executives and public officials, pastors and professors and many others who are zealous to contribute to the common good, and others who are in it simply to improve their own lot. These others may enter their work with high and unselfish aspirations, but along the way they sell out. They betray their profession and they sell their souls, and they cause the rest of us to grow a bit more cynical and untrusting.

But this problem is not restricted to those who are prominent, those with professional training and a name on the office door. So if you consider yourself just an ordinary person, nobody special, not a leader, don’t get too comfortable. The devil is an equal opportunity employer. You too can go bad, just as much as the worst scribe Jesus laid eyes on.

Why? Because each of us exercises some responsibility toward other people. These other people may be members of our family, the other students in our school, the other employees at our job, the customers we serve, or neighbors next door. In our relationship with any of these people we can be self-serving, or we can show genuine concern and interest. The choice is ours.

With only a few words, Jesus presents an unforgettable portrait of the corrupt scribes of his time. They love to walk about 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 love this stuff. They enjoy it more than it can be decently enjoyed. Why? Because these trifles constitute a consolation prize! On some level these corrupt scribes know they are corrupt, but they conceal this fact, even from themselves, by the way they present themselves as honorable, and enjoy society’s stamp of approval. This hypocrisy enables them to survive, but at a horrible price.

The same thing happens in our society, even though the description is different. Corrupt clergy may still hide behind their long robes, but for others the consolation prize is more likely to include the expensive suit or dress, or the best Nikes money can buy. They crave overmuch the obsequious welcome, their name on exclusive donors lists, their picture in the paper. These trifles are the payoff for having sold their souls and betrayed their trusteeship, for having hurt their lives and the lives of others.

Yet scribal corruption in our time can be a low budget operation. Our lives may be as plain as sale day at the dollar store, but we can still seek trifles to keep us happy in the face of what we do toward our children, our spouses, our bosses, our friends. Even at unfashionable addresses and minimum wage jobs, it’s possible to enrich oneself at the price of others, or be someone who empowers and ennobles others.

The corrupt scribes of past or present may be pious folks who know the scriptures forwards and backwards, they may hold office in church or synagogue, but still they are willing to sell somebody down the river in order to enrich themselves. They see the world as a zero sum game: if I win, you lose; if you win, I lose, and they are devoutly committed to winning. They leave no room for grace to rumble through their lives like a locomotive, and so for practical purposes they are atheists, believers in a closed universe, deniers of the God who is not afraid to improve the world he made. Once you’ve seen one corrupt scribe, you’ve seen them all, no matter how well dressed some of them appear. Once you’re on to their game, the sight of still another one is, more than anything else, tremendously sad.

But now out from the temple crowd there steps a poor widow, and Jesus directs our attention to her. Her outfit is nothing to write home about, but there’s an authenticity to this woman. She’s her own person. And she’s God’s person.

The fingers of her fist spread out as she drops something into the metal container. It’s an offering, but the clang of coins against container can hardly be heard. It must be a very small sum, since often this area resounds with sound when somebody rich drops in one heavy coin after another. The widow’s coins are barely audible to human ears, but you know that the sound they make is music welcome in heaven.

The widow seeks no power over anyone in order to better her situation. By her gift, small as it is, she seeks to serve God. And though its cash value is slight, the gift is enormous, everything she’s got. She’s not looking to fill the emptiness in herself by stealing from others. She’s looking to fill that emptiness by opening herself to God. She wants no power over others to gain consolation prizes. Instead, with the toss of those coins, she surrenders power over herself in order that God may work through her. She’s a person of radical faith.

There are two choices: misuse power over others in order to enrich yourself, or surrender power over yourself so that you may truly serve God. One’s the way to death. The other’s the way to life.

Jesus not only talked about the way to life, but he followed it through his cross and resurrection, and he invites us to join him and that widow in the temple in being people of radical faith.

I have spoken to you in the name of the God of radical faith: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Copyright 2003 The Rev. Charles Hoffacker. Used by permission.