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The Good News Written

From Eric Butterworth’s Spiritual Economics: The Principles and Process of True Prosperity

“Remember, your money is an extension of you. It is a symbol of limitation or of limitlessness according to how you think while you use it. When you receive or spend money, ‘think green’, and as you handle it, ‘keep the green side up’ (speaking figuratively, of course). In other words, keep your identity with money as a symbol of limitless God-substance.”

Mark 12.38-44 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)

“In his teaching, Jesus said, ‘Beware of the religious scholars who like to walk about in long robes, be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, and take the front seats in the [houses of worship] and the places of honor at banquets. These are the ones who swallow the property of widows and offer lengthy prayers for the sake of appearance. They will be judged more severely.’

“Jesus sat down opposite the collection box and watched the people putting money in it, and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny. Then Jesus called out to the disciples and said to them, ‘The truth is, this woman has put in more than all who have contributed… [because] she has put in everything she possessed…’”

The Good News Proclaimed

Preached by the Reverend Robert L. Griffin at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, November 8, 2009.

In previous verses prior to our gospel reading this morning, we find Jesus debating with the religious leaders of that day who are trying to trap Jesus. The religious leaders engage Jesus in discussion and arguments about paying taxes to Caesar, the emperor, and Jesus simply says, “Bring me a denarius and let me see it”, and Jesus asked the would-be entrappers, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “the emperor’s” and Jesus says, well, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.” So that settles that argument about who gets what.

Now the next form of questioning has a little humor in it to me, and if there is humor in the world, especially this week in light of the vote in Maine, here it is, and I want you to follow me closely on this. The next form of entrapment came when they begin to question Jesus on the resurrection through questions about marriage. The question set up is quoting Moses saying, if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man’s brother shall marry the widow and father children on behalf of his brother, in order to carry on the brothers’ name and lineage. In the story used on Jesus, seven brothers marry the same woman and all seven die, none of them leaving children behind, and lastly the woman herself dies. And the entrapment part comes where they ask Jesus, “after the resurrection, in heaven, whose wife will she be?” (I think they made a movie from this story.)

Now just for giggles, let deconstruct this just a little.

Issue number one — any woman remotely related to such a scenario had no agency; women in antiquity were considered little more than property. The marriage rules were meant to protect the man’s legacy… not the woman’s. She was given no consideration in the matter.

Secondly, the folks asking the question, trying to trap Jesus here, are quoting part of Deuteronomy 25, which is actually based on a story from Genesis 38 which involves a biblical character named Onan. Now God kills Onan brother, Er, because God decided that Er was “wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.” Now, we don’t know what Er’s wickedness was, and surely in the 21^st century we don’t believe God is the cause of suffering and death… but in ancient times, all occurrences were attributed to gods. So, whatever fatal illness Er had was assumed to be divine punishment for misbehavior. No reasonable person would draw such a conclusion today.

Onan is now expected to perform his family duties and pair up with his sister-in-law to raise up offspring for his brother. The child won’t be considered Onan’s. This does not appeal to Onan so he decides to go against tradition and…there’s no way to be delicate about this, so i’ll just quote the scripture… he “spills his ‘seed’ on the ground whenever he went in to his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother. What he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord,” and guess what, “the Lord put him to death” for not wanting to be a surrogate father for his late brother. For people who use the bible to justify their sexual hang-ups, the story of Onan must be uncomfortable! God WANTS Onan to have sex with someone that Onan doesn’t love or find attractive, and when Onan doesn’t quite go all the way, God is angry enough to kill him! Not only is that God kind of crazy, but that God clearly isn’t anti-sex.

Now, whatever congenital disease Er had, Onan probably had too. God doesn’t kill people. But taking the story on its own terms, do you get the irony here? These folks are trying to trap Jesus based on a story from Genesis about a man not sleeping with his sister-in-law because he didn’t like his brother and didn’t want his brother’s name to be carried on; and by the way the Lord killed both brothers and they are worried about whose wife someone is going to be in heaven?

Now I tell you, there are folks out there who are honestly worried about this, who’s going to be whose in heaven, and we can’t even get it together in the here and now. Florida, California, and now Maine are repealing and banning same gender loving people from marring when God is killing people in the Bible for not sleeping with their sister-in-law … Now if this isn’t the making for a soap opera or a reality TV show, I don’t know what it is.

But then we come back to Jesus who settles it all by saying look folks, “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither scripture nor the power of God; they neither marry or given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” and if this is the case, I want my wings!

In this discussion Jesus was also challenged to respond about the greatest commandment. Jesus didn’t come up with anything original. Frankly, Jesus simply quoted to them what they had already being taught by quoting Moses in the Pentateuch in Deuteronomy 6.4. Jesus quotes saying, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and with all your strength” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” and that basically ended that conversation.

Now as we fast forward to our gospel reading this morning, Jesus encounters a widow. Though this woman is not given a name here, in this story she represents someone, someone who throughout, her character represent poverty, her character represent someone who is without agency because she has no husband; her character represent someone who is on fringe of starvation, a powerless, voiceless woman.

As one writer put it, “It is against this cultural background that we understand why Jesus assumes that her two small coins are such a sacrificial gift. The widow is immediately symbolic of an underclass we might describe as ‘existing’ rather than ‘living’.”

This woman represents a person of great faith. Her offering without doubt came from her heart and she willing gave all that she had, without question or hesitation, after all, she was “existing” rather than “living”.

I believe that Jesus reached a quick conclusion, after watching and having to defend himself against the religious leaders of the temple and then watching this widow’s action, a person that was “existing” rather than “living”. Jesus witnessed firsthand, probably what he already knew, a house of worship, the Temple, was “beyond redemption”, the place where people were to come in their time of need was beyond redemption. Jesus saw it as a place, an institution, which had become corrupt and was living on the existence of others without giving anything back in return. It had become a place that would take all it could get from individuals, including those who had the least to give, and did so in the name of “religious obedience”.

When we examine this story and ask for the meaning of the story which speaks to our own times, I wonder who the representatives of this widow are today. This would be a representation of those who are merely existing and not living. I declare today that this widow and everything that she represents, when she encountered Jesus is not dead but very much alive. Symbolically she represents and identifies with single-parent families trapped in a failing welfare system. Same gender loving people denied the right to adoption; same gender loving people denied the right to celebrate their love through marriage.

She is symbolically representing elderly people for whom pension provision has become inadequate. She represents the homeless people who have little opportunity to break out of the repetitive cycle of the hostel and the street. She represents those who are facing foreclosure on their homes. She is there with those who have lost their businesses. She represents those with no affordable health care. She is among the least of these, and yet she remains faithful, generous, and hopeful. As little as she has, she does all that she can… to the shame of those who are much more comfortable but who are far less generous. She gives all she can, even while those who have much more would argue against programs or efforts that would make her life better. Of course Jesus notices and blesses her!

Tragically, this widow appeared in Fort Hood, TX, and in Orlando, FL, through the perpetrators and the victims of tragic violence. In the Fort Hood shooting, media was quick to conclude that Islamic fundamentalists were at the root of the cause of this shooting because of the person’s name that had done the shooting, setting the stage for religious and national isolation and intolerance of the other. When assailants are Catholic, or Protestant, or even atheist, religion is never an issue… but when they are Muslim, our prejudices and intolerance come quickly to the surface. Rather than dealing with the violence, we perpetuate our own violence by condemning everyone who shares the assailant’s cultural background. And the conflicts rage on.

In the Orlando shooting our gospel widow represented unaddressed mental illness and a sign of the times of our tough economy and job layoffs. Was any of this violence justifiable? Certainly not, but neither is the apathy and intolerance that led people to such desperate and despicable acts.

All of this is very tragic and sad, but I want to call us to a place today that we are not just focused on existing, but rather living. Robert Schuller says, “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” And we are tough people. What has made us tough: The Stonewall Riots taught us how to be proud of our high heels and dresses, our difference and our specialness, our courage and our innate dignity. What has made us tough: Our lesbian sisters in the early days of AIDS who took care of the men who were dying showed us amazing strength. History tells us that had it not been for our lesbian sisters many men would have died alone and in isolation without ever feeling a human touch, and sadly many still did. What has made us tough? We have survived the Anita Bryants of the world, the Jerry Farewells of the world and we are still here. What has made us tough? We have survived the Pat Dobson’s of the world; and we are surviving the Bishop Harry Jackson’s of the world who recently said, “All of black (Washington, DC) DC is against gay marriage”, how quickly one forget their history.”

And the challenge and opportunity for justice is still our hope and opportunity as we give of ourselves, because we are saviors and we are surviving, we are called to live rather than just merely exist!

I believe that our gospel reading today is calling us to a modern day social justice dimension of our faith and we are charged to add our voices to the voiceless until justice is done. And we have an opportunity to live, rather than just merely exist in our current situations. Our current situation does not tell us we exist; rather it informs us of how we can live a life with abundance and happiness as we Share Our Light with the world.

Amen.

Audio readings and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/audio/20091108_1.mp3)
Video readings and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/video/20091108_1.wmv)