In 2002 a movie came to the screen titled, “The Widow-Maker,”
starring Harrison Ford and Lian Neeson. It was based on a true story about
the poorly maintained Soviet submarine “K-19.” Its mission
was to get within the range of American reconnaissance ships and then to fire a missile. The
USSR wanted to announce to NATO that the Soviet armed forces had such military capability. After accomplishing its mission
of firing the missile, the submarine was ordered to patrol along the US Atlantic coastline. Unfortunately,
the submarine twice developed catastrophic problems with its reactor, and as a result the crew got radiation sickness and
many died. Because of the poor maintenance and quality of the submarine—it
became known as the “Widow-Maker.”
Ancient Hebrew society likewise might have been characterized as a “Widow-Maker” society. Girls were expected to marry as soon as they could bear children—often as early as 13-14 years
of age. The Men, however, where not to marry until they had become established
in a business and could financially support their new family. This meant that the husbands were several years older than their wives—and most of the time the husbands
would predecease their wives. Therefore the ancient Hebrew society had
a large number of widows.
Jewish law sought to help these widows with some financial safety nets. For example, there was the provision that the
tithe every third year would be retained within the communities. The elders then distributed it to the needy within their own communities. Further,
after the first gathering of the crops, the landowner was not to return to his fields for leftover crops, nor was he to have
his olive tree, or his vineyard picked twice. In each case, whatever remained
after the first gathering was to be left to be harvested by the widows within the community.
But even with these safety nets, widows had a difficult time. After
their husbands died, they were left legally and financially destitute. They
could not testify in the courts. Further, they were not allowed to manage
the meager estates left to them by their husbands. Instead, male trustees
were appointed. Therefore these widows had few options: they might remarry—they
might move in with their parents if they were still living—they might move in with a son if they had a son old enough
to support them—or they could take up begging. Moreover, with few
legal rights, powerful and unscrupulous men often took advantage of them and their vulnerable situation.
Some of these powerful and unscrupulous men were the legal officials whom the courts had appointed as trustees of their
estates. Often the scribes held these trustee appointments. These scribes had considerable financial wealth, and they were able to purchase the most expensive
and elaborate clothing. They were
given the places of honor to sit during worship services. They also were able to purchase the best reserved seating at community
concerts and celebrations. And yet behind their benevolent public image,
they were “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” Having access to power and money, they knew how to manipulate the legal system. They therefore used their knowledge to defraud the widows of their deceased husbands’ estates. In addition, these trustees were
immune from prosecution, for the widows could not even appeal to the courts for justice. And
to make matters worse, when they led prayers in public, some of their public prayers were for the very widows that they were
defrauding.
Jesus was very angry with them for their corrupt behavior. Jesus
knew that the spiritual health of any nation was measured by how that nation treats those who are the most vulnerable members
of that society. Moreover, in that society, the widow, the orphan, and
the alien were the most vulnerable. Therefore Jesus told his listeners
in the Temple, “Beware of the scribes,
who 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
devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They
will receive the great condemnation.”
Mark then tells us that afterwards Jesus sat down in the
Temple were he could observe the crowds of worshippers bringing their offerings. These offerings would have been for the support of the Temple. He observed many wealthy people bringing in sacks of coins, proudly
pouring them into the large collection boxes—the coins making a clanging noise as they bounced off the other coins on
the bottom of the containers. Most likely, their gifts had been calculated—guided
by the law of the tithe and the long tradition of how their share had been figured.
Without doubt, some of these wealthy persons had gained their wealth from
defrauding the widows of their husbands’ estates.
Then Jesus saw this poor widow approach one of the collection boxes. Amidst the others in their beautiful clothing and
bags of money, she seemed almost invisible. Yet, bent-over and in tattered
clothing, there she was in the line. She waited patiently for her turn. In one of her wrinkled and work-worn
hands, she clutched something tightly. Finally, at the collection box,
she reached toward the box’s opening; she carefully opened her hand, and out dropped two little coins—worth less
than a penny. They barely made a sound when they hit the other coins on
the bottom of the container. Then she was gone - disappearing once again
into the streets of Jerusalem.
But Jesus had seen her! Her
sacrificial giving had touched his heart. Jesus then told his disciples, “For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she
had, all she had to live on.” This woman seemed insignificant
to the power-brokers of the world—this women had given coins that seemed so insignificant, that most people would not
even bend over to pick one up from the street. Yet this woman’s gift
had touched Jesus’ heart. It was her best—she had given her
best. She had given her whole life to God.
I personally experienced such sacrificial giving several years ago when I was the Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian
Church in Huntington. It
was a Sunday morning, but not just any Sunday morning. It was Stewardship
Dedication Sunday. I was preaching the sermon that day. The Sunday morning service had begun as usual. Then about 10 minutes into the service, I saw a homeless
man enter from the back of the sanctuary. Being a downtown congregation,
we often had homeless people come on Sunday mornings. Moreover, I had come
to expect that these persons would approach me whenever I was very busy immediately before or after the service. They would end up asking me for money. I therefore
expected that day would be the same as before. That morning the ushers greeted the homeless man and gave him a bulletin. He walked down the aisle and sat in one
of the side pews on the second row.
Toward the end of the service, there was a “Time of Commitment” when the members could come forward and
place their stewardship pledge on the Communion Table. I stood by the Communion Table as the people came forward. I
then saw this homeless man start coming forward! He was coming toward me! I just knew that he was going to ask
me for money, and so I began rehearsing in my mind what I was going to say to him. However,
to my surprise, he did not ask for any money. Instead, he held out his
hand, and in it was a worn one-dollar bill. He then asked me if he could
give that dollar to God. Feeling ashamed about my presumptions concerning
him, I simply said, “Yes, that would be nice.” He then went over to the Table, placed his dollar on it, and quietly left the sanctuary. He then disappeared among the streets of Huntington.
During the whole service, I had presumed that he wanted something from me. However,
he had not asked for anything from me. Instead, he had come to worship! In his thankfulness to God, he had given
his best to God that day. Like the
widow in the Temple, this homeless man may have given all that he had to give. Like the poor widow’s gift, his gift too was reckless giving.
In the story of the poor widow giving her best to God, Jesus could have
scolded the woman for her lack of good stewardship. He could have told her that
in giving both coins she had shown reckless abandonment. Further, as the result
of her actions, she did not have anything left to live on. He could have
told her that according to Jewish Law, she was not expected to give anything.
However, he did not do that! He did not scold her!
Neither did he say that such reckless abandonment should be a model for his disciples to emulate. For Jesus encouraged wise stewardship of the resources that God has given us.
Yet, her gift was awe-inspiring to Jesus! Awe-inspiring,
like the self-sacrifice that Jesus would give on the cross. Awe-inspiring,
like the self-sacrifice that martyrs soon would be giving for the faith. Moreover, her self-sacrificial gift remains awe-inspiring for us some 2000 years later.
I close this sermon by asking you two questions for you to consider this week:
· The first is this: What are
examples of such reckless generosity seen today in the Christian Church throughout the world?
· And, the second question is this:
How do those examples of reckless generosity touch your own desires to
give of your best to God?
