Dunbar United Church of Christ - November 8, 2009

I. It’s no accident that we have this reading during stewardship season. In most churches around the world today people are hearing this lesson about Jesus praising a widow for giving all her money to the temple while the rich people give just a little of what they own. And probably a lot of ministers will say, “Come on! If you have faith, you’ll be like that widow and give everything you have to the church.”

II. But that’s not what this passage means. Jesus isn’t praising the widow -- he’s criticizing a prosperous religious institution that would take her last pennies. “Don’t be like scribes,” he says, “who do things just for appearance. They talk about love and goodness as they take a poor woman’s last penny. They’re like banks who trick people into loans they can’t afford, and when the people can’t pay and have to foreclose their homes, they take back the homes and make even bigger profits. And then these rich people, these CEO’s, go to church. Don't be like them, Jesus says.

III. This passage isn’t about giving. It’s about having the courage to be honest with ourselves. In this little story, Jesus says each of us falls somewhere between the heartless, greedy scribes and the faithful, humble widow. The the best and the worst is in us. We can be generous, but maybe we’re more excited making a deposit and watching our money grow. We can be devout, but maybe we really want to impress people with how good we are. We can be kind -- and also not give a damn about other people’s suffering.

IV. Maybe we’re more like the hypocrite scribe than the generous widow. These are two extremes: one lives for self, the other lives for others. Maybe we have a long way to go before our faith is big enough to love everybody. That’s ok. We follow Jesus from wherever we are. Slowly he get’s into us. And here’s the funny thing: we’ll always have problems -- we’ll get old and die -- we’ll get sick -- our relationships won’t always be great. But as Jesus grows in us, our problems will resolve, and they won’t matter like they used to. I wonder what happened to that rich scribe? He probably went home, filled with his money, his guilt, his rich food -- and died of a heart attack.

And the widow? Well, she didn’t have a house any more -- the bank took that. Didn’t have much of a family either. But something inside her made her feel light and free. And as she left the temple that day, on the way to the shelter where she stayed, she occasionally interrupted her walk with dancing, and sang a beautiful song.