Pentecost 24 B: Surprisingly Good News
Dear Partner in Preaching,
Sometimes our interpretation of a biblical passage turns on the questions we ask of it. In this case, I want to begin with one central question, not simply for the text, but also for you: How do you hear Jesus’ description of the poor widow’s offering – is it praise or lament? To put it another way: Is Jesus holding up the widow and her offering as an example of great faith and profound stewardship, or is he expressing his remorse that she has given – perhaps feels compelled – to give away the little she has left?
I’ll be honest, for most of my life, I’ve assumed it was the former. But recently I’ve been persuaded that it’s the latter. Here’s why:
- This passage is part of a larger set of passages that focus on Jesus’ confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees and center on his critique of the Temple. Indeed, ever since Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly (in ch. 11), he has done little else except teach in the Temple and debate with the religious leadership there.
- The first verses of this week’s passage condemn the scribes precisely for “devouring widow’s houses” – shorthand for pretty much everything they own.
- In the passage immediately after this one, Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple itself, seemingly the culmination of his attack on the religious establishment of Jerusalem, an attack that has prompted his opponents to seek first his arrest (12:12) and, eventually, death (14:1).
- Notably, there is actually no word of praise in Jesus’ statement about the widow or any indication that Jesus is lifting her up as an example. All he does is describe what she is doing. Which makes how we imagine his tone of voice – praise or lament – so critical.
All of this leads me to conclude that Jesus isn’t actually lifting her up as an example but rather decrying the circumstances that demand her to make such an offering, a sacrifice that will likely lead to destitution if not death. He is, in short, leveling a devastating critique against Temple practice and those who allow, let alone encourage, this woman to give “all she had to live on” (or, in a more literal translation of the Greek, her whole life!).
All of which, in turn, leads me to a second question. How does this preach? That is, assuming Jesus’ words are ones of lament, what does that say to us today? That we should stand up for those who are most vulnerable? Yes. That we should stand against laws or customs that exploit the poor? Absolutely. That we should enact policies – and vote for politicians that advance such policies – that mirror God’s intention to care always and foremost for “the least of these”? No question. All of which is probably more than enough for a rousing sermon.
Yet allow one more question, one particular near and dear to my Lutheran heart. While all of these concerns are indeed present, in what way is this Gospel? How does this capture, or at least relate to, the good news Jesus both brings and embodies? And how does this connect to our confession that in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we behold God’s love for God’s children laid bare?
I ask these questions not actually out of denominational or even theological fealty, but simply because I have little confidence in the law to change our hearts. And most of what I outlined earlier – standing with the oppressed, decrying exploitation, working for better laws – are all matters properly consigned to the law. And, believe me, I think the law is a really, really good thing. We should, indeed, preach the law in its (sometimes called first or civil) role to instruct us how to take care of each other as God desires. This is incredibly important. But while such preaching at its best may inspire us, it does not change us; it does not, that is, give us the power to do what it commands. Only the good news can do that.
So I’ll ask again: how do we preach this story of critique and lament and where do we find in it Gospel? Two things in response. First, holding the widow up as an example of faith and stewardship isn’t exactly the Gospel either, as few of us will even approach such an act. Rather, her example puts to shame all of our meager efforts to be “cheerful givers.”
Second, and far more importantly, I think the good news of this passage comes in what it says about the God we worship, the God we confess Jesus reveals most clearly. Because this God cares about this woman and her sacrifice. This God sees her plight and recognizes her affliction. This God will not countenance such abuse – even and especially under the guise of religious piety – and so decries those who would order their world and religion to make such sacrifices necessary.
God sees her…and God cares about her. Trust me, I doubt anyone else, including the religious elite parading around the Temple that day and dropping in their token offerings, noticed this woman. And I doubt the disciples following Jesus would have noticed her either, had not their Lord lifted her up for their attention and sympathy. Which leads me to conclude that God also sees our struggles, recognizes our challenges, cares about where we are hard pressed to make ends meet.
But even more, I think God is inviting us to look around and see each other, those in our community we know and those we don’t. And I mean really see each other – the pain of those who are discriminated against because of their ethnicity, the desolation of those who cannot find work and have been abandoned to fend for themselves, the despair of those who have given up on finding work and have lost hope, the anguish of those who have been exploited by sex traffickers. God is inviting us to see them, to care for them, and to advocate for a system that does not leave anyone behind.
Which means, Dear Partner, that we might send our people out this week not only aware that God sees their struggles and cares, but also that God believes in them enough to use them to make a difference. We might send them out, that is, looking for where God is already at work and join God’s efforts to see those in distress, help them find comfort and relief, and work for a more just world.
That’s pretty much all I’ve got this week: God cares, and God invites us to care, too. God believes, in other words, that we have something to contribute, that we can make a difference, that our words and actions can help bring more fully to fruition the kingdom God’s own Son proclaimed and embodied. And that even when we fall short, yet the God who raised Jesus from the dead will bring all things in time to a good end.
And that, I think, is news good enough to preach this Sunday…and all the others of this year as well. Please know, Dear Partner, that I am so grateful that you are doing just that. Your words, work, and life matter more than ever.
Yours in Christ,
David
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS. ONE OF THE THOUGHTS IT INSPIRES IN ME IS THAT THERE IS AN INVITATION GIVEN TO US HERE BY JESUS TO TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH–TO BOLDLY GO FORTH, NOT SIMPLY IN OUR OWN STRENGTH TO ADVOCATE FOR THE POOR, ETC. BUT TO GO WITH THE ASSURANCE OF THE POWER OF THE RISEN LORD WHO LIVES IN US TO ENABLE US TO BE INSTRUMENTS OF GOD’S LOVE IN THE WORLD, OFTEN DESPITE OURSELVES. THE QUESTION I HEAR POSED TO MYSELF AND OTHERS HERE IS WHETHER OR NOT WE TRUST THAT GOD’S SEEING US AND CARING FOR US IS MORE THAN AN IDEA–IS IT NOT AN INVITATION TO TRUST THAT BEHIND THAT SEEING AND CARING–AND WITHIN IT–IS THE POWER OF THE LIVING GOD WHO CAN DO MORE WITH US THAN WE CAN HOPE OR IMAGINE? IS THIS, INDEED, NOT GOOD NEWS? DOES THIS INDEED NOT CALL US TO TRUST THAT CHRIST IS RISEN–AND TO GO FORTH IN THE POWER OF THAT RISEN LIFE IN FAITH THAT INDEED–EVEN IF IT IS BEYOND OUR SIGHT–GOD IS MAKING ALL THINGS NEW.
Thank you David for a different perspective on this passage! It has always made me uncomfortable!
David, thank you for sharing your perspective. I’ve preached a few times this year on the theme of God seeing us and giving us the ability to see others. So now reading this I’m thinking of ways to continue the theme.
While watching the news this morning there were already two stories about Christmas. One of them was about the big Christmas tree arriving at a popular Los Angeles shopping center. Seems pretty early as we are only in the beginning of November. Anyway, as I read the text for today and listened to the news I was reminded of Jackson Browne’s Rebel Jesus and your commentary on that. I think of the widow when I hear these words:
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus
That’s the Law. But as we experience the grace of Jesus, especially as being seen and recognized and loved, then maybe we are empowered to then get on to the side of the rebel Jesus.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks, David. This is exactly where I’m going with the sermon this Sunday. Pairing it with the Ruth reading, which will also be the shadow, non-sentimental side of that story: the dire straits of the widows; the need for protection in the gleaning fields; the night visitation and proposition, so “that it may be well” with Ruth, and Naomi by extension, in the future. I’m using Reba’s song “Fancy” as part of the background, too. Will be looking at sex trafficking and the dangers our homeless women (and men) face, too. The Good News is that God notices and loves and calls out and provides and yes, redeems, even in these circumstances.
Thanks for this. It’s an uncomfortable passage to read, and more so to attempt to interpret. A thought comes to me during what is often stewardship time and budgets and pleas for more that precede a time filled with greed for wants and neglect of what is needed. Suppose it’s about moving beyond duty to true faith, to a response to give all we are (not just what we have) to continue telling the story that adopts us and invites us into God. That’s a reversal of “inviting Jesus into our hearts” to finding ourselves invited into God’s own heart, where life becomes part of the great creative force that continues to shine strange light into our world. I’m glad it’s only Tuesday and there’s still time to ruminate.
Thanks, David,
I was despairing that I would find any commentary that was not a set-up for a stewardship sermon. Your focus on the woman who others did not see leaves me with a question that cannot be answered with any certainty: Jesus noticed her, and then what happened? Since he knew that she gave everything she had, did he ask the disciples to take care of her, as he would ask John to do for his own mother? Did she go home to die, since she had given everything she had? I think that is a difficult, yet fertile area to contemplate. In my situation, I preach in a university chapel, and the administration of our program is not dependent on offerings. We take an offering and give all of it away, in the community, region and world. I love that we do that, but I also worry that it makes all of the causes that we support “out there,” far removed from us. The widow walks by us everyday, but are we any more likely to notice her? What DID Jesus do after seeing her? I cannot stop asking that question.
That’s a great question, John. I wonder if that might be the gap in the story that we might invite hearers into via the sermon. That is, we might wonder what Jesus did, what he instructed the disciples to do, and imagine what we hope they did. But, really, the question is what is asking Jesus do to those who have given their lives – or had them taken away – all around us. What makes us think this is a story about the past? I suspect that it’s just as much about the future we will enter into as we leave the sanctuary. Thanks for getting me think – I’m preaching this weekend, too! ~David
Thank you. I was struggling with how to preach this text this week. And your insight helped me to frame it – not from the perspective of law (of faithful giving) but more from the good news. And it was two words that inspired me, two words (among many) that I will share with my congregation this week – God notices. Those two words helped me to put an entirely new light on this text.
Thanks again.
Thanks David. I think the woman is a type for Jesus. He is helping the disciples to see what it is that he will be doing… giving all of his life (bios) or living to God.
I appreciate your interpretation of this text. And I agree with it, particularly given the context within which this story was placed. How do you think this story compares/contrasts with the widow story in 1 Kings 17?
Thank you, David. In the midst of everything impressive and amazing around them, Jesus calls attention to this quiet, powerless widow. God sees what we tend to overlook. Let’s see with God’s eyes.
David, thank you for your perspective. I serve a tiny church in northern NM and sometimes I find it difficult to find a way to make scripture fit todays world. My congregation will really relate to the idea that God sees and he cares. Will we be able to finish the task set before us?
Thanks for this discussion. In preparation foranti poverty week here in Australia WMB commissioned a study into “Queensland’s Older Women’s Experience of Poverty: doing it tough”
It seems that not much has changed in 2000 years!
we admire the widow doing it tough and giving all she’s got! I’m pleased that you pointed out David that God cares for her. As the Body of Christ we too have to find ways of reducing the risks that trap people into poverty.
Blessings
Lyn
Here is the link for those who are interested, go to:
http://www.urbis.com.au/think-tank/general/wesley-mission-report-reveals-queenslands-older-women-poverty-experiences
Dear David, Thank you so much for your interpretation of this story. It opened my eyes and my heart. I am a norwegian pastor and Church of Norway has a different lectionary, but sooner or later the text will “surface” here too. A couple of other biblical widows come to mind: the one in Sarepta and the widow in Nain who had lost her only son.
I attended the Festival of homiletics in Denver. Thank you for what you gave through your lecture and your sermon there,for wisdom and open-mindedness.
The many commentaries that turn this from a stewardship sermon on how to give, to a social justice sermon on recognizing systemic exploitation of the poor as you point out leaves out the Gospel. That Jesus notices the widow’s plight (and ours) is indeed good news, especially to those who are “invisible” in this world. But I think he also sees in her a mirror of the same system set on devouring him. She gives her all and so will he. His gift will replace the temple, a place of brick and mortar that is hell-bent (like most institutions) on its own survival no matter the cost to others, with the very presence of the living God who sees, renews and restores life to all. Her sacrificial giving is limited, his is eternal. Both trust all to God’s care.
Carol, I disagree.
Jesus dies for the Kingdom of God HERE, ON EARTH…as it is in heaven. Jesus comes to transform THIS world. Heaven is fine. Mot does not need our help. Jesus invites us to work with God to change the conditions of this world that cause suffering and injustice.
This work, both in word and deed, is why Jesus was arrested and executed. He did NOT die for our “eternal life.” That is a morbid theology that has no place in the real lives of the many who suffer. It did not help people then, it does not change people’s lives today. Jesus died for what he did and said against the 1% of his day.
The question is,mod we have the courage to be the voice and deed for the 99% left behind in our economy??? Or do we simply go on with empty worship that is disconnected from reality, from the Kingdom of God that is already here…waiting for people to do life giving work???
Just that the ‘eternalness’ of aeon is more ‘new age’ than ‘life in the sky bye and bye.’ It is a new era of transformative understanding uncontrolled and uncontrollable by Skinnerian reinforcement mechanisms. It is the great ‘aha’ that gets lost and found again and again. It is both justice and grace.
Interesting interpretation of what I wrote. I didn’t intend to imply that the Living God that brings about life and restoration to all, as a pie in the sky, heavenly experience divorced from the here and now. Just the opposite, the Eternal Now as Tillich wrote, is God always present united with each moment and moves us to justice empowered by grace.
As a response to Brad: Interesting interpretation of what I wrote. I didn’t intend to imply that the Living God that brings about life and restoration to all, as a pie in the sky, heavenly experience divorced from the here and now. Just the opposite, the Eternal Now as Tillich wrote, is God always present united with each moment and moves us to justice empowered by grace.
Your comments are challenging. I’m used to the “official” line that Jesus says his words about the widow in a laudatory fashion. It’s hard to read those words and realize that they’re really value neutral. It makes me think of how we read all of scripture with the interpretations we’ve been given (and mostly unaware that this is what we are doing) yet we are called to read them to understand what God is saying to us NOW.
Thank you so much for this interpretation. This is my last Sunday in my present parish, and I was able to use your suggestions on the text to turn my sermon from “stewardship” to Gospel. I speak from the point of view of the widow’s friend: “Eye Witness” at http://annevouga.blogspot.com/
What a great sermon! Thanks for posting it and blessings to you in your next setting.
“This God sees her plight and recognizes her affliction. This God will not countenance such abuse – even and especially under the guise of religious piety –and so decries those who would order their world and religion to make such sacrifices necessary.”
I’m preaching on the Sunday before Canadian (and many British Commonwealth countries’) Remembrance Day. I wonder if this passage might be applied to mothers who give up their sons and husbands (and nowadays, daughters) to war and the state-militarised system, just as this widow gives up her means of living to uphold the Temple system?
At Remembrance time, do we laud their sacrifice, or lament the system that would even ask that such sacrifice be made?
I have been pondering 2 questions with this text: If there is a Stewardship sermon here, perhaps it needs to be the stewardship of the temple leadership who are called in their faith to care for the poor but are not doing it – perhaps using all these gifts for the trappings of religion rather than the living of faith. Stewardship is not just an individual question but also a congregational question. How are we using our resources? The second question is how to honor the widow and not just make her a victim. She has chosen to give – give in the way Jesus called the rich man and in the way Jesus himself will give. She doesn’t have much, but her gift makes a great impact. I wonder if we can’t both recognize the injustice of the system in which she is suffering and also her power, courage and faithfulness.
Thanks for your insight. I’m tying in the Ruth text and the current refugee crisis. I’m so glad to be able to pull this sermon back to the good news after re-reading your post.