Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
November 8, 2009
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Psalm 127
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark12:38-44
Today’s Old and New Testament scriptures show us the faithful action of three women who represent the justice, generosity and compassion God asks of us in scripture, especially with regard to the care of poor, the widowed, the orphaned, and the care of each other demanded by Jewish Law. And they are three of the most unlikely people to teach us these ways of God. First of all, they are women, and women in ancient times had little power or authority to teach anything, especially to men. One woman is impoverished, two are widows, and one of them is, in a sense, orphaned. They are vulnerable people, not just in the ancient world but in our world today; women who need the care of others, and protection under the law.
On the other hand, the scribes in our gospel account represent religious leaders who should be defending and upholding what the law demands of them. But Jesus is chastising them for having strayed from their religious principles. Instead of protecting and defending the poor, the widow, and the orphan, Jesus accuses them of using the law for to their own advantage, exploiting the very people they are supposed to care for. And he confronts them by comparing their actions to the sacrificial act of the poor widow whose gift of two small coins demonstrates true generosity to the Temple and true devotion to her God, both of which are sorely lacking in these scribes.
Now, I could go on to preach about this widow’s gift and how she is an example for us, especially at this time when churches are in the midst of our stewardship campaigns. But I know you have heard many sermons on stewardship based on this text and the message is always clear. This poor widow’s act of sacrificial giving is about GRATITUDE. Gratitude to God for what she has been given, despite her poverty and her need. Her story encourages us to consider our own devotion to God and our love for the church as we make our decisions about how generously we will give of our own resources out of gratitude for what God has given us. And I am happy to report that I believe the people of (this church) are getting that message.
Today, however, I want to concentrate on what I believe to be the other important message Jesus is giving us in this passage. A message which places Jesus squarely in the tradition of the prophets whose job it was to point out the hypocrisy and greed of religious leaders. Like these scribes who care more about their political and personal gain than they care about the people they are meant to serve. Today Jesus calls these scribes to account for ignoring, and neglecting, and abusing the very people they should be caring for, and his catalogue of complaints against them is scorching.
Jesus assumes we already know the role of scribes in Jewish culture. They are learned men; men of means, whose status in the synagogue and among government officials gives them a sense of privilege and entitlement which become license for them to exploit the very people they are meant to protect. They are like the televangelist and the corporate CEO, or the Wall Street investor who exploit quantities of money they think they are entitled to from unsuspecting people who believe they are getting something in return. People like the widow who faithfully gives money she can’t afford to the upkeep of her house of God only to find that it is paying for the upkeep of appearances and a lavish lifestyle for these scribes who exploit her innocence. Or people like the teacher or factory worker who believes they are investing in a secure pension fund which will give them a modest retirement only to find that their money has secured a lavish lifestyle for the financiers who have exploited their trust. Or like the homeowner whose taxes are paying for the bailout of failed banks and corporations while he loses his house to foreclosure, or loses his job in a layoff, or loses his savings to pay medical expenses not covered, or denied by his medical insurance.
Many of us have our stories of exploitation by power and privilege, but few of us have become aware enough or angry enough to call our moderns scribes to account, not just for stealing our material resources, our health and our well being; but for stealing our trust and putting a huge dent in our faith and hope that people of power and privilege can and will do the right thing for the people they serve.
We need prophets in times like these. We need Jesus. We need the prophet who is not afraid to go into the halls of congress, or into the penthouse suites of executives, or inside the vaults of bankers and under the robes of judges and religious leaders to reveal them for who they are, so that justice and mercy, compassion and generosity once again become the hallmark of care which benefits all of God’s people, not just the powerful and the privileged. We need people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and Ted Turner who feel a moral and ethical mandate to use their vast amount of wealth to improve the health and living conditions of people in need around the world. They are models for people of power and privilege; they are leaders who give back, leaders who serve the mandates of scripture to make a difference for good in the lives of those who are the most vulnerable in our world.
But I’m not done yet with these Scribes, nor was Jesus. “Beware of the scribes,” says Jesus who like to be greeted with respect in the marketplace, because they will be the first to sell you out to the interests of the marketplace. They will do anything they must to keep their status among those who hold power and privilege over them. They will fawn and swoon in the company of those whose respect want. And they will be very agreeable with whatever power or privilege tells them to do, even when they know it is wrong, even if they suspect it might hurt them in the end. The problem is people who seek the status and respect of power and privilege will never be able to call power and privilege to account. And it is so refreshing when a public figure or a private citizen who has benefitted from power and privilege and garnered their respect is willing to come forward to call to account those who benefit from the exploitation of others.
Not too long ago a CEO of a major health care company resigned his lucrative position, which came with big bonuses and benefits, when he realized his complicity in a system which forced thousands of people to attend a one-day public clinic set up by local doctors and nurses who rendered their services for free. He had been on vacation visiting his family when he learned about the clinic. He went out of curiosity, expecting to see things which supported, or at least complemented his own experiences of health care as a leading CEO of one of its largest companies. But what he found startled him. He found really sick people. Not just poor, but people of all sorts lined up for what seemed like miles, waiting their turn, sitting on soggy ground from a recent rainfall. Then he made the mistake of interviewing them about why they were there.
Of all the things this CEO learned from those interviews, the most difficult to listen to were the stories of people who had health insurance but were denied coverage for the care they needed. He was stunned that day by his experience with people under those hospital tents, so stunned that the next morning he resolved to resign his position and begin a campaign against what he began to see as an unjust system of health care administered by beauracrats who lack compassion and mercy for the because the live in a bubble of their own making, far away from the daily life and concerns of the common people they are supposed to serve. This CEO resigned because he was one of those people. His primary job was denying health care to people who needed it. In fact, his big bonuses were based on the numbers of people he denied and the amount of money the insurance company saved by denying them. And it made him sick. So sick that the only way he knew he could regain his own moral and ethical health was to begin lobbying for health care reform which would benefit all Americans as a basic human right. Like Jesus and the prophets, before him this CEO turned prophet called a major industry to account for its injustice to people it was NOT serving.
But I am not done with these scribes yet. Nor is Jesus. There is one last characteristic of power and privilege we are to beware of. Appearances. Beware of those who put their power and privilege on display to impress others, says Jesus. They are like the scribes who make a great display with the large coins they drop into the treasury for others to see and hear. They know how money talks, even though it is also money which keeps them from speaking truth to the power money has over them. Like the family member who is being held hostage by the hope of an inheritance from a wealthy relative. Or the congressmen who has let himself to be bought by the big money of a special interest. In any case, having money and status, or just the appearance of having money and status brings the kind of power to people who also seek its privilege. Beware of people who take the best seat, or the place of honor at a public event, says Jesus. They want to be seen, not for who they are, but for who they want to be, and for the ways they want us to see them. Like the celebrities who entertain us, for instance, people who crave the limelight for the adulation they receive from sitting in the best seat in whatever house they happen to be in. People whose wealth and fame and privilege only serve to give them greater means for making a bigger display of their lavish lifestyle. And so it is refreshing to learn of people like Paul Newman, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Ted Turnve and Oprah, and athletes like Magic Johnson and the big brothers and sisters of professional sports who keep a lower profile than most, and use their fame and fortune to serve the needs of their community and their world.
Talk about low profiles! None go much lower than the profiles of Naomi and Ruth. And yet, like the poor widow, these women also model Jesus’ message of faithfulness to God by their faithfulness to each other. Unlike the widows of their day Naomi and Ruth will not let themselves become victims of their circumstances, or dependent on power and privilege to care for them in their vulnerability…they take their own just and merciful lives into their own generous and compassionate hands, and trust God with the outcomes.
What a set of models we have in these women who come to us in our scripture lessons today. And how about that sampling of modern day models I highlighted in this sermon. These are people who show us the possibilities for living in a world where leaders serve, a world where people give gratefully and generously of the wealth and resources they have been privileged to receive, a world where people really can and really do, treat each other with justice and mercy, compassion and generosity. But Jesus would have us know that the kind of world we make depends on the models we choose for making it, good and bad. He knows how easy it is to become like the people we emulate, good or bad. Jesus often uses people to model his message, good and bad. And I know what Jesus is saying to us every time he holds up a good model to reveal a bad one. These are your choices: choose wisely.
[After her son’s death, Naomi returns home to her family, and without any sense of obligation she takes her daughter-in-law Ruth with her. Naomi provides Ruth with a plan which enables her to marry into Naomi’s family and bear a son named Obed. And what is amazing about this story is that Ruth’s husband Boaz’s is a descendent of King David which makes Obed an ancestor to Jesus. And once again, God uses two unlikely people to serve his most important purpose in salvation history. All because]