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Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, November 9, 2003 - Preaching helps: seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost—day of thanksgiving, Series B

Currents in Theology and Mission, August, 2003

1 Kings 17:8-16

Psalm 146

Hebrews 9:24-28

Mark 12:38-44

First Reading

Our first reading is one of those wonderful Elijah stories. Elijah matches wits with Ahab and Jezebel, who ruled the northern kingdom in the ninth century B.C. Elijah curses the land in the name of God: no dew or rain until Elijah says so (18:1). Then Elijah hits the road out of fear for his life. Elijah hides out beside a brook. When the brook runs dry, God sends Elijah to Zarephath, to a down-on-her-luck widow who is down to her last meal. By miraculously providing for the prophet, the widow, and her son, God graciously guarantees that God's Word will not be silenced.

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The second reading probes how Christ's sacrifice is superior to the priest's sacrifice in the temple. The writer of Hebrews assumes that everything earthly is a copy of the heavenly, and this age stands in contrast to the age to come. Thus the author of Hebrews understands the law of Moses as the shadow and foreshadowing of what is revealed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Christ intercedes for us in the very presence of God. Christ offers himself once and for all; and Christ's sacrifice puts away sin forever.

In the Gospel, Jesus contrasts the self-serving demeanor of the scribes with the self-giving of the widow. Jesus accuses the scribes of manipulating situations in order to claim honor. The scribes devour the widow by interpreting Torah in ways that allow her to do something that is not God's intention for her. The widow, on the other hand, gives all that she has to live on and is therefore honored by Jesus. The honor, Jesus teaches, does not come from the size of the gift. It comes from what the gift means to the giver. Is it a portion of abundance or one's whole life?

Pastoral Reflection

Perhaps it's because we are hearing these texts in November, but these readings speak to me of stewardship and giving. If anyone had a good excuse not to give, it was the widow of Zarephath. Elijah, on the run from Jezebel's wrath, comes begging for bread and water. Her response is to tell him that the cupboard is bare. After all, there is a famine going on. She fears to help him, because there simply is not enough. The wolf is at the door. Elijah implicitly understands her fear and promises that if she feeds him, God will provide. And she does. And God does. The power of God's Word stills fear and meets her needs. Another widow, symbol of both the fragility of life and real poverty, gives more sacrificially than those whose gifts are, in comparison, quantitatively astronomical. She casts fear aside and puts in her whole living.

The widows' giving seems extraordinary; in a sense it is. But in another sense, it is not. The family in Zarephath could have eaten their bread and starved to death a few days later. The widow at the temple might have hung on to her thin copper coins that day. But, sooner or later, they would be spent and she would be broke. If they relied upon themselves, both widows knew they would surely die. They also knew that their only chance was to rely on God's grace. They were totally dependent on God, and so they gave. These widows remind us that our giving is one of the ways we respond to God's grace in our lives with praise and thanksgiving. Rather than wrestling with how much to give, perhaps we should wrestle with how truly we know our need of God. Then, when we give, our giving praises God and shares the hope within us. Our giving proclaims that we know that God gives us everything we need to live.

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, November 9, 2003 - Preaching helps: seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost—day of thanksgiving, Series B

Currents in Theology and Mission, August, 2003

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