11 November 2018
St David of Wales Episcopal Church, Elkhart, Indiana
Rev'd Joshua Nelson
A few years back there was a commercial for a British consulting firm which made the rounds on YouTube and Facebook. It begins with an old man sitting on a piece of cardboard, hallowed steps and marbled colonnade rising up behind him. Before him is a public square with shops and bistros. Crowds pass by, hurrying to their next appointment, staring down at the phones, laughing with friends, and enjoying the latest latte from Starbucks. Next to him is an empty aluminum can, and a cardboard sign someone has made for him. It reads “I’m blind, please help.”
The crowds continue to pass him by, almost unaware that he even exists, some simply choose to ignore him, its much easier that woman. A few people begin tossing some spare change on the ground. He reaches out to the sound the coins make as they hit the pavement, searching for the pennies left behind. Soon the camera draws our attention to a sleekly dressed woman in a black coat and shades. She initially walks past the man like all the others. But she stops, takes a few steps back and looks at his sign. We see her pick up the piece of cardboard. She flips it over, pulls a marker from her coat, and begins to write something, though we can’t read it. As she writes the blind man reaches out and feels her shoes. She sets the new sign down, nothing is said and walks away.
In the next scene, dozens are stopping in their tracks, dropping coins for the man to collect. The sound of them hitting the ground is almost like the bells of heaven. He nearly fills up his canister when the woman returns. She stands before him as she did earlier, and the blind man feels her shoes. Recognizing this to be the same woman, he exclaims, “what did you do to my sign?” She bends down, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve wrote the same,” she says, “but in different words.” As she walks away the different words are revealed. “It’s a beautiful day, and I can’t see it.” It’s all about perspective.
In the lectionary reading for today (Mark 12:38-44), Jesus has finished winning the countless arguments with the Lawyers and Pharisees and he finds a place to sit in the Temple grounds. As the Gospel puts it, “he sat down opposite the treasury and watched.” Now as an introvert, I almost love nothing more than finding a serene spot in a park or square, and people-watching for hours. No talking --- just watching. But Jesus isn’t merely watching to entertain himself, he focuses his attention on those who are putting money in the coffers.
He then forces our perspective and points to who he sees. Just as two weeks ago with blind Bartimaeus, Jesus sees a woman who often invisible to everyone around her. A woman who is invisible to the wealthy folk of Jerusalem tossing their spare change into the tall jars that held the offerings; invisible to the crowds who had just listened to Jesus’ teachings, delighted when he eviscerated the Lawers and Leaders turning their questions back on themselves like any good Rabbi; even invisible to his own disciples who have wandered off. Jesus has to call them back and say, “Look! Do you see what I see?” It’s no accident that Jesus sees the widow and makes her visible to those who would rather ignore her. All throughout the Torah, there are references to widows. In many of those verses, we find God either commanding the people to care for widows, or chastising them for failing to enact justice and compassion on their behalf. Women who have lost their husbands hold a special place in God’s Kingdom it seems.
Though at the time windowing does not automatically sentence a woman to impoverishment, under the societal systems of shame and economics, the absence of a husband would certainly make her more vulnerable to those who would take advantage.
Earlier in Mark’s chapter, Jesus warns the crowds against rapacious scribes (or lawyers) who “like to walk around in long robes (that means expensive) and to be greeted with respect in the marketplace (because they can buy many things) and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets (because human society equates money and privilege with power and wisdom). These same earn their way while they “devour widows’ houses.” Jesus is drawing attention to a reality, not only true of the biblical times but also our own. A person without privilege could be forced into debt more easily by the powerful who play the legal and economic system to their advantage. It is the same thing, in different words. So now that you understand the poor widow’s social context, let us change our perspective, and open this up a little more.
As Christian’s, we have traditionally been taught that the widow in the story is an outstanding model of sacrificial giving. But the bulk of Jesus focuses in not on her offering. He doesn’t charge us all to follow her example of giving. He doesn’t take the opportunity to lecture to us, to preach a sermon on the importance of supporting operating budgets or the virtues of tithing. Nowhere does he say that because she gave all she had to ministry, she would be blessed with prosperity. I’m looking at you Earnest Angley and Creflo Dollar Rather, Jesus notices her. Jesus sees her. Not the particular amount of money she puts in, but Jesus sees her. And he comments on her continued participation in a society that has turned its gaze and chosen to ignore her plight.
It is important here, I think, to remind ourselves that God’s watchful eye is never only on the widowed. As I have said before, and drawn to your attention with our Unity Garden, in most of the biblical text about how we are to treat the “less fortunate” three categories of people are usually mentioned together: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger (these are the resident aliens, the migrants, the refugees). I will share some of these and you will see that God is not messing around.
Exodus 22:21-24 - “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.”
Leviticus 19:9-10 - “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:34 - “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Deuteronomy 27:19 - “‘Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’”
What do we see when we change our perspective? I see a special place in God’s line of sight for people who have fallen through the cracks of society, for those whose economic and political power is slim to none; whose cries have fallen on deaf ears; and whose plight is not seen by open eyes! It is not always easy or comfortable to see as God sees. When we really open our eyes to the suffering of others, we are forced to come face-to-face with our own complicity in the systems that maintain our comfort while keeping the “widow, orphan, and alien” in their place, out of sight and out of mind. This is nothing new folks. It’s been going on for a couple thousand years and the prophets keep calling us back.
However difficult it may be, we cannot ignore when Jesus invites us to sit with him, simply sit for a moment and watch. Watch who participates in the life of our churches, our cities, our schools, our politics and our economics. We are forced to look into the dark corners of our world, there we find those in need of food, clothing, shelter, decent wages, sometimes just an advocate, a support system, and a friend. Someone to say, “I’m here with you, I see you, I love you.” We are forced to see the people who stand on street corners, those whose voices for one reason or another are silenced so they must speak to us through messages on cardboard signs.
The question is not, ‘why did she give all she had?’
The question is, ‘why does she have so little to give?’
St. Basil the Great, one of the Cappadocian fathers, once said, “The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe that you do not wear is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not shod your feet are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.”
The month of November is a time that our society gives thanks. We as a church are called to gratitude. I will explain it more during announcements but after Mass, I invite all of us to take strips of colored paper, and write what we are thankful for them. Now rhetorically, what if you wrote those same things in different words? As we move from this season of mindful stewardship and thanksgiving into the season of Advent, I would also invite you to join me in creating a reverse Advent calendar at home. Not one of receiving, but one of giving. For each of the twenty-four days leading up to Christmas, look over the things that you have or the things that you do, in great gratitude for your ability to receive these, see the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. Be mindful of those without change your perspective and give up on the item or practice a day. At the end of those weeks gather up the collection and give it away.
Open your eyes and help those who can not see the beauty in the world to catch a glimpse of what it can look like. Go and talk with those who are hidden in plain view. Ask them about their lives. Find ways to partner with others in our community to create hope out of despair and turn their mourning into resurrected life. Demonstrate that God’s way is not the way of ignorance and oppression, it never is, but the way of wisdom and justice. Show the world the love of God which wells up from within you, can spill out. There is enough for them too. We do this by opening the eyes of others. By pointing and saying “do you see what I see?”
Two days before his arrest and crucifixion, a time when he could have drawn inward and pondered his fate, Jesus sat in the Temple and watched. He invited those he loved to sit and watch with him, to acknowledge the one who was otherwise lost in the crowd. We have the great opportunity to go and do likewise. Go and watch, go and see, and show someone else.
AMEN.
Thanks to Sermons that Work
and the Rev'd Christie M. Dalton
for some of the quotes and inspiration for this sermon.
