Trinity Lutheran Church

Mark 12:38-44

November 11, 2018

25th Sunday after Pentecost 



Recently we had a homeless man hang around the church for three days. Along the way we got him four meals at Hardees and Dairy Queen, and encouraged him to go to the county offices for the help he really needed. On Wednesday when I met him it was cool and rainy and he was wearing flip flops with no socks, so I gave him my socks and a blanket from the trunk of my car. Thursday morning we found him sleeping in the entryway we told him that needed to go to the county and not to sleep there again. In the afternoon it was becoming apparent that he was getting way to comfortable around here, he knew where the fridge in the kitchen was and thought it was permissible to curl up on the floor for a nap. Again we directed him to either Pearl Crisis center or the county and asked him not to come back. I also contacted law enforcement. But Friday morning he was sleeping in the entryway again. So I found a police officer who took over the situation. It was a difficult frustrating experience for us while we tried to show compassion and help him, and sought to protect those who come and go from the church. I can’t imagine how difficult and frustrating for him it is to be homeless. After he left I looked in the entryway where he had slept and laughed. Lying on the floor was a nickel. I snidely said to Christine, “Look he left an offering.” (I know. I probably need forgiveness for that.)

WIth that experience consider Jesus warning about the scribes and his observation of the widow woman and her two copper coins. But mostly consider the scribes and what they knew and what they were supposed to know.

What the scribes knew was the Law of Moses, the Torah, the word of God that guided Israel as a faith and a people for. They knew the law, not just as a matter of religion, but entirely also a matter of nation identity. They knew the Law because they knew how to read and write, hence the designation “scribes,” but they were also called lawyers because they had the responsibility to interpret the law, the way of God for the people. They knew that they were honored and respected for this, so when they walked through the marketplace people acknowledged them and greeted them with deference due to a superior or an elder. They knew they held prestige and power in relation to the people. They were also wealthy with all the benefits of wealth, the best, most visible seats in the synagogue and the seats of honor at banquets, the ability to make large offerings. But even so Jesus told his disciples, Beware of the scribes… Be wary of them because they don’t know what they are supposed to know. And the prime example of what they don’t know, or have ignored, or neglected is what God says about the widows, and others who are vulnerable in society. They devour widows houses and for the sake of appearance make long prayers. They may be able to put large sums of money in the treasury, but the reality that there are widows who have only two pennies to live on ought to be an offense to everyone, especially to the scribes who ought to know. The widow in this story is shorthand for anyone who is vulnerable, in need, or who is easily exploited.

What were they supposed to know? Perhaps the easiest, best way to address that is to read the scriptures, the Torah, the word of God. This is ancient Biblical language you will need to translate into our times.

• Exodus 22:21-22   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.

• Deuteronomy 10:17-19  For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.  You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

• Deuteronomy 24:19-22  When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.

• Deuteronomy 26:12-13   When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns, then you shall say before the LORD your God: "I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments:

• Deuteronomy 27:19  "Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice." All the people shall say, "Amen!"

• Job 22:8-9  The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it. You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.

• Job 24:1-4  "Why are times not kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? The wicked remove landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. They drive away the donkey of the orphan; they take the widow's ox for a pledge. They thrust the needy off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

• Psalm 68:5   Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

• Psalm 94:3-7  O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.  They kill the widow and the stranger, they murder the orphan, and they say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive."

• Isaiah 1:16-17  Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

• Isaiah 1:23   Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow's cause does not come before them.

• Malachi 3:5   Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

That is only a small portion of what they were supposed to know. That is what we are supposed to know. Where there is such piety (religious devotion, desire to do the will of God, know the way of God, Love God and love neighbor), why is there so much poverty. Where there is such abundance for some to put large sums into life why does a widow only have two copper coins. I know it is complicated and that I also need forgiveness in this, but even so I know that this is what I am supposed to know. I am a scribe afterall. Let all who have ears listen. Amen.