12 November 2006

Sermon for 12 November 2006 - True Stewardship

Preaching Text: Mark 12.38-44

Stewardship – ugh! Money – ugh! Surely we can talk about something better than this? Yes, we can – let's talk about a woman in Jerusalem that we met just a few minutes ago. It’s redundant to say that she was a 'poor widow.' ALL widows were poor in Jerusalem. In all of the ancient near East, only Jewish law prohibited widows from inheriting anything from their husbands' estates. A husband who died young was a sign of sinfulness or being cursed, and sometimes women married men twenty years older than themselves. Widows had to rely on family or begging – they had no opportunity to care for themselves.

Now Jerusalem was a one-industry town: Temple business was the only business in Jerusalem. Thousands of faithful people gave money and sacrifices at the Temple every day. There were no checks or credit cards or even paper cash back then. If you gave lots of money, you gave lots of sacks of coins. They were big, they were heavy, and they were noisy.

In the middle of all that noise and bustle, Jesus pointed out a woman who gave an offering so small that if you saw it in the parking lot outside today you'd think twice about whether it was worth the effort to pick up. Why would Jesus notice this poor, nondescript widow? Make no mistake – Jesus was talking about stewardship here. Jesus just talked about it differently than we do.

Jesus wasn't manipulating the rich into giving more money to the Temple. Jesus was saying that only the widow understood the nature of creation and her place in it. Just before this moment in Mark’s gospel, Jesus was teaching about the first commandment – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Just after this moment in Mark’s gospel, Jesus told his listeners that the Temple, the center of Jewish faith and the supposed dwelling place of God on earth, was going to be destroyed. Jesus told his followers that in the midst of earthly uncertainties, the greatest commandment is to love God with everything you have – and Jesus said that the widow knew and lived that commandment better than anyone else that day.

Jesus could see how that commandment was obeyed by watching how the people gave their offerings. The widow could have given one coin – even by the strictest rules of percentage tithing she would be in the clear. The issue at stake was not the number of coins the people gave. The issue was the driving force behind their giving.

The wealthy people in this story gave some of their abundance. They gave their “extra;” amounts they would not miss, a portion that may have looked impressive but was only a part of their lives. The wealthy people gave out of fear, because they had a standing in the community that needed to be upheld. The wealthy people gave a tithe because it was the minimum that God had commanded – they met God’s requirements and didn’t concern themselves with anything beyond obeying the least of what God had commanded.

The widow, on the other hand, gave everything she had. The verse literally reads, “out of her poverty she has put in everything she had, all of her life.” The widow gave out of faith: she put those two coins in the plate with the absolute faith that God would provide for her daily needs. The widow didn’t worry about percentages or the minimum that God had commanded: she knew that she belonged to God and to God alone – 100 % was the only percentage she was trying to meet.

We talk about stewardship as if it were just money. But at its most basic, stewardship isn't about giving more to our church or to the synod or to charities that need our help. Stewardship is about knowing the things that are eternal and the things that are NOT. God’s love, Jesus’ mercy, the Holy Spirit’s power: those things are eternal. The things that are not? Our selves, our time, and our possessions. They are, as we always pray, signs of God’s gracious love – but they are only signs. To be sure, God gives the things that are eternal through things that are not. God gives salvation in Baptism, through water joined to God’s word. God gives life and nourishes faith through the Lord’s Supper, common bread and wine joined to God’s word. God teaches us how to be stewards of creation by reminding us that some of what we are given should be reserved for things greater than our own satisfaction and pleasure – thus the idea of a tithe offered to God for the sake of one another. But these things and our other possessions are only God’s temporary gifts, and we put ourselves in danger of idolatry when we think that any of them can be more than a living relationship with Jesus Christ Himself. The widow understood that God Himself was far greater and far more important than those two coins. Either everything belongs to God, or nothing does – there isn't any middle ground when it comes to Christian stewardship for creation.

Do you know why we use offering plates? We use plates because one person can’t carry everything you are to the altar. When it comes to our stewardship, your primary concern should not be how many coins you put into the plate each week. It IS important, but it is only part of a matter of greater importance: the life God has given you. The more important stewardship questions are these: How are you caring for that which has been entrusted to you? Your family? Your work? Your friends? There is no separation between sacred and secular – your whole life is a matter of stewardship, and God is invested deeply in all of it!

By way of example X & Y give an offering every week, and that’s good. What’s far better is that today, X & Y are bringing their child to be baptized into the body of Christ. X & Y understand the responsibility and blessing of being parents, that God is up to something in the life of their child, and they are called by God to assist in that adventure by bring B to be baptized and by bringing their child here to learn from God’s Word and God’s people. Is their financial offering important? Yes – but only so much as it is part of the far greater offering of their lives as parents to their child.

The same is true for all of you. Let your financial offering be what it is, and let me encourage you to consider a 10% tithe as a goal to be achieved and surpassed if possible. But let your life offering be the measure by which you judge your stewardship of what God has given to you. Come to church and hear God’s word. Begin and end each day in prayer. Trust that as you practice sacrifical giving, God will ensure that you have what you need to sustain your body and life. These are the marks of true stewardship; these are the marks of a life given to God.

It’s a lot to consider, a life offering, but Jesus won't leave us wondering how much we need to give. Jesus understands stewardship and how to provide for what God has given Him. The cross is THE example of stewardship. Out of humanity's need, out of Jesus' human poverty, He gave everything He had, his whole life. This is true stewardship –, to love God as God first loved us and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Thanks be to God for our Savior, Jesus Christ, for His teaching about stewardship, both in His service to others and in His sacrifice on the cross for you and me. Thanks be to God for each other – when we give our lives to God, we also give our lives to each other as brothers and sisters in this church. Thanks be to God for those times when we understand that the correct percentage giving for Christian stewardship is simple to figure – 100%, now and forever. Amen.

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