Göttinger Predigten im Internet
ed. by U. Nembach, J. Neukirch, C. Dinkel, I. Karle

23rd Sunday after Pentecost, November 12, 2006
Mark 12:38-44, Walter W. Harms
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ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL!

Who knows what you give to church? The pastor? I hope so. If you are the top giver, then he will surely want to hobnob about with you and your family. Perhaps the reason he doesn’t pay you more attention is that you just don’t give very much.

Maybe just some mysterious “Financial Secretary” and that committee in charge of recording how much you give knows your giving, so that the correct amount can be reported to you for your income tax deductions.
Maybe that’s the only one who knows what you give. Do you even know yourself what you give?

I don’t think it should come as much of a surprise that there is at least someone else who knows what you’re giving. We call that person God! He knows whether you give a bunch or are cheap and give, when you attend, about the same amount you spend for a family excursion to the movie theater, and don’t forget the price of the popcorn, sodas, and candy!

Jesus sat down one day where he could watch what people put into one of the 13 large, metal, trumpet-shaped receptacles for the people’s offerings. Many rich people put in large sums. Sitting in plain sight, the receptacles would give a good clinking and clanking sound as
their offering went in. One should always consider what resonance our
offerings have in the church, don’t you think?

Then a poor widow, a poor widow. I wonder was she poor because the teachers of the law had devoured her home. Makes no difference. Her two little coins, worth something, but not worth much didn’t give a very satisfying report as they hit the trumpet-shaped receptacle.

Jesus sees all and he saw this as well. His comment: “This poor widow
put more in that all the others.” Wow! What a statement! More than
all the others! He explains that just a little. The rich gave from their wealth, he says; the widow, on the other hand “out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

While Jesus certainly does not condemn the giving of large amounts of money to the temple treasury (translate that the local church), he does use an accounting method that we, as the local church, should somehow use in our recording of funds given.

It would appear that you either give all or you are never really giving anything!

All or nothing at all.

One of my favorite stories told by Jesus, and I still don’t know whether is it a parable or a case history, is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man dressed like you do, you and I “who have nothing to wear!” A closet full of designer clothes, the best from the more “in” boutique—that was his wardrobe, and you would find him in 4
and 5 star restaurants at least several nights a week. (Now I know
that few of you are in that category, right? But still, it’s got something in it for you.) I have no doubt that this man attended many a charity fundraiser, had his name inscribed on buildings to which he had made sizeable donation, and sat on the boards of director of local charities.

Meanwhile at the back gate (all gated communities have a back gate
somewhere!) was this bum, and a sick bum at that. He has a name. It’s Lazarus. He gets the leftovers. You know, a few stale croissants, the too well-done ends of the filets, the lobster Newburg that just didn’t have any appeal after it sat for a while uneaten, the turtle fudge cheesecake getting a little green around the edges. Not bad fare! The rich man even providing nurses, his watch dogs to give the bum medical attention by licking his sores. Gruesome even to hear.

Both reached the end of this life. One went to rest in the lap of the first of all great believers, Abraham. The other had to live in Austin, TX in summer perpetually, and it was hot, hot, hot! (It was over 100 degrees for a record setting number of days this past summer).
Guess who went where?

This panhandler, on top of everything else, didn’t seem to have contributed a dime or anything else to anybody, much less the church or the local charities.

It appears that not even “all or nothing at all” is the way it is.
“Nothing” even seems to be enough.

All this praise from Jesus for this widow. What’s he trying to get across to us anyway? Are we really expected to give everything to the church? I mean everything and then turn into people who had to beg to exist. Surely not, you say. Surely, yes, I say!

We cannot really give anything to God. When the cattle on all the hills belong to him, he needs something from us? What are the sacrifices we are to bring to God? Large checks? Stocks? Bonds? Our leftover IRA’s and 401 (k)s?

The sacrifices God wants and he does want something from us. The sacrifices God wants are broken and contrite hearts. Hearts, minds, spirits which know that we indeed deserve nothing but punishment.

Hearts that are overcome with tears of joy because we have this Jesus who despising its shame (which really is “our” shame), mounted the cross, lost his life to give it to us, so that we would know the way to the heart of the heavenly Father is not through gifts we might offer, but is the gift Jesus gave to him for us.

“All” we have and are is a gift, a continuing gift. Life itself is a gift sustained by God. It is truly all or nothing at all that we have received from God. And “all” we give him is what is already his to begin with. We are much more in the shoes, sandals, or perhaps barefooted as ole’ Lazarus was when it comes to giving anybody anything, much less giving to God. Nothing to give. It’s not “ours”
to give.

Sometimes at Christmas when I was a little child, my Dad would give us a dollar to buy Christmas presents for brothers and sisters, for Mom and Dad. I spent wisely making sure that my purchases were gifts they wanted or could use. I carefully wrapped, ribboned, and tagged the gifts, watched their happy faces as they opened their presents from “me.” Yeh, sure, from me. To see the joy on my face and the faces of the others, Dad gave. And Abba Father still gives.

The “wisdom” of this widow is that she knew her life, her continuing to be alive was dependent not on being smart with money, but on God. Do we know that? So she could give all and know that the Lord would sustain her when there was “nothing”! Do we believe that?

So you can be rich according to the standards of this world or below the poverty line, it makes no difference. What makes a difference is whether we believe we have to “sustain” ourselves or trust God will take care of us.

OK, so God gives us all and we can give him nothing. But we certainly can’t have Christmas without any presents for him, can we?

What are we to give to him who gave us all, even his life so that he might see our joy and peace? We are to give him all. Or will give him nothing.

A rich man once walked away from Jesus and Jesus was sad. He was sad because the young may was rich and wanted to get into heaven. Jesus told him to sell all and come and follow him. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t see how he could go on if he did it. That’s what that man had to do. What do we have to do in order to gain eternal life?

Will we walk away from Jesus because we don’t want to give him all that we are, have, and use?

What do we need to give to give all? I cannot tell you. I can make some suggestions that might be helpful for you.

What about giving up the “love of money”?
What about giving up time you would spend on yourself?
What about giving enough money so you have to trust God will take care
of you?
What about giving up always having to be first or close to first in
line, anywhere?
What about giving up trusting in your ability to run your life?
What about giving directly to have people hear about Jesus?

What about giving all or giving nothing at all, in the way that this is
a joy to you, for God loves a joyful giver? Amen.

Walter W. Harms, retired pastor
Austin, TX U. S. A.
Comments: waltpast@aol.com

 


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