Sunday November 8, 2009 Mark 12:38-44

Welcome, it is sounding like we are going to have a warm weekend for November. I hope so as I still have work to get done outside. I apologize for this being late but on Monday night my son, who was suffering from food poisoning, had to be taken to the ER and so I got to sit and watch the CBS national news loop, until I discovered Entertainment Tonight, all night with him while they gave him medicine and fluids. I got home in time to see the sun rise and attempted to sleep all day Tuesday. Needless to say I am a day late on everything. But, all is well and he is healthy now. I admire the staff at a hospital that can work all night, it isn’t an easy job and they were very nice.

Our text for Sunday is back in Mark. It is Tuesday of the last week of Jesus’ life. He is in the Temple teaching. The Jewish leaders are sending representatives to ask him difficult questions to try to trip him up and prove he has no authority. Every time he has given an answer that stymies them and they leave humiliated. He has the authority to interpret the law, theirs is in question.

V38-39 He attacks the scribes. They had asked a question in verse 28 about commandments which Jesus had answered for them. Now he attacks some things about them. They walk around in long robes. The nobility wore long robes to be noticed and a long robe doesn’t allow the wearer to walk fast so the scribes had to walk slowly and this was a way of being noticed and associated with nobility. They liked to be greeted with titles of rabbi, meaning “my great one”, in the market and to sit in the special seat in the synagogue. There was a chair in the front of the synagogue by the ark where the scrolls were kept, which faced the crowd. That is where they like to sit so they could be noticed. They also jockeyed for the best positions of honor at a banquet so the other guests could see how important they were to the host. It was all about “see and be seen”. The more you are noticed the more important you seem to be. We still have this today, people will do anything to be on TV, just watch Entertainment Tonight at 4am. I’ve heard that some people in Hollywood get paid to show up at a party, which is their only contribution to society but they become famous for it.

V40 Perhaps they convinced widows to donate their houses to them for promises of greater things in Heaven. They say long prayers which they directed to God but were really for them to be noticed. “Look how good this scribe can pray.” Jesus says they have their reward here. They are noticed by men but will be condemned by God as they were to be shepherds to the people, not to prey upon the people like wolves.

V41 Jesus then moved into the Court of the Women where there were 13 boxes shaped like inverted trumpets for collecting the temple tax to cover expenses for the Temple, help for widows and other expenses. He sat down with his disciples and watched the people coming to the Temple and putting money in those collection containers. The rich were putting in large sums.

V42 A poor widow came and put in 2 small coins. The coin was called a lepton which literally meant “a thin one”. One was worth 1/40th of one pence. It was all she had to live on and she gave it to God. A widow in those days had no way of earning money. She only had support if she had sons alive to help her otherwise she was dependant on donations which is why the Temple collected money for widows.

V43-44 Jesus calls his disciples attention to the woman and her donation. She has put in more than all of the others because they gave out of their excess and she gave all she had to live on. He is instructing the disciples on giving to God what is Gods in the first place. Most of the people had more than enough to live on and gave a portion of the excess, the widow gave it all. We are not owners of anything, God owns it all. We are simply managers of what God has entrusted us with. As managers we are to use his gifts wisely and for the good of his kingdom. In the gospel of Matthew chapter 25 verses 31-46 we are told to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, give drink to the thirsty, care for the sick, visit those in prison and welcome the stranger. As November is stewardship month we must decide how we are going to manage Gods goods. In what ways are we going to feed, cloth, give drink, care, visit and welcome our brothers and sisters in this family we have joined.