Third Last Sunday in the Church Year
Text: Mark 12:38-44
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
We like to identify ourselves with the widow. We’ve got it pretty rough, we say. We never seem to quite have enough money. We always have to do without something we’d like to have. We may have to do without the next toy we want, the latest fashion trends for ourselves and our families, or the newest convenience recently invented. And when it comes time to give back to Our Lord for the work of His Kingdom, our finances seem really tight. “When I get these bills straightened out, then I’ll give an appropriate offering.”
Jesus was watching the gifts given. Giving is an important response of faith. Scripture often emphasizes not the amount given, but the proportion given. Stewardship committees undoubtedly love to use this text, and it conveniently appears at this time of the year when annual budgets are often a topic in churches and other organizations. Yet the point of Jesus’ words here is not to begin a funding drive for the next fiscal year or to admonish people to get the giving back up on par with the year-to-date budget chart.
This lesson is about the first commandment: “You are to have no other gods.” For as soon as we look at our finances and say, “There isn’t enough to give back to God today,” then we have stopped fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things. As soon as we put our financial well-being as our top priority, as soon as we put aside worship and daily prayer for more hours at work, then we have another god and our faith in Christ is neglected.
This text is among various texts that we could use to talk about the appropriateness of tithing, the concept of giving to God from our first fruits, and returning to God a sacrifice proportionate to our income. This lesson, however, is primarily about faith – about giving to God “all we have to live on” in complete confidence and trust that He will continue to sustain us in our earthly lives and eventually will fill our greatest need by drawing us to Himself in heaven.
Whether you are going through financially tough times or are up to your ears in cash and don’t know how to spend it all, this message is pertinent to everyone. Certainly, there are different amounts of financial contributions made by each person, but all gifts to Our Lord are to be made in complete, confident trust – trust that He knows best how to care for our needs.
As long as we view our faith as something that we do, then complete confidence in God to provide for our needs won’t last very long. As long as we view our faith as something that we do, then our complete confidence in Christ’s forgiveness for our sins won’t last very long. Often in religious groups in our culture today, we hear so much about “my faith.” In a sense, faith is an individual thing. No one is saved by someone else’s faith. But in a deeper sense faith is not an individual thing because our faith is not defined by us. Our faith does not originate with us. We do not have faith in our faith – in our believing; we have faith in Christ and in His salvation. Faith originates in us by the Holy Spirit. As soon as we start having faith in our own act of believing, we also start losing true faith in Christ.
The widow in today’s story, giving her small gift of two coins, gave more than those who dropped off massive sums of money. For they contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had, all she had to live on. We like to look at the size of the gift, the statistics, the external value of things. Jesus did not expect those giving gifts to neglect their vocations in providing for their families. But Jesus looks at the internal giving – the motives of the heart. Perhaps some of those big amounts of money were given in faith. Jesus here sets the widow’s trust as an example of faithful giving.
God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. We know that God will continue to give us our needs for this life, and we give thanks for His provision in the past and look with confidence toward the future. But we have a blessing even greater than provision for our earthly lives. What we really need is eternal life.
Christ has entered… into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf… He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Here is where our faith lies. Here is the origin and completion of our faith. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Our lives are now lives of complete confidence and trust, because Christ has given up Himself on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Christ gave up “all He had” – His own life – in order to save us from our sins. Christ offered up His body – the new Temple – and raised it again on the third day. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”… he was speaking about the temple of his body (Jn 2:19, 21).
Jesus did not just give a small gift out of His great abundance. He gave up all that He is. Nothing was withheld. He gave up His body and His blood, His life and His death, for the forgiveness of His people. And just as Jesus was watching what was given in the temple, so Our Father was watching as Christ gave up Himself on the cross – the great and total offering that brought eternal life.
Our faith is now perfect. It is not a trust in ourselves to believe hard enough. Our faith is perfect because of its perfect object – the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for our atonement, to redeem us with His innocent suffering and death. The needs of the widow in the Old Testament were met through the continual supply of oil and flour. The needs of the widow in the Gospel were met through God’s provision. The oil and flour did not run out. So also Christ’s sustaining gifts to us through the waters of Holy Baptism, daily assuring us of the forgiveness of sins, never run out. Every week, Christ feeds us with the continual forgiveness of His body and blood. Christ’s word of forgiveness through private and corporate absolution is without end.
Now our sacrifices to the Lord – our prayers, our thanksgiving, our offerings, our praise – are pleasing to Our Father on account of faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. We offer these to Our Father in complete faith that He will take care of all our needs of both body and soul and finally give us that greatest gift that fulfills all our needs – eternal life in Him. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
Vicar Gary Schultz
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
We like to identify ourselves with the widow. We’ve got it pretty rough, we say. We never seem to quite have enough money. We always have to do without something we’d like to have. We may have to do without the next toy we want, the latest fashion trends for ourselves and our families, or the newest convenience recently invented. And when it comes time to give back to Our Lord for the work of His Kingdom, our finances seem really tight. “When I get these bills straightened out, then I’ll give an appropriate offering.”
Jesus was watching the gifts given. Giving is an important response of faith. Scripture often emphasizes not the amount given, but the proportion given. Stewardship committees undoubtedly love to use this text, and it conveniently appears at this time of the year when annual budgets are often a topic in churches and other organizations. Yet the point of Jesus’ words here is not to begin a funding drive for the next fiscal year or to admonish people to get the giving back up on par with the year-to-date budget chart.
This lesson is about the first commandment: “You are to have no other gods.” For as soon as we look at our finances and say, “There isn’t enough to give back to God today,” then we have stopped fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things. As soon as we put our financial well-being as our top priority, as soon as we put aside worship and daily prayer for more hours at work, then we have another god and our faith in Christ is neglected.
This text is among various texts that we could use to talk about the appropriateness of tithing, the concept of giving to God from our first fruits, and returning to God a sacrifice proportionate to our income. This lesson, however, is primarily about faith – about giving to God “all we have to live on” in complete confidence and trust that He will continue to sustain us in our earthly lives and eventually will fill our greatest need by drawing us to Himself in heaven.
Whether you are going through financially tough times or are up to your ears in cash and don’t know how to spend it all, this message is pertinent to everyone. Certainly, there are different amounts of financial contributions made by each person, but all gifts to Our Lord are to be made in complete, confident trust – trust that He knows best how to care for our needs.
As long as we view our faith as something that we do, then complete confidence in God to provide for our needs won’t last very long. As long as we view our faith as something that we do, then our complete confidence in Christ’s forgiveness for our sins won’t last very long. Often in religious groups in our culture today, we hear so much about “my faith.” In a sense, faith is an individual thing. No one is saved by someone else’s faith. But in a deeper sense faith is not an individual thing because our faith is not defined by us. Our faith does not originate with us. We do not have faith in our faith – in our believing; we have faith in Christ and in His salvation. Faith originates in us by the Holy Spirit. As soon as we start having faith in our own act of believing, we also start losing true faith in Christ.
The widow in today’s story, giving her small gift of two coins, gave more than those who dropped off massive sums of money. For they contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in everything she had, all she had to live on. We like to look at the size of the gift, the statistics, the external value of things. Jesus did not expect those giving gifts to neglect their vocations in providing for their families. But Jesus looks at the internal giving – the motives of the heart. Perhaps some of those big amounts of money were given in faith. Jesus here sets the widow’s trust as an example of faithful giving.
God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. We know that God will continue to give us our needs for this life, and we give thanks for His provision in the past and look with confidence toward the future. But we have a blessing even greater than provision for our earthly lives. What we really need is eternal life.
Christ has entered… into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf… He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Here is where our faith lies. Here is the origin and completion of our faith. So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Our lives are now lives of complete confidence and trust, because Christ has given up Himself on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Christ gave up “all He had” – His own life – in order to save us from our sins. Christ offered up His body – the new Temple – and raised it again on the third day. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”… he was speaking about the temple of his body (Jn 2:19, 21).
Jesus did not just give a small gift out of His great abundance. He gave up all that He is. Nothing was withheld. He gave up His body and His blood, His life and His death, for the forgiveness of His people. And just as Jesus was watching what was given in the temple, so Our Father was watching as Christ gave up Himself on the cross – the great and total offering that brought eternal life.
Our faith is now perfect. It is not a trust in ourselves to believe hard enough. Our faith is perfect because of its perfect object – the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for our atonement, to redeem us with His innocent suffering and death. The needs of the widow in the Old Testament were met through the continual supply of oil and flour. The needs of the widow in the Gospel were met through God’s provision. The oil and flour did not run out. So also Christ’s sustaining gifts to us through the waters of Holy Baptism, daily assuring us of the forgiveness of sins, never run out. Every week, Christ feeds us with the continual forgiveness of His body and blood. Christ’s word of forgiveness through private and corporate absolution is without end.
Now our sacrifices to the Lord – our prayers, our thanksgiving, our offerings, our praise – are pleasing to Our Father on account of faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. We offer these to Our Father in complete faith that He will take care of all our needs of both body and soul and finally give us that greatest gift that fulfills all our needs – eternal life in Him. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
11/18/2006
