Give it my all

Several years ago I was refereeing a game between East Limestone High School and Madison County High school. There is one play that I will never forget. The runner is running down the sideline. My job, as an official, is to give ground and let him run in front of me. I follow him, watching blocks, and making sure he doesn’t step out of bounds or anything crazy like that. Well, he is running up the sideline, I am behind him. He crosses the goal line, but fumbles the ball right at the line. The back judge lifts up his hands signaling a touchdown. Then lowers them second guessing himself because of the fumble. I catch up to the goal line and confirm to him that we do in fact have a touchdown. I said the fumble was after he crossed the goal line and I lifted my hands signaling a touchdown. The crowd is excited, they kick the extra point, and the game moves on. If you ever wondered, coaches do send us the game film after the fact, and sometimes they pose a question about certain calls. Well, that play was questioned. I looked at the film and said, it looks like I got it right, at least from the angle of that film. Then another angle of the film was sent. It was a better angle. The better angle revealed that the fumble happened at the 5 yard line, well before he crossed the goal line. He didn’t score. At this point, it is too late. But, the coach was right to question the call because I got it wrong!

Our two passages of scripture are ones I have got wrong before as well. I was at my first church, in Richmond VA and I was preaching a stewardship series, much like this one. I read the passage from Luke and compared it to the same story in Mark 12. I mentioned how everyone had gave so much. But, they were giving for show. They were showing how rich they were. Then this woman, a widowed woman, a poor widowed woman comes up with 2 mites, worth approximately 1/8th of a penny in today's terms, gave them all. Jesus notices her giving those 2 mites and says she gave more than everyone else. I expounded on the idea of giving so that everyone would see. I then shifted to God calling us to give our all. Jesus gave his all on the cross. The widow gave her all. So, God calls us to sacrificial giving. Give it your all. I thought I had a real bang up sermon. I got it wrong!

I got it wrong for a couple of reasons. First, this is a pre-passion narrative. This is one of those moments where Jesus is about to get into big trouble. He has already been building up some tension, in chapter 19 he flips tables and creates a scene. So, the temple officials and Jesus are not exactly friends. However, according to my previous message, they should love him. He just told all those rich people that if you are giving to be seen then this woman out did you all because she gave everything. So, go give your everything! The temple should LOVE Jesus after a message like that, right!?! I might could excuse Jesus flipping a few tables since he is telling a bunch of rich people to go give up all they have. However, that is not the message Jesus is saying in this passage. And, if I don’t like it when others get the passage wrong, I certainly shouldn't like it when I get it wrong. Sadly, the second problem with my message was that it didn’t take into account what Jesus was saying.

Jesus wasn’t commending the woman for giving her all. In fact, he was pitying her. This story is also told in Mark 12. Both are similar, but Luke gives allusions that Mark spells out. In the beginning of the story, Luke says Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts in the offering box. In stark contrast, there is this poor widow. Three times she is referred to as poor. She is described twice as poor and the third time Jesus says she gave out of her poverty. Luke zooms in on the wealthy, so that the contrast with the poor widow is more starkly drawn. However, this contrast also connects this reading with the previous chapter because just a few verses before Jesus warns people to “beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the market places and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses…”

Beware of religious people wearing long robes…..um? Well, the text is not an indictment about worship garments. It is about people who desire to be seen! If you didn’t know Robes are supposed to hide the clothing and not be a distraction. In this context, Jesus is explaining how the scribes are using their robes to gain status and step on people. They wanted high status. Jesus says they devoured widows’ homes. Then there is a living illustration of the widows being devoured. The rich people are giving and then this poor widow gives all she has and the temple scribes are ok with it.

So, I mentioned this a few Sundays ago that there were several laws about collections. I just mentioned 3 but there were several collection laws. But, there was this caveat in Exodus 22 that said do not take advantage of the widows and fatherless. Don’t take advantage of people! Sadly, the temple had started to do this. It was quite ironic because the people felt taken advantage of by the Roman government.

This is the immediate context of our passage in Mark 12. The pharisees first try to butter Jesus up a bit. They give him a few compliments but ask him a question intended to trap him. The question about taxation was set in the context of political and economic oppression. “Taxation in Roman Palestine was extractive, that is, designed to assert elite control over agrarian production.… Caesar’s agents collected taxes and redistributed them to clients. The priests and the Jerusalem temple collected offerings and redistributed them. Redistribution exchanges were replicated throughout society. Their major impact was to remove most goods from the control and enjoyment of most people.” So, since it is soooo harsh on people, is it lawful to pay taxes? Knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus responds with a well known verse. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.

Jesus’ response is sufficiently ambiguous to require the hearers to judge his meaning for themselves, while implying that they should pay their taxes but not treat the emperor as divine. The pronouncement, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” draws a sharp distinction between the emperor and God. It also remi+nds the hearer that just as one owes taxes to the emperor, there is also that which is due to God (and God alone).

That is something the scribes of the church lost sight of. They got so caught up in the whims of society that they lost focus. They were interested in status and stature. But, they forgot that the second part of the Shema is to love your neighbor as yourself. They stopped taking care of people! They became so legalistic about laws that they started to swallow up widow’s houses and expected them to give up everything they had!

They stopped giving to God. I missed that when I preached this the first time! I wasn’t expecting status or position. However, I completely misread Jesus’ claim that she gave more than anyone else. Friends, this church needs money. There are a lot of programs happening and this building….I mean this building has so much. Make no mistake we need money. But, I hope we never get so caught up in money that we forget compassion!

That is what Jesus was saying to his audience. He was saying, this woman gave everything she had. Why is she giving up everything? Why isn’t the temple showing her compassion! Why isn’t someone helping her! Yes, we have obligations. We have stuff going on. We have to render to Caesar what is Caesar, but God is in the mix as well.

Friends, luckily, this is not a real problem for this church. Compassion is not something lacking at Faith Presbyterian Church. However, we have to be careful because we can lose focus. It is even possible to give money, give in abundance and lose compassion! That is likely what happened in our scripture reading today. People were giving like they always had given. But, somewhere along the way, they lost compassion and started giving to be seen. Jesus calls us back to focus. Jesus challenges the church that above all else, give compassion.

So, my friends, Today, when it comes to showing compassion, Give it your all!

Grace and Peace