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The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small
Mark 12:13–17 • Mark 12:41–44
Have you ever looked at a sink full of dishes and felt like you’d never get them all clean?
How about baskets full of laundry?
Have you ever wanted to do a project for work or home, but the size and scope of the project just froze you up?
When we feel overwhelmed, our instinct isn’t to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Our instinct is to curl up in a ball and wonder how to even start such a project.
And when we do that, what happens to the size of the project?
It grows.
We dirty more dishes; wear more clothes; and the project deadline moves ever closer.
The overwhelmed feeling gives way to fear, and fear tells us we’ll never be able to accomplish the goal.
But … in case you don’t remember … FEAR IS A LIAR!
Sure, when we look at our world today, the idea of making a difference seems impossible.
The world is SO messed up!
In the period of 2 weeks, over 2.5 million Ukrainians fled their country.
In 2020, >37 million Americans lived below the poverty line.
In 2019, the US Dept. of Justice secured 475 convictions for human trafficking.
Imagine how many individuals were trafficked by those 475 people … then think about how many traffickers weren’t caught or convicted.
Statistics are staggering … and there are far more social problems than we even know about.
I’ve shared this with you before: In 2017 statistics, 53,139 people in Vigo County don’t know Jesus.
That — is an overwhelming statistic.
How can we possibly make a difference on that large of a scale.
The brutal truth is … we can’t!
If we think we can make a difference in those staggering numbers, we’re deluding ourselves and deep down we know it.
That’s why we don’t do anything.
And just like the dishes and laundry, the numbers grow every year.
In the 5 years from 2012-2017, the Vigo County number of people who don’t know Jesus grew by 30%!
We have to get ourselves out of shutdown mode.
How?
First of all, we need some perspective.
I’ve seen this quote attributed to many different people, but the wisdom is eternal:
Do you know how to eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small
In today’s first reading, Jesus is being challenged by the religious leadership (what’s new?).
This is after Palm Sunday, so time is getting short, and the leaders are getting more desperate to get Jesus out of the picture one way or another.
These cowardly leaders send in some Pharisees and some politicians with a question about paying taxes.
We know this is a trap because the question changes in the middle.
First they ask, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” and before Jesus even answers, they change the question to: “Should we pay taxes or not?”
That’s a shade of meaning, but the fact that Herodians (politicians) were involved makes this a big distinction.
Saying it’s “wrong” to pay taxes to Caesar isn’t punishable.
But saying the people “shouldn’t” pay taxes was enough for criminal charges.
Jesus calls out their trap and teaches a good lesson using a coin.
But he didn’t ask for just any coin.
He asks for a denarius.
A denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage to a common worker - so no small amount, except to Pharisees and politicians.
He knew a denarius would have been easily available in the crowd challenging him, and perhaps may have been the smallest coin they would’ve been carrying.
When a magician asks for money from the audience, do they ask for $100 bill?
No.
They ask for something smaller, because they know there’s a possibility no one will have a $100 bill in the audience … or no one is willing to trust them with it.
:)
Jesus did the same thing.
He started with what he knew the Pharisees would have with them.
Our second reading takes place near the end of the same day at the Temple.
And the money involved is a heckuva contrast.
They see a widow among the other people who are putting money in the Temple treasury.
don’t read passage
Of course, the rich people are contributing large sums, but this widow puts in “two lepta coins, which amount to a quadrans.”
What the heck is a lepta?
It’s a half a quadrans, of course!
graph of lepta’s value
The singular “lepton” is the smallest value of coin in the Roman economy.
The widow gives two of these coins, which is worth approximately 1/128 of a day’s wage.
That’s half; of a half; of a half; of a half; of a half; of a half; of a half (7 half’s) of a day’s wage.
Halley’s Bible Handbook says these two copper coins “were worth almost nothing”.
No one was sitting with baited breath waiting for the widow’s offering to pay the light bill.
So what?
The End of the World As We Know It: Start Small
Jesus said the widow’s 2 lepta were more or more valuable than the rich people’s large amounts!
Do you know how to eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
You see, we will not make a difference to the entire world.
We simply are not capable.
But like the little girl throwing starfish back into the ocean … we can make a difference for ‘this one’.
How do we bring about the world God envisions?
How do we help 53,139 people in Vigo County discover God’s love for them, and help them run into the arms of Jesus Christ?
One bite at a time!
The end of the world as we know it begins small.
It begins with 1 of those 53,139 people.
It begins with you and me deciding we’re not going to be overwhelmed anymore.
What’s the first bite?
In years past, the church has thrown out tracts and trusted they’d bear fruit … “well, we did our part.”
But that’s not how people come to Jesus.
People come to Jesus by way of a relationship with Jesus’ people.
In the coming week’s I will be outlining an approach to helping people discover God’s love for them through relationship building.
It’s a simple, and doable approach.
I didn’t invent or even dream up this process of evangelism, but I’ve seen lots of testimonies about its effectiveness.
Write a list of people you want to see commit to faith in Christ.
These are people you already know, and would love to see changed by the love of Christ.
If you’re an overachiever when it comes to lists … whittle the list down.
You want a short list.
1-3 is ideal, but keep the bigger list — you’ll need more names after the first 3 discover Jesus.
:)
The next step is better for you to decide … how do you start your day?
Put your list somewhere that you’ll see at the beginning of each day.
And commit to start every day with prayer asking God to use you to bless these people who do not know him.
Not sure what to pray?
May I suggest you place their name into scripture?
Lord, make my friend thirsty for you.
Father, draw my friend to you, and prepare him for your love.
O Lord, open my friend’s heart to help him see the light of your Truth.
Jesus, help my friend see his own guilt and recognize your redemption is available.
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