Our Two Cents. On the Election.

Widows Mite J. Kirk Richards

Mark 12:38-44

November 10, 2024

 

What can you buy with two copper coins?

I mean really? You used to be able to get candy maybe,

Stamps a long time ago, but you really can’t get anything

With two copper coins these days.

I googled it and even pennies cost 5 cents each.

I don’t think that this woman’s gift was worth much more.

Two copper coins. It’s not of any value, really.

 

Jesus was teaching disciples in the temple,

people were walking by doing what they usually did

and he was using them as object lessons.

It says that he was doing this loud enough

so that everyone that was around them could hear.

The scribes and Pharisees had just finished up

a conversation with Jesus and were walking away.

 

And he Jesus out loud “Beware the scribes”

Watch out for those guys we were just talking with.

They like the accolades of being leaders,

they like the notoriety and respect,

but they devour widow’s houses.

 

Scribes were not just people that transcribed things.

They were the interpreters of religious law

and they were the record keepers for the temple.

 

Historians now, don’t seem to be in agreement about

what set of shenanigans these scribes did that would

devour widows houses and what Jesus was referring to

but the best guess is that it involved the temple tax,

the fee that Jewish people were

obligated to pay for the upkeep of the temple.

The tax was one half shekel, or about two days wages,

every year for every Jewish male over 20.

 

The most likely scenario, is that in interpreting the law,

and keeping the records, a scribe could have

determined, truthfully or not,  that a woman’s

deceased husband was in arrears on their temple taxes,

and demanded that the widow give everything

she had left to the temple, thus devouring their houses.

And the scribes might get a percentage of the collection.

 

So Jesus was saying that the scribes were

taking advantage of their position .

Jesus is describing corruption.

The definition is simple enough:

“dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those

entrusted to a position of power.”

People taking advantage of the positions

they’ve been given for their own gain.

 

The fact that many of them were corrupt

seemed to be common knowledge that was

just not said out loud very often.

 

But on this backdrop of corruption,

of Scribes walking around in long robes

wanting seats of honor, and devouring widows houses,

an obviously poor widow comes into Jesus field of view.

 

Now widows were not compelled to give to the temple tax.

Women couldn’t work, and people with no earnings

were not legally obligated to give.

This woman didn’t have to give anything.

But she still gave what she had -- to God.

 

Remember in this time there was only one temple.

Only one way for Jews to worship,

only one place that was interpreting the word,

and keeping God present in people’s lives.

 

There wasn’t another one across town for her to go to,

there wasn’t even another non-profit, social service agency

to support and give to. The temple was it.

If she wanted to give to God, this was the option.

And still in the face of the corruption of some

of its leaders, the widow gave.

We don’t know why she gave.

I think her gift was generous considering how little she had,

and her gift showed a strong faith in God and a bold hopefulness.

It showed that she believed that God’s justice would prevail.

 

It would have been very easy to become apathetic,

or cynical, or jaded in the face of the injustice,

it would have been very easy to step out,

or turn away, or not be involved, which, I’m sure

many people in her situation did, but her great gift

that I think Jesus was pointing out, was not the

ratio of the gift to her income, but the

earnest hope and faith that it represented.

 

Which brings me to today.

I looked back at past sermons after past elections

And I usually try to be objective, and I tried that,

But the Spirit was not letting me preach that today.

 

So I have to be honest and tell you what I feel.

And if you disagree with me, you can talk to me later,

we can all still love one another and come to terms.

But as a pastor, I feel I have to be honest, and

right now as a Christian and as an American citizen,

I have to say that I’m sad and disappointed with the outcome.

Not really with who lost, but with who won.

 

I was despondent earlier in the week,

but now I’m just sad and disappointed,

so I’m feeling much better.

 

Now, when I think about it, I really didn’t think

that the candidate that lost was going to fix everything,

or make many substantial improvements to the big issues

that we are facing this country.

No one in my lifetime has done that.

I didn’t see anything that made me super hopeful for any change,

and maybe that’s why they lost.

 

But the campaign that won was cock full of terrible things.

Like hatred for immigrants,  and hatred for transgender people,

and threats of violence and death for political opponents,

just to name a few. And the last this candidate,

the last time they lost the election, they were willing to break the law

and incite violence to get it back.

Which was the biggest deal breaker for me and I thought

It would be for a lot of other people too.

 

Now I know that everyone who voted for the winner was not

on that same page. Everyone who voted for him was not a racist,

or hates LGBT people, or advocates for political violence.

But I was actually surprised that kind of campaigning, 

and behavior didn’t deter more people from voting for him, especially people of faith.

 

So I’m sad and disappointed, but mostly right now,

I have fear of what the next four years will bring us.

I have fear for immigrants. I’m afraid that they’ll keep the promise

of mass deportations which would include

most of our friends at Chimney Cove and other friends I have.

And I’m afraid for our gay, lesbian, and transgender friends

who were the target of so much fear and misinformation, I’m afraid

that their rights to live their lives and to marry will be taken away.

 

And I’m afraid for the most vulnerable people in this country,

who rely on Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, and Obamacare, 

and disability, and other government resources, 

who rely on food stamps and section 8 housing, 

because reduction of government spending 

is always on the backs of the most vulnerable. 

It always devours widow’s houses to save a buck. 

Never does it affect billionaires and large corporations.

  

And mostly I’m afraid for the spirit of this country.

Giving a vote of confidence for the kind of campaign we just heard

really gives voice and license to the worst we have to give

it’s kind of like a pandora’s box, we saw it in in 2016, and it hasn’t

even been started to put back in, and now its out again in force.

I fear people getting more and more comfortable in their hate.

 

I mean I’ve seen more nazi flags in the last 10 years

than I ever thought I would ever see in this country.

Didn’t our veterans die to stop that?

That alone is concerning.

 

On Wednesday a text was sent to hundreds 

of black people across 20 states that said, 

“You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation” 

They don’t know who sent it, the FBI is looking into it.

But whoever it was, people are now

emboldened by the results of the election

 

And then this happened at Texas State University.

A day after the election, a group that said they 

“preach the gospel every day” came to demonstrate 

at the university and they held up these signs.

 

I mean, as concerning as it is,

I’m kind of used to the “Homo Sex is Sin”,

I’ve seen it at every Pride march I’ve ever been to,

it’s predictable trope for a certain segment of Christianity.

But this one “Women are property” is new and frankly startling to me.

It reflects the words that were used by many supporters

of the winning side of this election.

“Your body, my choice” was what someone tweeted out after the election.

 

And I know that we can’t attribute every crazy thing

that is said by the supporters of the candidate

before or after to the candidate themselves.

But you have to admit, that this candidate

kind of excels at saying crazy things.

And I think their win has given license to

this kind of belief and speech that I thought was solved

hundreds years ago, or at least 50 years ago.

So I’m finding my fear and disappointment and sadness overwhelming

this week. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen, I hope that none

of my fears come true and it’s just an annoying four years for me.

But I feel I’ve been pushing against a lot of this

injustice and hateful rhetoric for 10 years and I’m kind of tired of it.

But that’s kind of what this work is.

Never ending until God’s kingdom comes.

 

Which brings me back to the reading for today. 

It would have been very easy for that widow

to become apathetic, or cynical,

or jaded in the face of the complete injustice surrounding her.

But she did not. She put in her two cents.

 

It would be very easy for us to step out,

physically or mentally, or to turn away, or not be involved.

Or to live in fear of the repercussions of speaking out

and hide, or maybe worse assimilate or acquiesce to the prevailing rhetoric.

But we shouldn’t. God needs our two cents right now.

 

And it doesn’t matter who anyone voted for,

because voting is just a little part of the work we do.

God needs the work of good people who believe in

equality, and justice, and women’s rights,

and feeding the hungry, and welcoming the stranger,

and all of those things that Jesus has instilled in us.

 

This situation in this country might seem overwhelming.

But the situation in this country was actually already overwhelming,

and regardless who won, it would have still been overwhelming.

And in the face of overwhelming injustice and corruption,

and politicians who like to walk around in fancy suits

and have places of honor at every table and devour

widows houses without a second thought,

it might seem like we have nothing much to give,

that what we do won’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

Like all we have is just two cents worth .

That may be all that we can give.

 

But Jesus needs us to be like that widow,

Who in the face of that overwhelming injustice that surrounded her,

in a situation that truly seemed hopeless,

in a place that had no free elections, no checks and balances,

no freedom of speech, she put her two cents in the pot.

She showed that in spite of the evidence on the ground,

she still had faith in God and God’s promises.

 

She put her two cents into that coffer.

Maybe we can even see her two cents as an act of hopeful defiance.

Truly I tell you, this widow has put in more

than all those who have put into the treasury.

 

My friend, Jamie Bouzard,

is the Lutheran campus pastor at Texas State University,

and in the face of that terrible and offensive protest

here’s what he did. He stood up beside them

and held up another sign, that represented

their campus ministry’s message of inclusion and love

for all people no matter their sexuality.

 

And the other campus pastor brought another sign

that supported women. And people were holding up

hand held signs, about love and Jesus and women and eventually

the crowd peacefully drowned out the voices of hate and fear.

 

Jamie gave his two cents. And everyone gave their two cents.

Hope. Not fear, not despair, not hate, not apathy, not resignation.

 

We have the same mission we had before this election.

To reflect the love of Christ, to embrace diversity, and to serve Hilton Head.

If my fears and the fears of a lot of other people come to be,

then that mission might become more important than it was before.

And we might have a lot more to do.

 

We don’t know what the future brings.

At every time of uncertainty, its best to rely on God’s mercy and grace

which will never end, no matter what happens in this world.

 

Right now, from us, God needs our hope. God needs our two cents.

Death Stinks

 John 11:1-45 All Saints  November 3, 2024

All Saints Shalom
Youram Raanan

 

Right before he gets to Lazarus tomb, Jesus talks to Martha.

She tells Jesus, “If you were here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

She goes on, “But even so, I know that God will give you

whatever you ask of him” kind of easing any edge off anything

that might have sounded like anger in her first statement.

 

After a little bit of an exchange,

Jesus says to her: “I am the resurrection and the life.”

And then he asks Martha: ”Do you believe this?”

 

Martha says she does believe.

Of course she believes.

She does believe, but her belief is not

changing the situation here and now

where Lazarus is most definitely dead.

 

It says that Mary, Martha’s sister didn’t go out to meet Jesus at first.

But when he approached the tomb and he asked for her,

she came out. She says the same thing to Jesus that Martha did.

You can tell they’ve been complaining with each other.

“If you were here, my brother would not have died”.

She doesn’t follow up her question with anything,

She might have been angry. It was a good question.

They had gotten word to Jesus when Lazarus was just ill.

But Jesus waited to come to him. She had a lot of reason to be angry.

 

When Jesus finally gets to Mary and the rest of the mourners

that are there to support her, they’re in front of the tomb

and they’re all crying. Jesus doesn’t look at them and say:

“If you really believed, you wouldn’t be sad”

He doesn’t say, “Don’t cry, he’s in a better place.”

Or “God just called another angel home”

or any of the other platitudes people give at a time of grief.

 

In the face of the very real death that surrounded them,

Jesus wept.

The shortest, most succinct sentence in the bible.

In the face of death of his friend, Jesus cried.

 

Then it says that Jesus was greatly disturbed.

The original Greek is “embrimōmenos” more than disturbed,

it’s agitated, angered, boiling mad.

 

Now I read one commentary who said that Jesus wept

out of frustration and anger at everyone’s lack of faith

But that’s just silly, isn’t it? We don’t see that anywhere else.

Whenever Jesus gets mad, he gets mad at the proud

and haughty people, not the mourning people.

 

Jesus was sad and angry. Death does that.

That sadness mixed with anger, at the whole injustice of it.

And the situation we live with every day.

His friend Lazarus died. Martha and Mary were in sorrow.

Jesus was human. Fully human.

And Jesus knows what we go through

when someone we love dies. Jesus wept.

 

Then Jesus tells them to take away the stone,

Martha, always the good homemaker,

tells him that it’s too late. He’s been dead too long, the tomb

smells of death and everyone will smell it.

 

Jesus knows the smell of death.

He knows what that tomb will smell like, and the tomb stinks.

Jesus knows. Death stinks.

Experiencing a loved one’s death stinks.

Waiting for someone to die stinks.

Watching someone weaken and wither away stinks.

Knowing someone who was once vibrant and energetic

turn into a shell of their former selves stinks.

Cancer stinks, Alzheimer’s stinks, ALS stinks,

and sudden, unexpected death stinks too,

heart attacks stink, car accidents stink, natural disasters stink,

gun violence stinks, mass shootings stink,

war stinks, bombing stinks, military aggression stinks,

Death stinks.

And the whole situation is sadness mixed with anger.

 

Even though we might believe in the resurrection

and the life of the world to come with all our hearts,

death and the process and experience of death stinks.

Here in this world life has not yet won out over death

hope has not completely won out over despair

We still face the realities of this world.

 

In this world, we know death.

We know what it tastes like, what it sounds like and feels like.

We know from experience that every life will end at some point.

And we know the sadness and horror of life cut short,

by illness, by tragedy, by accidents, by violence.

We know death. And we know death stinks.

 

Sometimes religion pits belief against reality.

Sometimes religion pits belief against sorrow.

Some people act as if people of faith,

are supposed to turn off our minds, and our hearts and live in denial,

like we are supposed to look at tragedy and sadness

in the face and smile serenely and say “we’re blessed.”

As if people of faith should never be sad.

 

But that is not what Jesus shows us in this story.

In the mourning, and the sadness, and the loss and the stink,

Jesus is there with us. Jesus weeps with us. God suffers with us.

If this was the whole story, it would be good news enough,

But it is not the end of the story.

 

The whole story is that at the door of that tomb

in that in-between time when reality

was slapping them all in the face,

Jesus yelled, “Lazarus come out of that tomb”

and the dead man did.

 

When each of them were full of doubt, and anger and sorrow,

Jesus brought a bit of the Kingdom of God into that place.

Jesus brought the smell of hope into the

stench that was in the tomb for four days.

Jesus brought some of that life to come right into

the hard world of reality, in-between time they were in.

 

On All Saints Day,

we remember those people that we have lost in this past year.

We grapple with the reality of this world,

the fragility of it, the finality of it.

 

We take this time each year to remember

how death stinks, and grieving stinks,

The absence of those who have left us

never quite goes away from us.

We know the smell of death,

the inevitable consequence of all life.

We weep along with Jesus. And Jesus weeps with us.

 

And the good news is that even in the stink of death,

God has shown us that there is more.

We have seen the hope of new life after the floods of hurricanes,

After the destruction of war, and after the reality of death,

New life is possible.

 

We believe in the hope of new life.

We believe in the forgiveness of sins.

We believe that good has the power to conquer evil.

We believe that the arm of the universe bends toward justice.

We believe that God can overcome the power of death.

so even though we have one foot in reality, we still live with hope

of the life to come.

 

We do believe that God has the power to make life out of death.

Here and now, God has the power to make changes in this world

to make justice and peace and to rebuild lives

We have seen it and witnessed it, like those

people standing at Lazarus’ tomb have seen it.

 

And we believe that even after death,

God’s love and power doesn’t end.

We believe that a time will come when the saints

of all time will be joined with God.

When we will know fully of God’s love,

when we will all eat at God’s banquet table

united with one another again.

 

Right now, we are living with the stink of death.

But we are also living with the

one who is the resurrection and the life.