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Time after Pentecost - Lectionary 33
(B) Today’s gospel text from Mark seems to be a story about money, so I thought that I would like to begin my sermon this morning with a stewardship joke. It goes like this…
A $100 bill, a $20 bill
and a $1 bill meet up at the shredder at the end of their lives. The
$100 bill says, “I’ve seen the whole world during my lifetime.
Why, I’ve been on cruises in the Caribbean, safaris in Africa and
vacations in Europe.” But all joking aside, perhaps we need to ask “What is stewardship?” Stewardship is a topic that tends to make many of us nervous, because it deals with money. It also makes people nervous because it has often been misrepresented in many ways. So today I am going to talk about stewardship – about what it is NOT – and most importantly, what it is. Christian stewardship has often been represented as meaning sacrificial giving – that it means “giving until it hurts”. Some people would say that this is what the poor widow’s gift in today’s gospel is about. Supposedly, she is praised for giving way beyond what she could afford – and that we by implication should try to do likewise. But that is certainly NOT the point of today’s gospel reading – indeed, our text as a whole seems to be saying the opposite. In today’s gospel, Jesus begins by condemning the scribes who, among other things, “devour widows’ houses.” The scribes did not literally do that, but it does seem likely that they often put a “burden of guilt” upon people to keep giving more and more money for the upkeep of the temple and other religious institutions – including upon those least able to afford it – like poor, destitute widows. Unfortunately, stewardship has still been misrepresented like that in the church today. I remember an article I saw in The Lutheran magazine several years ago – one of the worst I have ever seen – which blatantly stated that people who do not give much for support of church programs were like Freddy the Freeloader.” But real Christian stewardship, however, is not like that at all. True Christian stewardship doesn’t try to “guilt” people into giving more – like the scribes Jesus talks about in our gospel did – and like that article in “The Lutheran” magazine did. Let me say it plainly – God does not want any of us to give anything out of a sense of guilt! Stewardship has also been misrepresented as being something that we OWE God – in the same way that we owe taxes to the government. Earlier in the 12th chapter of Mark’s gospel before today’s text, Jesus had told people to “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mk. 12:17) A standing joke I have heard among clergy at tax time is that we should “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s – but not one penny more!” Unfortunately, however, we often have the same kind of attitude concerning our giving to God. Perhaps the rich people in today’s gospel were like that. As we heard, many of them put in large sums. The Law stated that they were to give a tithe – a TENTH – of all that they had – and as you can imagine, that could end up being a considerable sum of wealth. We do not know for sure, but it may very well be that many of those rich people had calculated exactly how much they would give – a tithe, but no more. They gave what they were obligated to give under the law. But again, that is NOT what Christian stewardship is about. It is not about “paying our dues” or “taxes”. It is not something that we should do grudgingly or under any sense of obligation. So then, what is stewardship – if it is not about guilt or obligation to support the church? It is about LOVE! It is about understanding that God loves us and blesses us – and our wanting to say “thank you”. The poor widow in today’s gospel is a wonderful illustration of this. I don’t think she gave out of a sense of guilt, because she knew that her two copper coins would hardly make any real difference in supporting the temple’s needs. Nor did she give out of a sense of obligation – because she gave far more than what the Law required in proportion to her resources. The widow gave what she did simply because she loved God and wanted to give him a gift – a gift representing the best that she had. That is what caught Jesus’ attention and made her contribution so precious in his sight. Even though her contribution was small, Jesus knew that it represented her very best. He knew that those two copper coins were not just a casual thing to her (she did not just throw it into the treasury like some people today might casually put a dollar bill into the offering plate when it comes around). Her gift – even though small – was carefully and prayerfully considered. It was a wonderful expression of her love for and trust in God – because it came from the very depths of her heart. And THAT is what real Christian stewardship is about! It is an expression of our love for God, and our thanksgiving for all of his blessings. Our gifts are not just casual – and they are not given out of guilt or a sense of obligation – they are given out of loving hearts. That is what our Consecration Sunday next week is about. Ultimately, it is not about the offerings that we will plan to give during the coming year – and it certainly is not about having to support our church programs. Consecration Sunday is about our HEARTS wanting to give God our very best in thanksgiving for all of his many, many blessings. As God’s people, we have a need to respond to God’s love in real and tangible ways – including our giving. That is what Consecration Sunday is about – and may it be so for us! As we will sing when we present our offerings today: “We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of thanksgiving. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy!” Thanks be to God, in Jesus’ name! Amen! -------------------- Pastor George Karres 418 W. Main St. Sidney, MT 59270
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