Bible Passage: Mark 12:38-44
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: November 10, 2024

Bulletin November 10, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

The Lord has a soft spot in his heart for widows.  Time and again in the Bible, the widow is specifically mentioned as an object of God’s attention and concern.  Already at the time of Moses, the Lord said to his people, You shall not take advantage of any widow. (Exodus 22:22).  Later, through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord would repeat the thought, Do not oppress the alien who lives in your land, the fatherless, or the widow. (Jeremiah 7:6)  God’s concern for the widow is not just an Old Testament thing.  In the book of James in the New Testament it is written, Religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their affliction. (James 1:27)

Widows play very prominently in our text this morning.   It is Holy Week when our text takes place.  Jesus is in Jerusalem.  Jesus is at the Temple.  And so far as we know, this is the last time Jesus sets foot in the Temple courts.  And on this final visit, Jesus will speak about widows.  He will observe a widow.  There are some lessons to be drawn from Jesus’ observations.  In this text we will see The Widow…both Prey and Praised.

Jesus’ first mention of widows in our text comes as part of a warning Jesus speaks to his disciples.  Our text text begins:  [Jesus] also said to them in his teaching, “Beware of the experts in the law.” (v.  38)  Remember, the experts in the law, also sometimes called scribes, were men whose job it was to copy the Old Testament Scriptures onto scrolls.  Because they worked so closely and frequently with the Old Testament writings, they were recognized as being experts of the Word of God.  If you had a question about the Old Testament, you would go to a scribe!

But Jesus warns about what had become of many scribes.  Many of them liked to walk around in long robes and receive greetings in the marketplaces.  They love the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. (v. 38-39)  They liked being part of pop culture!  Everywhere they went people recognized them!  People made a big deal of them.  They got the best seats at the synagogue and at banquets.  It’s hard for that sort of thing not to go to your head!

But it gets worse.  They devour widows’ houses. (v. 40)  These men were predators!  And they preyed upon widows.  How so?  When a woman lost her husband in that culture, she sort of lost her legal voice.  So widows might send to the synagogue and ask one of the men to be what we might call “power-of-attorney.”  Of course, many times the experts in the law would step up valiantly, chivalrously, to help the widow.  “I will help!”  But they weren’t doing it to help the widow.  They would manage things to benefit themselves.  Up to and including liquidating the widow’s home and taking the proceeds themselves.  Thus they “devour” widows’ houses.  But the Lord sees these predators, and warns, These men will receive greater condemnation. (v. 40)

May God preserve us from predatory religious leaders!  And may God preserve us from  being predatory people!  That is part of our sinful nature, isn’t it?  My sinful nature is predatory.  It observes vulnerability in another and will exploit it for my gain.  It starts early in life, too.  Have you ever observed this among little children?  An older, larger sibling walks up to a younger, smaller brother or sister and simply grabs what they have.  Why?  Because they can!  Because the weaker sibling cannot stop it from happening.  They have become prey.  It continues through life.  Your sinful nature identifies physical weakness in another, or weakness of will, or weakness of intellect, or weakness of social position and status and preys upon that person.  Let us learn from Jesus’ words about widows’ houses and repent of our predatory behavior!  And let us remember the words of James, Religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their affliction. (James 1:27)  Hearts touched and warmed and changed by Jesus’ love do not prey upon the vulnerable, rather, we help and care for them!

Jesus is not through talking about widows.  After his comments about the predatory scribes, he quietly observes the Temple-goers putting their offerings in the offering boxes in one of  the Temple courts.   He just watches.  We are told, Many rich people put in large amounts. (v. 41)  Jesus just watches.  Then a beggarly-poor, destitute widow walks up to one of the boxes.  She proceeds to drop in two, thin little coins.  The total value of her offering was about 1/64 of a day’s pay.  Now Jesus speaks!  Amen I tell you:  This poor widow put more into the offering box than all the others.  For they all gave out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all that she had to live on. (v. 43)

Why did Jesus praise this widow’s offering?  With this offering, she was entrusting herself completely and totally to God.  It was an act of faith and trust.  You think about her offering.  The Law required 10%.  She could have put in one of her coins and held the other back to live on and she would still have given 5x as much as the Law required!  But she gives it all.  There was now nothing left for even the predatory scribes to devour!   She had nothing…but her Lord.

Faith is always required to make an offering.  Making an offering always requires the giver to say, “I will be fine.  My God, who has given me Jesus, will supply all my needs.”  There is only one thing strong enough to break the constricting stinginess and suffocating miserliness of my heart.  Jesus’ cross.  There, on the cross, God gave the best that he had, his one and only Son!  There, on the cross, Jesus gave all he had!  “Poured FOR ME the life-blood, from his sacred veins.”  It is the cross of Jesus that liberates us from being ruthless predators of our neighbors, to become faith-filled followers of the greatest Giver of all!

Amen.