Learning about Jesus (November 8, 2009)
By Rev. Steve Bagnall

The longer I do this job the more I learn about Jesus. From today’s Gospel we discover that Jesus would have flunked math! Every kindergartener knows that a lot is more than a little. But not Jesus! He says the woman who put less than a penny into the collection put in more than the people who contributed a lot.

That seems very strange to us. I mean, the Pharisees were the “big givers” of their day. The temple couldn’t have met its budget without their large contributions. And we know how important that kind of member is. Pastors hear it all the time – from members of the congregation, from synod and district – even from one another. Many is better than a few, so if you have many people in church on Sunday you must be right and if you have only a few you must be wrong. We hear that we need to run the church as a business – give people what they want – especially those who have a lot of money. Whatever you do, don’t make the Big Givers mad.

But this isn’t a St. Luke problem, or an LC-MS problem or a Pastor Bagnall or Pastor Thompson problem. We’re just products of our environment and our sinful natures. In America – and so in the American Church – money talks. Money talks, but not with Jesus. With Him, faith talks. For Him the issue isn’t the amount the woman gives, but the amount reveals what really matters – why she gives.

The Pharisees gifts are always an attempt to prove themselves righteous. Jesus even tells us that they counted each seed they gave as part of their tithe – to make sure they didn’t give even one seed too little – or one seed too much. But this widow hasn’t measured her gift to make sure she doesn’t give too much – she gives as much as her faith allows. Hers is not a gift of obligation, but one of trust.

Of course, that means that this woman was a poor mathematician also. How is she identified? She’s poor – God hasn’t seen fit to give her the warm house and full belly that most of us enjoy. And she’s a widow, her husband having been taken from her by God. What business does she have being thankful? What for?

Can’t she see that God doesn’t love her? He must not! She’s not successful. In fact, by any American measurement, she’s one of life’s losers. And yet her thankfulness abounds. She doesn’t give ten per cent (or even twelve!). She gives it all! Why? Because she trusts God. She believes that He will provide for her needs tomorrow, and the next day and the next.

But what gives her this idea. Haven’t her poverty and widowhood taught her anything? Indeed it has. She knows that even without wealth God has provided her enough food to sustain her life. She knows the only reason she is a widow is that God gave her the great gift of a husband in the first place

This woman understands an important reality – she’s not entitled to anything from God – as a sinner she hasn’t deserved anything but death. But instead God has given her life, and love. And right there beside her in that temple, perhaps unknown to her, stands God’s greatest gift to her.

This woman has come to the temple because she trusts God’s promise of a Savior, and this Jesus is that Savior. In only a few days Jesus would undergo the greatest American failure ever. His fame and His following will be snatched away when he’s arrested and executed for treason. If Jerusalem had supermarket tabloids, the Jesus story would be front page material.

But then the fallen hero did the most remarkable thing. This One who rejected all that we hold dear, who poked holes in our ideas of success and devotion – He did the impossible. After three days, when His corpse should have been rotting away, He rose to life again. And standing in this new life, He offers us new, eternal life.

Jesus has overcome death and He calls us to do the same. But how? Even with all our stuff and all our medicine we can’t do that. How can we follow Him into life? Go the way he points you. Leave your worrying and fear about things and come to Him with the faith of the widow.

We may have much more than the widow, but that’s ok – even a rich person can have her faith – and the poor can have the faith of the Pharisees. It’s not about how much you give; it’s all about trust. Does your life, including your giving, reflect strong faith, or weak? Trust in Christ to provide for your life, trust in Him to provide for your forgiveness, trust in Him.

Friends, we all have a little Pharisee in us. It’s in the way we measure success – it’s in our attitudes and our pride – it’s in our sin.

But by God’s grace, called by Christ to the new life of faith we are also widows. We know that real success is not measurable in numbers but in faithfulness to the truth and in faith. Success is found in Jesus’ forgiveness and eternal life and in thankfulness for our overflowing gifts.

Jesus stands in our temple today. He sees your faith, and He commends it. He sees all your sins, including those of weak faith of fretting and getting, of obligation-style giving and living and He forgives them all. He gives you new life and He invites you to enjoy it more, abandoning your worries and resting more and more in the joyous, peace-filled life of faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.