Of Widows and Ball Point Pens
Proper 27B
1 Kings 17:8-16; Mark 12:38-44
11/8/09
Lorraine Ljunggren

        A ball point pen we keep by our computer ran out of ink. I went in search of a replacement, looking in a coffee mug on a shelf where sample pens and other pens and pencils come to live. I pulled out one of the pens in the mug and realized it had a familiar logo on it. On its curved side the pen reads “Deloitte Haskins + Sells” and in small print it says “Profit From Our Skills.” The 'and' in the company's name is not an ampersand, but actually a plus sign, like a little cross.

        I wondered if the pen would still write. I tried it and it does! I was surprised it writes because I left Deloitte Haskins + Sells in August of 1988 for seminary. The pen is older than all the children and youth here at St. Mark's. The pen is more than twenty years old, has never had a refill, and it still writes!     While the pen writing doesn't rise to the level of a miracle, it certainly got my attention. Maybe it's just me, but I'm impressed.

        The DH+S pen puts me in mind of my career as a CPA, especially as I engaged the stories from scripture we have today. The images of the widow of Zarephath in First Kings and the widow at the Temple in Jerusalem in Mark's Gospel are a stark contrast to the images of my life as a CPA, particularly in a firm which was known as one of the then-called “Big Eight.” I dressed sharply as a member of 'the Firm,' especially as I rose to the ranks of management. I had an impressive salary, at least as far as women's salaries went in business at that time. And, my kitchen cupboards and refrigerator were never bare.

        What a contrast to the widow in Zarephath, living in a time of drought, with no means of support, realizing that when the handful of meal and the little oil she has runs out both she and her son will die. You see, that phrase “no means of support” means just that. Widows of the time do not inherit their husband's property. And, while her son might have been the recipient of some property, it is clear in the story that whatever means they had have been exhausted.

        The drought comes about because Israel's King Ahab does “…more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (1 Kgs. 16:33b) The prophet Elijah declares there will be no rain for three years unless the prophet speaks it. Doesn't paint a very good picture of God. Because a king is unjust many will suffer the consequences.
Sounds like many governments in the world today, doesn't it?

        But, God directs Elijah to go to Zarephath and says a widow who is not of the house of Israel has been directed to feed him. Little does the widow know the first of two miracles recounted in Chapter 17 are in the making for her household. Speaking for God Elijah reassures the widow saying, “The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” (1 Kgs. 17:14b)

        And, so it comes to pass. The widow risks using her meal and oil and through an abundance of mercy and the gift of trust in God's word spoken by the prophet, the widow and her son and Elijah have food to sustain them.

        Let us shift now to the Women's Court of the Temple in Jerusalem. The noise you hear as a bystander is the sound of coins being put into the Temple treasury either as contributions or in payment of the Temple tax. If we listen, we can tell something about the social and economic status of the person making a donation. That's because the receptacles are large metal containers with necks against which the sound of the coins would reverberate.

        One writer describes the scene like this: “Smelling musty and looking disheveled, [a widow] … puts in her two copper [coins]. And then she moves on. No trumpet fanfare accompanies her gift. No angel choirs sing out. No one asks if she might be interested in a naming opportunity on a new building. Not even a 'tax deductible' receipt will be given her for a charitable deduction… She walks off, with no apparent concern about how her contribution will be spent. She just gives and goes her way.” (Synthesis, 11/8/09, H. King Oehmig)

        The sounds of the coins speak volumes to the bystanders in the Temple. Watching the people come and go, Jesus seizes upon the sound of two small coins being placed in the treasury by a poor widow. Jesus seizes the moment to teach about how easily we are taken in by the standards of empire rather than the standards of the kingdom of God. Jesus seizes the moment to teach the disciples about self-giving because this is the last time Jesus will teach in the Temple before the empire takes his life. And empire takes his life because he teaches a standard in opposition to that of Rome – in opposition to that of empire in every age.

        As the widow puts into the treasury everything she has, so Jesus puts into his ministry everything he has, everything he is. Jesus' self-giving, his ministry to the outcasts, the poor, the widows and orphans, the sick and the troubled, those of high estate and those of low estate, in so many ways Jesus' ministry reveals the standards of the kingdom of God to the disciples and across time to us.

        Megan McKenna says that Jesus wants the disciples “…to observe [the widow's] actions and imitate them.” (On Your Mark, p. 169) I would add, the disciples are to observe Jesus' actions and imitate them.

        I like to believe that the widow in the Temple is motivated by her faith in God. That her coming to the Temple this day is because she and God have a relationship. And that would seem a miracle in itself given the status of widows -- she can't count on her own people or the Roman Empire to take care of her. I like to believe she is motivated by her love of God – love so deeply rooted in her heart that even the social and economic systems of her time cannot overcome it.

        Jesus wants the disciples and wants us to pay attention to what moves and motivates us – to pay attention to the stirrings of our hearts. What moves us? What touches us in the innermost core of our being? What about the mystery of God tugs at our heartstrings? What about the concept of the Holy One challenges our intellects, our minds? What about God's love for each of us motivates us to be part of this faith community? What about our relationship with God gets us out of bed on Sunday mornings to come here? What about Jesus spurs us to spend Saturdays building a house we won't live in or teaching a Sunday school class which may take hours of advance preparation? What causes us to drive teenagers all the way to Chapel Hill for an experience of diversity or to take notes for a vestry meeting on a dark winter night? What sort of love stirs us to speak in the public arena on behalf of the voiceless even if we are an introvert or empowers us to collect supplies for a day care center on the other side of the world? What do we place first in our lives – how do we come to set the priorities of what is most important to us? And, as we're wrestling with our priorities and what seem like time constraints in modern life, I hope we realize our choices can reflect either the values of empire or the values of love and self-giving Jesus tells us are of the Kingdom of God.

        This past Friday night at our Annual Meeting and Congregational Dinner, we saw a presentation on our visioning process thus far. It reveals that, among our core values, we care deeply about worshiping God, about proclaiming the good news of God which includes inviting others into our midst, and we care about encouraging one another in the faith.

        Some of the comments we saw in the presentation ring out for me as powerfully as the sound of the two little coins ring out for Jesus. Someone said, "I believe an achievable goal is to have every member -- from school age through retirement -- involved in some active form of outreach and some activity within the church." Someone else said, “I'm beginning to see that just about everything St. Mark's does is important to me.” Another remarked, “At our core I think we are inclusive and inviting as an expression of our love for God and all that God created. Maintaining that spirit and expressing it in action, worship, and education is crucial.” And someone else said, “ The reasons we have stayed here for many years have not changed. People in this parish live out their faith in their daily lives.”

        I would submit that these core values and these value statements reflect the standards, not of empire, but of the Kingdom of God. Every time we live up to and into the standards of God's kingdom, we change the world – sometimes just a little bit and sometimes a whole lot. Every time we love as God loves, our influence over the empires of this world becomes stronger and stronger. And every time we love one another and love our neighbors as ourselves and love as God loves us – then, my friends, the kingdom of God has indeed come near. Amen.

©2009 Lorraine Ljunggren