Instant Replay

Instant Replay The Rev. Joseph Winston November 8, 2009

Sermon Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1 With the advent of high technology, many different sports now use instant replays to challenge the rulings of referees down on the playing field. You know all the reasons why the camera is now an integral part of many games. Sometime the action is just too quick for the human eye to distinguish between the winner and second place. That is why photo finishes are now the norm in races. By clearly showing who crosses the line at the end of the race, the photograph eliminates any question about who actually won. It is common knowledge that everyone can take their eyes off the ball, we all can be at the wrong place to make the right call, and something might block our sight. All of these different things can occur during a game. Sometimes a referee is distracted and just misses what happens out on the 1

Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3.

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field. A camera never blinks. It just records what it sees. Add a video recorder to the equation and you now have the ability to watch the play over and over to see if you might make a different call. When the play occurs, the action might move in an unexpected direction that no one predicted. Out of place, the ref does not see what is happening. Cameras placed around the arena provide you with the ability to see the play from different angles. Maybe one of them will show you something you did not see before. And we all realize that the best official in all the world cannot see through people. A camera gives you a second set of eyes. They could prevent the official from blowing a call. Then there are the mistakes we all make. Sometime a referee just makes the wrong call. Instant replays provide the teams with a way of appealing bad decisions. All you have to do is look and see what actually happened. We do not need anything as sophisticated as a video recorder to question the commonly held teaching on today’s Gospel lesson. All we need is the Bible. There is a reason for looking at the Bible closely today. The church for many years has taught that we are to follow the example of the widow. I think that we have made a bad call.2 By flipping a few pages, we can review what already has occurred. Just a few verses before our lesson for the day, we hear Jesus discussing with one of the scribes what is the greatest law (Mark 12:28-34). This question of importance is 2

Addison G. Wright’s 1982 paper, The Widow’s Mite: Praise or Lament? – A Matter of Context, is one of the first critical looks at this text. Donahue and Harrington also raise the possibility that today’s reading is about “religious exploitation.” John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J.; Idem, editor, The Gospel of Mark, Volume 2, Sacra Pagina, (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002), p. 365.

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understandable. Later teachers of the law find six hundred and thirteen different commandments in the Bible.3 Two hundred and forty eight tell you what to do and the rest, three hundred and sixty five, order things you cannot do.4 Knowing the first commandment allows you to focus on what really matters.5 This is why the scribe asks Jesus for His opinion. Jesus responds with a text from the Old Testament that Jews pray three times a day,6 Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength (NRSV Mark 12:29b-30) The only addition that Jesus makes to the law found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is the word “mind.” This modification by Jesus serves to emphasize the totality of this law.7 There are no limits that can be applied. No part of our being, no part of the world, no time is excluded from our love of God.8 There are no exceptions. All is God’s. Jesus then goes on with His explanation and quotes Leviticus, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18b).” He finishes off His answer to the scribe by saying to him, “There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:31b).” 3

Donahue and Harrington, Mark, p. 354. Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid., p. 355. 8 Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, Volume One, (The University of Chicago Press, 1951), p. 12. 4

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As the record clearly shows, the Jewish scribe immediately agrees with Jesus, he repeats in his own words what Jesus first said, and then he adds one important detail that we must not overlook because if we do, we then miss a key play (Mark 12:32-33a). The scribe tells Jesus, that following the great commandment “is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark 12:33b).” The scribe’s understanding of the requirements of the law is faultless. In his answer, he recalls the words the prophet Hosea tells us that God desires mercy and not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6). The scribe knows what the prophet Samuel said to the king of Israel, when he posed the rhetorical question, “Has the L ORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the L ORD? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, to heed than the fat of rams (NRSV 1 Samuel 15:22).” Obviously, the scribe is intimately familiar with the wisdom of the ages that says, “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the L ORD than sacrifice (NRSV Proverbs 21:3).” What do you see? The scribe knows the law’s intent and its application. This is also clear to Jesus. Check the replay. The narrator tells us this fact (Mark 12:34a). All by itself, the instant replay we just reviewed should be enough to set off warning bells in your head when you hear someone say that you should emulate the widow. No. We should not be like the widow. She gave up everything (Mark

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12:44b). She sacrificed all that she had. That is not what is required. God wants you to be generous giver. God does not want your offerings to put you at risk. Today’s Gospel lesson gives you a second chance to see this understanding that you should not gives until it hurts in action. A different viewpoint or instant replay, if you will, of what already occurred. The lesson begins with Jesus warning us about those reprehensible people who eat up the estates of the widows (Mark 12:38-40a).9 He then informs us that this behavior by the scribes is condemned by God (Mark 12:40b). What happens next is that Jesus provides us with one specific example of how the powerful men take advantage of one of the most vulnerable people in ancient society. Watch and see how He does this. Women in this place and time needed men to look after all their financial needs. By definition, a widow has no man. Literally, her survival depends on her finding some adult male to perform this work for her. The natural choice for this job would be some distinguished and hopefully educated man that she could trust.10 This need for representation in the world creates a demand for the widows who require trustees. Of course, this means there are those individuals who would like to fill it. Jesus warns us today how this market works. Look at the record. After all, he has already thrown out of the temple the people who buy and sell, he has turned over the tables of the men who exchange Caesar’s coins for the temple’s 9 10

Donahue and Harrington, Mark, p. 362. Ibid., p. 363.

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currency, and he has prevented commerce from happening in the temple (Mark 11:15). The temple, Jesus tells us is for prayer, but the forces of the world want to make a buck on other people’s faith in God (Mark 11:16). Here is another fact you need to know. Here is something that only becomes apparent when you look at the play from a different angle. It seems that the design of the temple’s treasury accentuated the sound of the money dropping.11 You see, the clinking of the coins in the chest provided a form of advertising for the rich. The sound of coins settling in the temple’s treasury along with the clothes, the actions, and the seating arrangement serve a single purpose: telling you who was well to do. All of these actions by the influential men are nothing more than blatant attempts to keep existing customers and to find new business.12 The rich scribes give money away to make even more money. And if the widows would not trust them with their future, the scribes still have one last ace in the hole to make turn a profit. They can warp the Bible to their needs. In order to bolster their side of the story, they might drag out the lesson from 1 Kings and say to her, “The widow who gave everything to God was given everything she needed to survive.” This is not what the Old Testament lesson teaches us. Twice the narrator informs us that Elijah has a Word from the L ORD for this one specific widow (1 Kings 17:9, 14). The miracle described in the text was for this one widow, her son, and Elijah only. Now, there is a point to this devious action. If the scribes can increase the offerings in the temple, they then 11 12

Donahue and Harrington, Mark, p. 363. Ibid.

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also increase their take. For far too many years, the church looked at today’s Gospel lesson in isolation. We did not see the whole picture contained in the Gospel according to St. Mark. We did not understand the words of the prophet. We did not hear what the rest of the Bible teaches us on this subject. Instead, we focused our view tightly on the actions of the widow and said that we must give everything to God. By limiting our sight to just a tiny portion of the account, we completely missed the point. God sets limits on what we can give. We do not give until it hurts. The reason God does not or need you work is that God already gives you life. Right now, God accepts you. Today, God frees you from whatever keeps you away from Him. These gifts come to you because of what God does. He gave up His only Son so that you can live. He made the sacrifice for you. You can only make a correct ruling on the field of play only when you know what actually happening. The same can be said of today’s Gospel lesson. You must understand God’s wishes on placing offerings in the plate. We must give everything to God. This is the law. But you cannot make a sacrifice. They are not needed. Jesus does everything you need to live. There are many practical applications to today’s Gospel lesson. When there is nothing left in your account and you must decide between paying your bills and putting something in the offering plate, pay your debtors first. When the choice before you is between food and the church, put food on your table. When you are down to your last mite and you need to see the doctor, see the doctor. The church can always wait. 7

It is the job of the Church to take care of people who have no money, food, or health care and it is not the other way around. If this teaching means that we must close this place, so be it. There are other churches within reasonable driving distance that correctly preach the Word and rightly administer the Sacraments. You can always go there. Remember, God wants generous givers and not members that the Church takes to the poorhouse. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”13

References Donahue, S.J., John R. and Harrington, S.J., Daniel J.; Idem, editor, The Gospel of Mark, Volume 2, Sacra Pagina, (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002). Tillich, Paul, Systematic Theology, Volume One, (The University of Chicago Press, 1951). Wright, S.S., Addison G., ‘The Widow’s Mite: Praise or Lament? – A Matter of Context’, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 44 (1982), The article in its entirety is reprented with the author’s and the publisher’s permission at http://www.visionsofgiving.org/widowsmite.htm.

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Philippians 4:7.

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