Two Stories About Discipleship

This sermon was heard at the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Missouri on Sunday November 8, 2009, the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17
Psalm 127
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

One of Stanley Kubrick’s last movies was 1987’s “Full Metal Jacket.” The film follows a squad of Marines through basic training at Parris Island and depicts the experiences of two of these men in Vietnam, including the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Huế. What I find interesting about Kubrick’s treatment is the way he connected two such disjointed stories. Yes, the movement from training to combat is nothing unusual, but the disconnect between South Carolina and Southeast Asia in one pivotal scene doesn’t move the story from one phase to the next, it takes it from one world to another.

In a way, we have the same thing with our reading from the Gospel, “The Warning About the Scribes” and “The Widow’s Offering”[1] Yes, the people in both stories are largely the same, yes we are in the same place, and even in the same time, but there is a disconnect between them which show us completely different worlds.

“Beware the scribes,” teaches Jesus, “who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!” This sounds like an indictment against all of the scribes, but just a few verses earlier Jesus tells one scribe that he is not far from the Kingdom of God.[2] A better expression of this passage would be, “Beware the scribes, particularly the scribes who like to walk around in long robes…” and so on.

The good news in this statement is that Jesus does not indict all of the scribes as greedy and evil. He specifically separates the ones who walk around like they are someone more special than we are and more important than they are. They are the ones who like to eat the upper crust,[3] especially when someone else is buying dinner. Beware of the scribes who are attracted to the things they do not deserve.

Beware them because they will take you for all you are worth. Sure, they will do what they are supposed to do; they will recite their prayers and even recite them in public. After all, it’s impossible to attract attention for doing good works if they are done in private. And beware the Scribes who eat well because they eat like a plague of locusts. “They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.”

This part of today’s reading could not be more straight forward. Jesus is speaking plainly. Jesus shows us how revoltingly the greedy Scribes behave, pointing out their absurdity. To see one of these Scribes walking around the marketplace in long robes would be exactly like seeing me walking down Providence or Broadway in my robe and stole. How presumptuous.

Told in the introduction to one of my favorite books from one of my favorite professors, this story shows us another way to see these scribes:

In a recent class discussion, a student mentioned a workshop she had attended in which an “image consultant” spoke to the gathered ministers (or church professionals as they referred to themselves). The consultant pointed up to the need for clergy to project a positive professional image. She told them that, because they are made in the image of God, they should buy only the best clothes, jewelry and accessories, and should make every effort to look as chic and smart as possible. After the student related her (all too true) story, I paused for a very long time. I was frankly appalled and, momentarily at a loss for words.

The students sat as the silence hung heavy around us. Finally, I said: “I guess what I’m trying to picture in my mind is this: how should we look if we are supposed to reflect the image of the God who has revealed himself to us in the tormented shape of a Jewish man named Jesus, crucified on a city dump and discarded by the powers of his world?”[4]

I am sure that this image consultant had the best interests of church professionals in mind when she gave this advice to those who paid good money to hear it. Unfortunately, one way to interpret her advice is that church professionals are to behave like the Scribes; wearing $2,000.00 suits, walking around the marketplace, and being greeted with adoration by the little people.

We do not pass from the temple without another story, the tale of the widow’s offering. Where the first part of our reading was offered at the temple for all who were there with ears to hear, this one is told specifically and directly to his disciples.

Many rich people were putting large sums of money into the treasury. The way the treasury was set up there were large horn shaped funnels that led to metal boxes where the worshipper placed their offering.

When someone put a large offering into the horn, it caused a great racket. To our ears it would sound more like a slot machine paying off a big jackpot at the casino in Boonville than the offering. But with a flourish, everyone within earshot would be able to discern who the rich folks are, and how extravagant their gift is. So when the widow placed two small copper coins in the treasury, hardly anyone took notice at all. Jesus took notice though.

She did not give much; she was not able to give much. Scripture tells us though that she gave all she had to live on. Another way to translate this passage is to say “She gave her whole life.” She gave her whole being and all of her existence, not just all of her cash.

She gave her whole life…so was Jesus praising her for her faith or was Jesus condemning a system which demanded every last thing from the poorest, weakest members of the community?

It would be consistent with the first half of the reading for Jesus to condemn the system. Jesus lambastes the Scribes for being holier than thou. He warns the people about how some of them flaunt their roles in society; taking advantage of their status for personal gain. I would not be surprised if Jesus was pointing there while praising the widow who gave her whole life. Jesus had a habit of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

The Christian Century magazine recently ran the story of an elderly woman who was a client of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.[5] She needed just a little more money than her social security and house cleaning job provided. Between her niece and a shady sub-prime lender, she and her house went from the frying pan into the fire.

The vulnerable and overly trusting homeowner sitting on a ton of equity, the nice mortgage broker worming into the homeowner’s life, the greedy family member helping things along, the high up-front fees, the cash payment to cushion the deal, the risky mortgage products and the broker schooled by a lender’s rep on how to push them.

The lender knew the elderly woman wouldn’t be able to handle the new level of debt, especially since she owed back taxes and back water bills on the house. There were also a couple of judgments against the property so the broker knew that this new level of debt would soon become impossible to repay.

This paragraph is found near the end of the article:

The chief culprits in the subprime lending crisis are the brokers, lenders, ratings agencies and investment banks that set up the system and pushed it beyond its breaking point, together with the policy makers and regulators who ignored warning signs and failed to apply the brakes.

A system pushed beyond its breaking point becomes the scourge of the poor and widowed. People swiftly move from the margin of society completely off the page. Jesus warns this happens and will continue to happen. He also warns “they who devour widows’ houses will receive the greater condemnation.”

If you are able to give out of abundance, then by all means, give generously. Remember the Lord who has blessed you and return that blessing so that it may do God’s work through the church. And yes, hold the church accountable. For all of us, give in humility; don’t sound a ruckus with the treasury. Give whether it is from your wealth or your poverty. Jesus cherishes the widow’s offering, surely he does. It’s surely just as true that he detests the way the rich and powerful take advantage of the poor and widowed.

An example of how these interpretations meet is found in the Paramount Pictures release “Leap of Faith”[6] starring Steve Martin as the Reverend Jonas Nightengale, an “evangelist” who is far more con man than man of God. When one of the Kenworth trucks in his caravan breaks down in Rustwater, Kansas, he makes the choice to turn lemons into lemonade by holding his revival there, instead of in Topeka as scheduled.

Like any good con man, he finds the greatest need in town and exploits it. Rustwater is in a five year drought and if it doesn’t rain this weekend, the crop will be ruined again this year. On the first day of the revival, before the meeting, Jonas walks around town inviting everyone, promising miracles and wonders.

At the end of the movie, the sick are healed and the lame walk in Rustwater. Everyone praises God and says halleluiah. They have seen the signs and wonders and they give glory to God. But these healings are not the miracles.

As Jonas leaves the revival tent for the last time, he is met with the vision of a tent city on the revival grounds. People are camping, and sharing food. In their poverty, they share the abundance of God. A community founded in Christ rises out of the ash of Jonas’ deception. This is a miracle.

As Jonas hitchhikes out of town leaving his old life behind, it begins to rain. The people of Rustwater declare it a miracle, rain heaven sent. But this is not the miracle either.

The miracle is the redemption of a man in Jesus Christ. The miracle is in the relationship God initiates with creation and humanity. The miracle is Jonas’ response to the Almighty God.

Jonas Nightengale comes to town as the Scribe demanding every last coin from everybody in Rustwater, Kansas. He leaves Rustwater seeing the wonders of the Lord at work in the fellowship of God’s people. He leaves the spoils of a greedy scribe behind. He leaves a believer. This is a miracle.

As this movie ends, there are no more victims, only those who have experienced and responded to the grace of God.

These two stories from our gospel reading are about more than giving, more than about what we call stewardship. To view stewardship as the “business of the church” is too narrow; a better word is discipleship. Discipleship is how we respond to the grace of God. The primary concern of discipleship is to translate legitimate Christian speech into vital Christian action. We must respond to the gifts of the sovereign God as their trustee, not their creator. Discipleship extends beyond our relationship with wealth to our relationship with God, the Word, and one another.

As the children of God and the body of Christ, our vocation, our call is not to be like the wicked Scribes who seek the best seats in town. We are to give our time, talent and treasure in the service of God and to the people of God. We are to give in humility. We are warned; regardless of the era to beware the Scribes. The Lord does not call us to create victims or to be victims in God’s name. We are to be humble, and live like the widow; willing to give our lives for the body of Christ.

[1] Heading titles in the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, Mark 12:38-40 and 12:41-44 respectively.
[2] Mark 12:34
[3] The first draft said “high on the hog,” but even living in the “Home of the Razorbacks that just wasn’t kosher.
[4] Jinkins, Michael, Transformational Ministry, Church Leadership and the Way of the Cross. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 2002, page xi.
[5] Lindsey, Daniel P. “Foreclosing on Mabel.” The Christian Century, August 11, 2009, pages 30-33.
[6] Paramount Pictures presents a Michael Manheim/David V. Picker production of a Richard Pearce film, Leap of Faith, 1992.