Sermons

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Putting Your Two Cents In
November 18, 2001
Stewardship Sunday
Pastor Dan Baumgartner

Mark 12:38-44

Well, no beating around the bush, today we’re going to talk about money! This is the last of our talks on stewardship…the first one was on the stewardship of time, and last Sunday on the stewardship of creation. It’s Stewardship Sunday, the end of the year is near, the Elders are prayerfully and anxiously working on a budget for our community for 2002. Today, we’re going to talk about money.

(Long, long pause.)

I wanted to see if anybody was going to leave!

There are two things that would make me hesitate to approach this subject in a sermon. One is that, insofar as our talking about money relates to your giving to Bethany, it has direct impact on the staff…including me. That’s always a little awkward. And secondly, I have several friends who have been sort of “fringe” church-goers in other places who say that every time they go to church, all they hear is talk about and requests for money.

In some ways, it makes me want to just hold up my favorite bumper sticker: “Tithe if you love Jesus…any idiot can honk!”

At the same time, there are a couple things that make this easy to talk about. First, here at Bethany, we keep a very low key approach to money…too low key, sometimes. Second, Jesus had absolutely NO hesitation in talking about money. Well over half of his parables, and large chunks of his other teachings relate to a person’s financial life. Jesus seemed to know that money had a rather unique position as a kind of spiritual barometer for what was going on inside of a person. When Jesus says “What do you do with your money?,” it can stop us in our tracks. Our financial stewardship is a strong indicator for whether our hearts are turned towards God, and whether we are giving Jesus ALL of our lives…or just some portion. I believe so strongly that God calls in scripture over and over again for our WHOLE hearts…I have no hesitation in talking about money.

Read Mark 12:38-44

There are really two mini-stories in this short passage. Jesus has just been teaching in the temple, and verbally sparring with some of the religious leaders, scribes and pharisees, and there is a large crowd around him. He holds nothing back. “Beware the scribes.” Aside from the fact that Jesus spars regularly with such religious leaders, what he says would have been rather shocking to those who heard it. By and large, scribes were held in great respect by the people. Common practice was for people to stand when a scribe entered a room or area. They were granted prime seats at any gathering. In fact, a good host would seat a scribe before the elderly…even before his own parents!

But Jesus wades right into the battle. Jesus has six problems with some of the scribes…and five of them are related to a concern for appearances. “Beware,” Jesus says, “of those who walk in long robes (the scribes wore white robes with ornate tassels; they stood out in marketplace), who love the deference given them in the markets (greeted with “Rabbi, and the people would stand as the scribes walked by), who glory in having the best seats in the synagogue, and the seats of honor at a banquet (nearest the host)…and who, for the sake of appearance, say long and ornate prayers in public.” In other words, “Beware…of those who rehearse religious behavior purely for the sake of appearances.” Jesus cautions the people against putting their trust or respect in those who do not put their trust in God, but do things for their own motives.

We will have to make sure we don’t stop to shake our finger at the scribes, and miss the fact that Jesus would ask us the very same kinds of questions: “Where do you do the things that look good…but mask what really goes on inside you?”

Five-sixths of Jesus’ concerns with the scribes have to do with this issue of appearances. His other accusation concerns the scribes’ financial dealings. Apparently the scribes were not paid by the temple, but depended upon the contributions of individual people for their livelihood. And it seems that sometimes that system allowed abuse, as when a scribe put financial pressure on those who could least afford it. “They devour widows’ houses.”

That ends the first story.

Now the second story is just a picture, really, but the contrast with the first is so simple, and so stunning. Jesus sits down opposite the treasury of the temple there in Jerusalem, and watches. In one of the temple courtyards are 13 trumpet-shaped boxes to collect contributions for the ministry of the temple. Even as Jesus and his followers sit and watch, they see many people of means putting large sums into the coffers. It’s believed by some that there were even temple officials at each box who would call out the amount of each contribution! And behind these many wealthy contributors sneaks in a poor woman of simple dress. Looking not to the right or to the left, she slides in two small coins. They are copper, and the Gospel writer makes sure that it is clear just how small this contribution is. Each coin is a “lepta,” literally a “thin one.” It is the smallest coin in use at the time, and is valued at 1/128th of a denarius. A denarius is a common worker’s wages for a day. We might think of a day’s wages as $50. 1/128th of that would be 39 cents. Two coins, 78 cents. And Jesus gets very, very excited.

He seizes the moment, and says excitedly to his followers: “Truly, I tell you.” That little phrase, literally “amen,” is something totally unique to Jesus in New Testament or other literature of Israel. “Truly,” or “Amen” is an affirmation of authority and truth that what is spoken is right or will happen. Often, it means “here comes authoritative truth, despite popular opinion to the contrary.” Popular opinion says the widow’s contribution is statistically insignificant. But Jesus says “LOOK! This poor widow has put in the most of anyone!” (A whole new meaning for “putting your two cents in,” isn’t it?)

I had to ask myself: WHY does Jesus get so excited about such a small thing?

Is he THAT bad at math? No. Jesus is often not impressed with the things we are impressed with. Jesus goes right to the heart. Notice that he doesn’t condemn those who are rich. Nor does he stop the woman to compliment her. Nor does he seize the moment to give his disciples a training seminar on how everyone ought to imitate the woman, or how she is a model for giving. He just holds up this picture, and makes a few simple observations.

1. The woman’s quiet anonymity is placed in stark contrast to the scribe’s desire for recognition.

2. Large gifts may be a small proportion of what might have been done.

3. That the wealthy contributed out of abundance, while the widow gave out of her poverty.

4. That the widow gave everything.

How does this story relate to us?

Clearly, we are not to be people who act OR give for the sake of appearance. The New York Times ran a story last year called “Automating Your Church Offerings.” It seems there is a growing number of churches who have electronic-giving programs, where you could have your church offering deducted from your bank accounts electronically…the same way that some of you pay bills. That’s an interesting idea…but it wasn’t what grabbed my attention. The really interesting part was that churches that use this system still send envelopes to the people using it. On the envelope is a place to check “electronic transfer.” Why do that? I quote… “It’s the guilt thing…(people) don’t want to be seen not putting something in the collection basket.”

Other churches tackled the same guilt by giving electronic contributors bright-colored tokens to slide into the offering tray. Sound like it’s reaching a bit? How about this: I just received the 24-page, 4-color glossy brochure from my alma mater with the pages listing the names of people who have contributed in various amounts. Recognition is a powerful drive for us. And it is linked with our sense of competition. I have to confess, the first place I turned was to make sure my name appeared. Then I scanned the lists to see which of my classmates had outgiven us. Terrible. But a very instinctive reaction.

I think of this same sense of competition when we work on financial matters here at Bethany. Sometimes it is useful to get budget information from other churches…but sometimes it leads purely to a smugness over what we are doing. . . .

One of the things I love about our current strategy is that we are trying each year as a church to increase our “mission beyond” giving to ministry outside the walls of our church. It was 21% of our total budget this year. On the one hand, that is phenomenal…almost no churches are at that level. On the other hand, why would we even care what other churches do? The only important question for us as a church is: What is God calling us to do with OUR budget, OUR support? Are we being faithful to that leading?

People ask me all the time about giving. How do I know how much to give to Bethany? Should I give exactly 10%? Is that gross or net? Should I give it all to Bethany, or spread it to other organizations as well? For the record, my answers are: a lot, at least, net and it depends! Those are all important questions. But initially, at least, those are not the right questions. The initial question, the main question is the same one which guided our talk last week about the stewardship of creation: Whose money is it? Is it mine? Or is it God’s? If it is God’s, then as stewards of something that does not belong to us…the question is “Where does God want me to put this money?” Not just our tithes, but ALL of our resources.

What got Jesus excited was not the amount of a gift. It was the costliness, the sacrifice that went into it. When people ask about tithing, I usually start with 10%, which is quite literally the meaning of the Old Testament word for “tithe.” But to be honest…10% is not nearly enough for some of us to give away! The wealthy people who were in line in front of the widow may have given an acceptable percentage…but they gave only of their abundance, their extra. Jesus seemed far more excited by a kind of giving that was costly, even reckless. The Old Testament concept of Jubilee that our group sang about was an upside down, letting-go kind of economic celebration. There is no way that widow could afford to give those two coins. Yet in they went. Will we give when it costs us something?

We are much more careful. We tend to give when something has direct positive impact on us that we can track. If our church has a program that our kids are using, then we increase our support. If our needs were met in a particular way, we ought to make sure and contribute. I guess that’s all fine, but it makes the community of God seem like a business. Dollar in for value back. But I don’t know how to put a dollar value on relationships and mentoring and praying and worshipping and growth and Wednesday Night Dinners. As our elders have started looking at the budget, there is a strong voice of caution inside of me that says “it’s an uncertain and dangerous time, the economy is slow, jobs are hard to find, be cautious.” But there’s this other strong voice in me that says “What a great time to be Christ’s church!” And never was the church needed more, or had more chance to impact our culture than right now, in times like these. That’s what God calls our giving towards.

This widow, the scripture says, “has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Did she listen to one of those prosperity gospel programs which promised if she gave two coins she’d get her two back plus two more within two weeks?

I hope not…that is the most dishonest and unbiblical type of financial dealing there is. God may indeed bless material giving, but it’s not a money-back guarantee that I can find. Or maybe the widow is just crazy. She could have given one coin and kept one. That would be a 50% tithe! But that wasn’t enough for her. She gave EVERYTHING, all she had to live on. Or other versions say her whole livelihood, or entire living. The interesting thing is that word “live.” In Greek, it’s “bios,” the word we get “biology” from…the study of life. She gave her life, life itself. She held nothing back.

One of my favorite stories is about a boy named Billy who had a younger sister, Susan. Susan had a very serious disease, and had been in and out of many doctor’s offices for some time. At one point, she needed a blood transfusion, and it was discovered that her rare blood type was perfectly matched with Billy’s.

When the doctor told the parents of this need, and how easy and quick it would be for Billy to contribute, Billy’s mom sat down with him and asked how he would feel about giving his blood to help make his sister well. Billy listened very carefully and very somberly. He was quiet for a long, long time. Then finally, with his lower lip trembling, he said “Okay. I’m ready.”

His mom went with him to reassure him. As the nurse got ready to take the blood, Billy was very quiet, and a little quivery. He shut his eyes while it was being done, and didn’t open them until some time after. When he did, he looked at his mom and said, “Am I in heaven yet?” Only then did his mom realize that Billy had misunderstood what giving blood meant. He thought he was giving his whole life for his sister. And was ready to do it.

It seems that this is something that this poor widow was about as well. Perhaps it is why Jesus got so excited…because it is what HE was about also. Holding nothing back, keeping nothing in reserve, Jesus gave all of Himself to us, even His very life. Everything. Jesus had figured out that some things have no shelf life, you can’t hoard them, they disappear one way or another…love, mission…maybe even money.

So it’s time for Bethany to do a budget. Generally, I feel very good about what Bethany does with i’s money, how much goes outside the walls, how it is used inside. I’m very excited to see what God will do as we begin to look towards a new year, a year of uncertainty in our culture, and a year in which the certainty of Christ will impact our community in new ways.

And it just seems appropriate this morning to look at this very simple picture that Jesus has given us, of one woman. I love the fact that down through thousands of years…this poor widow is the one held up as a model of generosity. We’ve never known her name, or anything else about her. All we know is that she put in her two cents worth. And Jesus got very, very excited.