'Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others."'
As with many of the gospel stories, I long for one of the disciples to have said, 'What do you mean, Master?' because I think this might have cleared up one of our common misunderstandings about this incident as reported by Mark.
This scene takes place in the Temple in Jerusalem: the centre of Jewish worship, the focus of Jewish identity, the seat of Jewish power. The Temple complex was made up of various courtyards which became increasingly exclusive the closer one came to the religious heart of the Temple - the Holy of Holies: the place where God dwelt.
The story about Jesus observing a widow giving money to the Temple is set in the Court of the Women - one of the outer, less holy areas. Mark records this short passing comment from Jesus about the widow giving more than everyone else, but we get no idea of Jesus's mood, or his tone of voice, and this is where I think we sometimes misunderstand exactly what Jesus was drawing his disciples' attention to.
We frequently think we hear Jesus say, 'this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others; what a wonderful example of self-sacrifice and devotion to God.'
I think we need to listen for Jesus saying, 'this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others; just look how the Temple authorities are screwing those last few coins out of the poorest of the poor. This is not the God I came to bear witness to!'
Just a few sentences previously, Jesus had been criticising the Temple scribes for their 'holier than thou' behaviour, parading around in their long flowing robes with their noses in the air. One of the recurring themes of the gospel is that Jesus repeatedly challenges the corruption and idolatry of the Temple, offering a radically new understanding of God's relationship with humanity in its place. In Jesus's eyes, the whole purpose of the Temple - as a meeting place between God and the people of God - was redundant; its belief-systems and rituals were no more than empty traditions; it had become inward-looking, self-serving, power-hungry, an instrument of political power rather than a place of holiness.
Into this setting which has become very much the focus of Jesus's anger, comes a widow - someone who, throughout Jewish culture, has always represented poverty, borderline starvation, a powerless, voiceless - and, in the story, nameless - woman. It is against this cultural background that we understand why Jesus assumes that her two small coins are such a sacrificial gift. The widow is immediately symbolic of an underclass we might describe as 'existing' rather than 'living'.
She may have been a woman of great faith. Her gift might have come from the heart and been a willing sacrifice. But I feel sure Jesus, who was fast reaching the conclusion that the Temple was beyond redemption, saw it as a corrupt institution taking what it could get from those who had the least to give, and wrapping it all up inside a call to religious obedience.
When we look for a meaning in the story which speaks to our own times, I wonder who we would see as symbolic of an underclass which is merely existing? Single-parent families trapped in the welfare system? Elderly people for whom pension provision has become inadequate? Homeless people who have little opportunity to break out of the repetitive cycle of the hostel and the street?
And who are the modern Temple authorities who would gladly take what little money these people have? The high-interest loan sharks who will charge extortionate rates to allow them credit? The tobacco industry who will sell them a product which superficially takes the edge off their depression but creates an addiction to their profit-making product? A taxation system which moves further and further away from being based on ability to pay and moves towards a standard surcharge on everything we buy, thereby hitting the poorest hardest? A welfare system which can be so complex to access, and so intrusive to experience, that many people entitled to receive help go without it?
When situations such as those continue to grind people like that further and further into poverty, Jesus still has a message to give and I think we still hear his anger. In the Temple, by drawing his disciples' attention to the actions of the widow and her gift, Jesus was drawing their attention to an issue of social justice. He showed them something that should not have been happening in a fair and just society.
Isn't this also what Jesus is showing us as his modern-day disciples? Are we not being challenged to see the social justice dimension of our faith and to add our voices to those who fight against the exploitation of the poor, the downtrodden and the powerless?
I'm sure we already do much: I know that we support many schemes which in turn reach out to those in need and challenge 'the system' in favour of individuals. But when Jesus looked at the Temple and saw that it was rotten to the core, he was making a political statement as well as a religious one. The Temple was the symbol not only of the Jewish faith but also of the nationhood of the Jewish tribe. So Jesus found himself not only trying to reform the faith of his day, but also trying to revolutionise the society of his time. And the powerful vested interests in both those institutions saw to it that he went the way of most revolutionaries - a martyr's death to some, a common criminal's death to many.
But the lasting legacy of that casual incident in the Court of the Women is that we hear Jesus say to his disciples, then and now, 'People shouldn't have to live like that. It is clearly unjust. The God I bear witness to does not ask that of us. Such a religion is corrupt'.
Perhaps our challenge is to be prepared to say the same when we encounter the Temple authorities of our own day.
Amen.
(Philip Jones)
This
sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester.
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