What Are You Seeing?
She was a woman. And she was poor. These are two facts that anyone could tell that day in the Court of Women in the Temple in Jerusalem.
I am sure most of us here are familiar with the story of the widow and how she ‘gave all that she had’ her two small coins - each worth one four-hundredth of a shekel or what we may think of as an eighth of a penny each. Not worth much at all.
I am sure most of us have heard sermons on how she gave all that she had and she has been lifted up to us as an example of giving and how we should be. And all of these things are true.
She is oft referred to as a model disciple, whereas the scribes in Mark 12: 38-40 represent the opposite of ideal discipleship.
“They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.”
This phrase “devouring” as in eating, the widows’ houses had been used in Ezekiel and other places to provide condemnation on leaders - Ezekiel 34:2–3: “Woe, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat; you clothe yourselves with the wool.”
When religious leaders “eat the fat” - take the first fruits -are more concerned about appearances and their place of honor than they are about the poor and needy among them - something is wrong. Jesus says they will receive the greater condemnation.
The widows extreme poverty is a condemnation and evidence that the leaders of the Temple had failed.
The next paragraph has Jesus sitting down opposite the treasury and watching.
Much is known about the Treasury. Josephus says that in the temple treasury there were “vast sums of money, vast piles of raiment, and other valuables; for this, in short, was the general repository of Jewish wealth”
Flavius Josephus, was a Roman-Jewish historian and military leader. He is best known for writing The Jewish War, and the Antiquities of the Jews. He lived around AD 37-100. He was born in Jerusalem which was then part of the Roman province of Judea - a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.
Much of what we know about the background to Judaism and early Christianity comes from his writings. His works are the chief source next to the Bible for the history and antiquity of ancient Israel and provide an independent extra-biblical account of such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, John the Baptist, James, brother of Jesus, and Jesus of Nazareth.
The Temple in his description, had “exceedingly beautiful and lofty columns” It was extravagant, having “vast piles of raiment.”
So Jesus sat down and watched. We don’t know what he was thinking, but I imagine some of what may have been going on his mind.
“What are you guys doing? Why, oh why do we have a widow sitting here giving all she had (which was next to nothing) when the Temple - the place of worship had so much?” He watched as the rich gave out of their excess and the widow gave all she had.
I want to note that Jesus did not condemn the treasury. He did not condemn the Temple for its splendor. The sin was not in the splendor. The “sin” or wrongdoing was in having the splendor where there were those in the midst who had nothing.
Jesus called his disciples to him to let them know that there was a difference between those who gave out of their abundance and those who even in poverty, gave everything they had.
We don’t know why the woman gave. Many preachers through the years have held her up as the example of a great disciple and she may well have been. She may also have just been woman at the end of her rope who said, “What does it matter anyway?” I have nothing, might as well give it all - I have nothing to lose.”
We don’t know her motive.
She could have been like the woman we encounter in our reading from 1 Kings today, also a widow, who was at the end of her rope and who was literally preparing her last meal of sticks for her and her son so that they may eat it and die.
Elijah, the prophet told her to not be afraid - to go and to do as she said she was going to do but first make a little cake for himself and one for her and her son too. He assured her that the her food would not fail - her jar of meal and her oil until the day that the Lord sent rain on the earth.
The promise was, was that she would be provided for until which time the earth was able to provide again for itself.
There is a great Christmas carol that most of us are probably familiar with -“Do You Hear What I Hear?”
It begins with the question:
Said the night wind to the little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite …
Do you see what I see?
Jesus saw a woman who was mostly invisible to everyone else around her. Invisible to the wealthy in the Temple and even invisible to his own disciples who had wandered off and he called them back to him.
“Look”, Jesus was saying. Do you see what I see?”
It is not always easy or comfortable to see who God sees. When our eyes become open to the suffering of others we may realize areas that we have been complicit or ignored their suffering. And then, we are called to action.
Psalm 146 is a Psalm full of hope. Verse 2 the Psalmist says, “Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them.” “Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! whose hope is in the Lord their God.”
Verse 8, “The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and the widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.”
“The Lord shall reign for ever, your God, O Zion, through all generations. Hallelujah!” v. 9
Often in Temple work, in synagogue work, in parish work, eyes can become dull to what is around and right in front our eyes.
This event of Jesus sitting and watching in the Temple happened two days before he was arrested and crucified. He could have been turned inward, pondering his own fate — instead he sat at the Temple and watched. He kept teaching his disciples. Maybe what he saw reinforced to him the misguidedness of the world and the need for a Savior.
God became manifest in Jesus not only to offer us the beautiful gift of eternal life; God became manifest in Jesus to bring to our attention those who are invisible.
God walked among us to help us redirect our gaze.
Do you see what I see?
Look around this congregation and this community. Who do you see? In our world who needs food, clothing, decent wages, a helping hand, a friend?
And then don’t simply observe. Help those who we see.
Show them that God is love.
We won’t always get it perfect.
But, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord , O my soul”… we serve a God who does.
May we see what He sees.
Amen.
I am sure most of us here are familiar with the story of the widow and how she ‘gave all that she had’ her two small coins - each worth one four-hundredth of a shekel or what we may think of as an eighth of a penny each. Not worth much at all.
I am sure most of us have heard sermons on how she gave all that she had and she has been lifted up to us as an example of giving and how we should be. And all of these things are true.
She is oft referred to as a model disciple, whereas the scribes in Mark 12: 38-40 represent the opposite of ideal discipleship.
“They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.”
This phrase “devouring” as in eating, the widows’ houses had been used in Ezekiel and other places to provide condemnation on leaders - Ezekiel 34:2–3: “Woe, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat; you clothe yourselves with the wool.”
When religious leaders “eat the fat” - take the first fruits -are more concerned about appearances and their place of honor than they are about the poor and needy among them - something is wrong. Jesus says they will receive the greater condemnation.
The widows extreme poverty is a condemnation and evidence that the leaders of the Temple had failed.
The next paragraph has Jesus sitting down opposite the treasury and watching.
Much is known about the Treasury. Josephus says that in the temple treasury there were “vast sums of money, vast piles of raiment, and other valuables; for this, in short, was the general repository of Jewish wealth”
Flavius Josephus, was a Roman-Jewish historian and military leader. He is best known for writing The Jewish War, and the Antiquities of the Jews. He lived around AD 37-100. He was born in Jerusalem which was then part of the Roman province of Judea - a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.
Much of what we know about the background to Judaism and early Christianity comes from his writings. His works are the chief source next to the Bible for the history and antiquity of ancient Israel and provide an independent extra-biblical account of such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, John the Baptist, James, brother of Jesus, and Jesus of Nazareth.
The Temple in his description, had “exceedingly beautiful and lofty columns” It was extravagant, having “vast piles of raiment.”
So Jesus sat down and watched. We don’t know what he was thinking, but I imagine some of what may have been going on his mind.
“What are you guys doing? Why, oh why do we have a widow sitting here giving all she had (which was next to nothing) when the Temple - the place of worship had so much?” He watched as the rich gave out of their excess and the widow gave all she had.
I want to note that Jesus did not condemn the treasury. He did not condemn the Temple for its splendor. The sin was not in the splendor. The “sin” or wrongdoing was in having the splendor where there were those in the midst who had nothing.
Jesus called his disciples to him to let them know that there was a difference between those who gave out of their abundance and those who even in poverty, gave everything they had.
We don’t know why the woman gave. Many preachers through the years have held her up as the example of a great disciple and she may well have been. She may also have just been woman at the end of her rope who said, “What does it matter anyway?” I have nothing, might as well give it all - I have nothing to lose.”
We don’t know her motive.
She could have been like the woman we encounter in our reading from 1 Kings today, also a widow, who was at the end of her rope and who was literally preparing her last meal of sticks for her and her son so that they may eat it and die.
Elijah, the prophet told her to not be afraid - to go and to do as she said she was going to do but first make a little cake for himself and one for her and her son too. He assured her that the her food would not fail - her jar of meal and her oil until the day that the Lord sent rain on the earth.
The promise was, was that she would be provided for until which time the earth was able to provide again for itself.
There is a great Christmas carol that most of us are probably familiar with -“Do You Hear What I Hear?”
It begins with the question:
Said the night wind to the little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite …
Do you see what I see?
Jesus saw a woman who was mostly invisible to everyone else around her. Invisible to the wealthy in the Temple and even invisible to his own disciples who had wandered off and he called them back to him.
“Look”, Jesus was saying. Do you see what I see?”
It is not always easy or comfortable to see who God sees. When our eyes become open to the suffering of others we may realize areas that we have been complicit or ignored their suffering. And then, we are called to action.
Psalm 146 is a Psalm full of hope. Verse 2 the Psalmist says, “Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them.” “Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! whose hope is in the Lord their God.”
Verse 8, “The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and the widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.”
“The Lord shall reign for ever, your God, O Zion, through all generations. Hallelujah!” v. 9
Often in Temple work, in synagogue work, in parish work, eyes can become dull to what is around and right in front our eyes.
This event of Jesus sitting and watching in the Temple happened two days before he was arrested and crucified. He could have been turned inward, pondering his own fate — instead he sat at the Temple and watched. He kept teaching his disciples. Maybe what he saw reinforced to him the misguidedness of the world and the need for a Savior.
God became manifest in Jesus not only to offer us the beautiful gift of eternal life; God became manifest in Jesus to bring to our attention those who are invisible.
God walked among us to help us redirect our gaze.
Do you see what I see?
Look around this congregation and this community. Who do you see? In our world who needs food, clothing, decent wages, a helping hand, a friend?
And then don’t simply observe. Help those who we see.
Show them that God is love.
We won’t always get it perfect.
But, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord , O my soul”… we serve a God who does.
May we see what He sees.
Amen.