As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, 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! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:38-44 (NRSV)
We hear this text as a model for giving over and above our means. We hear sermons preached and lessons taught that the woman is a model of good stewardship because she gave everything to the church.
However this section starts with Jesus saying beware of the religious leaders who look or the best seats and look to be greeted with respect. They have the rules and know who has to do what in order to get the best seats and be in the right way with God. They have received their reward. Jesus saw what was happening that the religious system was holding people in place by having them give more than they could and live under rules that did not matter. Then the widow who could not afford to give but needed help was forced to give because of the system. She is not a model for stewardship but a model for how the church should not make people live. We should not hold people to rules or giving systems that hold them prisoner. We need to lift them up and give them what they need. Not be one more guard in a prison they can not escape…
aSacredRebel 