Out of Our Abundance
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
November 9, 2003
Mark 12:38-44
I. INTRODUCTION
My freshman and sophomore years in college I lived in a suite of five or six guys. It was full of characters. Two in particular . They both came from similar backgrounds. They both lived on Long Island. They both had a lot in common.
One of them used to talk about money all the time. He would sit there reading the financial section of the paper and say things like, “Ah, gold is up today” or some other such nonsense. And to the irritation of the rest of the guys in the suite, he once said, “I had some extra money laying around so I thought I’d pay my school bill.” Thanks a lot pal. Whether it was in these little throw-away sayings or the way he dressed, he wanted us to know how wealthy he was.
The other one was very modest and hardly ever talked about money. To the extent that he did, it was to show off how much money he’d saved on some bargain somewhere. He’d proudly show off the designer shoes that he’d bought for $10 on a ski trip to Montreal. He drove an old beat-up Pontiac Sunbird and wore jeans and a sweatshirt or t-shirt pretty much every day.
I had occasion to visit the first guy’s house one day over the summer. It was a big house, very nice. Nice car in the driveway. Nice neighborhood. I remarked about this to the second guy. He gave me a knowing smile.
Some time later, I had occasion to visit the second guy at his house. My jaw dropped. Two Mercedes-Benz in the driveway. Marble or parquet floors. Persian rugs everywhere. My friend could tell my surprise and he turned and said to me, commenting on the other guy, “My father could buy and sell his father 10 times over.” From what I could see, he wasn’t kidding.
But here I was, having seen someone making ostentatious displays of wealth and the rest of us were led to believe that he was wealthy. The other, lived modestly and humbly, but possessed real wealth. Spotting real wealth isn’t always obvious.
II. TEXT
Jesus is with his disciples in the Temple. He was watching people putting money into the treasury. Many rich people came up and put large sums of money into the treasury. A poor widow came up and put in two coins worth a penny together.
Jesus instructs his disciples: in spite of what you think you have seen, the widow has contributed more than the ones who have contributed large sums, because they have contributed out of their abundance and she out of her poverty.
III. CONTRIBUTING OUT OF POVERTY
A. Percentages
The lesson is clear—the value of the contribution is in proportion to the ability to make it. Well we can accept that, right? That’s nice. It’s a simple formula then. It’s not how much, but what percentage of how much. So, all we need to do is figure out what the percentage is, and we’re good to go.
Is that really the lesson?
This lesson happens to come in the fall of the lectionary cycle. It’s nice and convenient that way. Right around pledge Sunday. Right around the time the churches are planning their budgets for the following year. Right around the time they are trying to get their members to pledge contributions to the church. The story of the “widow’s mite” is one of the best fundraising tools the church has, because it says, “No matter how much money you make, you can contribute. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Just the right percentage, say 10%, and you’re all set.”
But that’s not how I’m going to use it.
First, because there is a certain futility to using a stewardship and fundraising sermon with a bunch of college students. College students are often broke and we can’t take Eagle Bucks here anyway.
And second, because fundraising and tithing is not what this lesson is really about.
B. Essentials
Jesus doesn’t say “She contributed a greater percentage.” He says she contributed out of her poverty, where as the others contributed out of their abundance. That is, the others contributed out of the money they had left over. She contributed out of her essentials.
For the widow, contributing to the temple was not a discretionary expense. It was an essential. It was part of the critical portion of her living. For the others, they had already paid for the things they needed to pay for, and now they contributed to the temple because they had extra money.
(See, if I were using this as a stewardship sermon, I could guilt you all into contributing).
C. Priorities
The question is really one of priorities and goes well beyond financial giving.
Now, you are all here to get an education. The reason the University allows folks like us chaplains on this campus even though we are not employees of the University, is because they believe that nurturing your spiritual growth will further your ability to be good students. Which is why we’re not supposed to pressure you into coming to services when you’re feeling overworked and need to study. Which is why we don’t use the hard sell to get you to squeeze us in. We’re here to make your studying easier, not harder.
You’re supposed to make your studies the priority while you’re here at college. But let me challenge you with something: is God a part of your studying or is it what you leave for when you have free time?
You see it doesn’t matter whether we come to church or not. It doesn’t matter whether we carve out 7 pm on a Sunday evening every week. What matters is that when we look at our lives and the things we are going to make our priorities: is God on the “essentials” side or the “discretionary” side.
D. Fortifying the essentials
It seems like every week I mention John Wesley. That’s alright: this is a United Methodist sponsored campus ministry and it is the 300th Anniversary of Mr. Wesley’s birth. But I mention him today because his example might prove helpful here. Mr. Wesley was an incredibly busy individual. He was one of the most prolific authors of his day, writing treatises on everything from tea to prison reform. He traveled extensively, teaching and preaching. In short, he was about as over-programmed as most of you are. And yet, every day he found time to study the scriptures. Every day he found time for devotions and prayer. For writing in his journal. What he found was that these disciplines in his spiritual life helped him to be more disciplined in his entire life. He was more productive, more efficient.
Others who have followed this model report that they, too, become more productive, and find that their lives take on an order and discipline that permeates all aspects of their work. It doesn’t mean that you can’t play. It means that your focus is increased.
I’m not up here to tell you that you have to choose between study and prayer. I am not going to tell you that if you are studying instead of coming to church that you’ve got your priorities out of whack. Studying is what you’re here for.
But, perhaps we should consider the two as part of the same package. Perhaps if we move God from the discretionary side to the essential side along with studying, we’ll discover that both are enriched. Perhaps we’ll discover that far from cheating each, we have enhanced both.
IV. CONTRIBUTING OUT OF OUR ABUNDANCE
There’s something else here to consider in addition to all this.
When we think of the church: are we the rich people or the poor widow? When we put ourselves into this lesson, who are we?
God has richly blessed his church. God has made us his community. “Once we were no people—now we are God’s people.” It is a tremendous blessing.
There are a lot of secular agencies and non-profit organizations out there doing a lot of good things. Poverty reduction. Social justice advocacy. Ministering to the poor and needy. How much is the church doing?
Is the church doing its share? Are we reaching out to the ‘least of these’ as part of our essential ministry or only when we have time, money, and energy left over? Are we making the important work of the kingdom part of the “essentials” or part of the “discretionaries”?
The church is the community that has been richly blessed. Would Jesus, upon looking at the work of the church compared with other groups decide that we were the rich who had appeared to contribute much and that they had contributed more?
V. CONCLUSION
We make value judgments all the time. We can make mistakes about wealth, the way I did with my two suitemates. And we can mistake an essential for a discretionary.
Jesus challenges us, as the gospel always does, to invert our thinking. To change the way we view the world. Whether it’s in terms of firsts and lasts, rich and poor, or essential and optional. He challenges us: shall we give out of our excess or out of our all?
