Preaching Mark 12:38-44

What a contrast! The scribes condemned, and a widow praised. The scribes were important people in their society—leaders, teachers, students of the Scriptures. In Jesus' society, the widow was about as unimportant as one could imagine—poor, without a man to support her, and useless to society. What a contrast the two parts of this reading makes. Jesus warns the disciples of the practice of some scribes (remember last Sunday's Gospel lesson), and then he praises the widow as a model of devotion.

It's easy to become confused about who's important in our society. We are encouraged to think of celebrities as most important. Television shows are devoted to their lives, and magazines and newspapers keep us informed of their every move. The movers and the shakers, too, are touted as important. Imagine how powerful the chairman of the Federal Reserve is! With a single sentence in a speech he can send the stock market plummeting. These are the people we are taught to regard as important.

In the meantime many of our elderly waste away in nursing homes, forgotten even by their families. They don't make the news, aren't featured in magazines and newspapers, and are regarded simply as society's "throw-always." Thankfully widows today do not have the meager social status they had in Jesus' time. However, it is not hard to find contemporary parallels to the poor widow of this story. Just consider the homeless people in our communities.

The Gospel for today quite intentionally links the important scribes and their prominence with the insignificant widow and her offering. That combination forces us to ask ourselves: Who really are the important people of our world? Jesus reverses the social standings of these two, just as he reverses most of our values. What's so dangerous about the prominent scribes that Jesus should warn his disciples about them? They may look great; they may be highly respected. However, whatever their appearance, many of them are without scruples and phony. The charge that the scribes "devour widows' houses" leads us to consider one lonely widow in the Temple. So, what's praiseworthy about her? Others are making significant contributions to the treasury, and then along comes this lowly widow. She puts the equivalent of a penny in the treasury! One lousy little penny! However, what did that leave for her? Would she be able to buy food for tomorrow? Jesus says that, in spite of how small her gift is, it is actually larger than any of the others! Jesus values something other than the sheer economic worth of a contribution. He values the sacrifice this woman makes even to give a couple of copper coins.

So, what's most important? The social status of the scribes or their moral behavior and the integrity of their religious lives? What most important? The substantial sums contributed by the wealthy or the tiny offering of one who has next to nothing? Jesus turns our social values upside down. He honors the poor widow more than the Ph.D.s in the Law. He values the widow's tiny offering more than the abundant gifts of the wealthy.

What's most important and who's most important? It's not easy to value what Jesus values, is it? It's not easy because it contradicts a good deal of what we have worked for most of our lives. Still, occasionally, even in our celebrity-infatuated and affluent society, there are glimpses of Jesus' values.

Not long ago a news report allowed us one of those glimpses. It told of a hearing impaired child who was in a mainstream classroom of second graders, all of whom could hear. The powersthatbe ordered the hearing impaired child be moved to a specialized school for the deaf. When the boy's classmates heard about it, they objected. They liked him. He was a nice guy and fun to be with. They didn't want to see him go. So, they all volunteered to learn to communicate in sign language. That way, the hearing impaired boy could take a fuller role in their lessons. Second graders signing to one another as well as to the boy who could not hear the spoken word! The story has a happy ending. The boy was allowed to remain in the mainstream school.

As Jesus valued the poor widow, these children valued their classmate, even though he communicated in a different way. It embarrasses some of us that second graders seem willing to practice Jesus' values better than we adults. Of course, we adults are good at dreaming up all sorts of reasons for not practicing Jesus' values. It's unrealistic and impractical! The children teach us something we should already know. We can put Jesus' radically different values into practice even today.

Strangely enough, our Lord himself became as poor as that widow. The one who came from God's side gave up all the wealth of position and prominence to become destitute for us. Like the poor widow, he had no financial wealth to contribute to the Temple. Unlike the scribes, he had no social position to protect. Rather, he subjected himself to the injustice of his society and offered himself for us. (See the Hebrews reading.) Christ helps us remove the glasses of social status and the lenses of affluence in order to see differently. He helps us see value in what our society regards as valueless. He enables us to look through the exteriors to find worth in those whom some would say are worthless.

Jesus asks us to think differently about what and who's important, but he also asks something more of us. We cannot simply value the poor and downtrodden by saying we do. These are values that have to be enacted, not just spoken. So, we go from this place this week to act out Christ's values. Who's most important? What's most important? Let our lives demonstrate the answers Jesus gives to those questions.

Robert Kysar