A well-known hymn that captures this idea of generosity is “Take My Life, and Let It Be,” 399 in The United Methodist Hymnal. The middle verse often catches us singing with our fingers crossed: “Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.” In this text of the widow’s mite, we need to grasp something of the high calling this life of generosity really is. I think it might be made a little clearer in the Lyrics I'd rather have Jesus than silver or Gold
I'd rather be His than have riches untold
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today
I'd rather have Jesus than worldly applause
There comes a time in all our lives when we must check ourselves on what we are willing to fight for and give towards. What is it that we are willing to put ourselves on the line for?
Many great crusaders rose up in resistance to lynching. Frederick Douglass was among the earliest. Others joined the struggle: T. Thomas Fortune, publisher of the New York Age and founder of the Afro-American League; W. E. B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, and Walter White of the NAACP; sociologist Monroe Work of Tuskegee Institute; and Mary Church Terrell and Anna Julia Cooper of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).
But just as Jesus was pointing out to his disciples in the text today. All their work was built on the work of one woman: Ida B. Wells. Reflecting on Wells’ life and work, Du Bois correctly called her “the pioneer of the anti-lynching crusade,” who “began the awakening of the conscience of the nation.”
Wells was the first to put her life on the line for the anti-lynching cause. “With me it is not myself nor my reputation, but the life of my people, which is at stake,” she wrote, responding to an interview by Frances Willard of (WCTU). “It may be unwise to express myself so strongly,” “but I cannot help it and I know not if capital may be against me, but I trust God.” What was it that gave Wells the courage to risk her life for others she did not even know?
What gave her the audacity to proclaim the truth in an era when women were not even expected to speak in public?
The answer is found in her faith, inherited from her ex-slave parents and the African American church community. It was a faith defined by the cross and the black cultural resistance to white supremacy.
Wells’s trust in God sustained her when her anti-lynching activity was dangerous and when many blacks shunned her. She did not claim credit for her work but gave it all to God.
(1) Today’s Gospel is still concentrating on the question of truth faith, but this time about being true to who we are, rather than presenting an image of ourselves that we think makes us look good.
The scribes Jesus refers to, are not honest about who they are. But the widow who puts the two small, almost worthless coins into the treasury is not ashamed to let people see her for who she is. I think about some of the lies told this week by some of the politician the scribes of our day and the congress man and women who denounced the poor and the build Back America Plan.
Our Text in Mark It’s a great text for that, don’t you think? Is an inherent invitation to give more than you can afford. Wait, what?
Is that really a message we want to proclaim?
Sure, we’ve heard those stories of unscrupulous TV “evangelists” bankrupting poor widows and others who tune in hoping for some sort of connection. We’re pretty clear that isn’t the kind of ministry we ought to be supporting.
But then, a chapter back, Jesus is casting folks out of the very temple this widow is supporting with her pittance.
(2) There seems to be something more profound going on here, or at least there is from Mark’s point of view.
Maybe Mark selected these two events and put them here side by side for a reason. Maybe he wanted us to consider what a life that mattered really means.
On the one hand, we have “beware the scribes . . . devouring the widows’ houses,” and on the other, we have “she has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
There is something of a contrast here, some redefining of the kind of life we are called to live.
One group lived for self, wanting and hoarding, grabbing hold of everything they could get their hands on, regardless of the collateral damage such taking caused.
The other gave away, lived for others and not self, regardless of damage to the self that would be caused by this level of generosity.
While we cannot recommend behavior that is self-destructive, we could also recognize that the widow trusted in the care that was being offered by the very institution she was giving her whole living to.
Perhaps it was gratitude for what she had received that caused her to give so Faithfully.
The widow’s action was a sign of faith in the community. She didn’t worry about herself in the context of a caring system that knew how to look after those in need. She trusted in the temple and the people who administered its grace.
Some of us would call this naïve. Perhaps, given the statements he made last chapter and previously in this one, even Jesus might wonder if her trust is misplaced.
Yet, he presents her as having a more effective witness than all the others who came to make offerings that day.
(3) The story of the poor widow is very suitable for contemplation. Let me place myself in the picture. I can be the widow; or one of the disciples looking on, watching the scene unfold.
Our age, even more than the time of Jesus, is so obsessed with image, with tic Tok, Face Book, and followers that it becomes the most important feature for our leaders, even more than their message or vision.
I listen to Jesus’ words which are such a real challenge to this culture, and to his warning to beware not to be taken in by these antics.
Jesus proclaims that the woman who put in two small copper coins had given more than all the rich people.
In a very real way, it is a summary of the whole Gospel, for God looks at the heart and its readiness to give generously.
Do I measure my worth by my external success, or am I free to look at my heart and be ready to be generous even in my poverty? I ask God to help me look at myself and at others as he looks at us.
Illustration: When I was growing up, we would go next door to my uncle Johns House and Play basket ball. To make the best of a bad situation, we would often go to the small basketball goal my cusin Rick had used when he was young. While this practice helped our dribbling and defense, we encountered trouble on a real basketball court, because our practice goal was low to the ground and the real goals in school were 10 feet high. We were unsuccessful when we played in a real game with a real goal because we had trained ourselves to aim low. In life, we oftentimes fail to succeed simply because we have allowed our circumstances to train us to aim low.
The Widow nor Ida Wells Learned to aim low they have become tradition famous because they learned to give there all towards service for others. Wesley are you going to keep giving your full service to the church and God or aim low like we did when we were children.
