Mark 12:38-44
“Give Everything. Period.”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer,
Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
What if, at the beginning of our lives, someone were to come to us and say: “Would you like to have a completely satisfying time during your short stay on earth?
Would you like to be guaranteed that, when you come to the end of your life, you will have no regrets, no horrible shame, no large spaces of wasted time, no feelings of… ‘Oh, If I’d only done it this way!’”
We’d most likely say, “Yes, yes I would.”
And if this ‘someone’ asked us if we wanted to know the secret to this ‘successful living’ we would most likely be eager to say, “Yes!”
As many of you are aware, I am currently taking a course at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital called Clinical Pastoral Education.
We spend 4 hours a week in a classroom setting and 8-10 hours a week doing Chaplain duty in the hospital.
This will last until April.
So far, I have spent much of my time in the Hospice unit of the hospital.
This is a very nice facility, where, veterans are sent once they have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and are not expected to live very much longer.
As my new friend John, who is a patient there, says: “This is the last stop.”
One thing I find fascinating at this particular setting is the content of the dialogue in which I become engaged in with the patients.
It seems that all these people want to talk about is Jesus Christ, the Bible, and heaven.
Now, this is unusual because during most hospital visits I’ve made in the past, the patients normally talk about their illness, their anxiety over the coming surgery, looking forward to getting back to the regular routine, and so forth.
But at the hospice at the VA, the patients talk about God…for them, there is no ‘getting better and getting back to life as usual.’
As John says, “This is the last stop.”
And the next stop is to be in God’s hands, and these people are getting ready for it.
John is a Christian, but he hasn’t always been a Christian.
At seventy years old, John became a Christian…oh, maybe five years ago.
I believe it happened soon after he learned he was sick.
Often John will say to me, “I’m so glad that there is a young person who is living for God when there are so many other things you could be doing.”
He says things like, “I spent my life cheating on my wives, drinking, etc. I wish I had become a Christian earlier. I wish I had given my life to Jesus Christ earlier. There’s a lot of things I’m not proud that I’ve done. There’s a lot of wasted years.”
I tell John that he’s now forgiven, and he knows that.
Recently we talked about the parable of the Land Owner who paid all the workers the same wage no matter how long they had worked.
“Yeah, everybody gets paid the same. Ain’t that something,” John said in praise of God’s incredible grace.
Then I asked John, “You must have some good memories from your life?”
John replied, “Yeah, some good. Lot’s of bad, but some good.”
“Well, just try to think about the good ones,” I said.
Jesus Christ talks a lot about what is truly important in life; about what will give our lives meaning and substance.
He says Himself: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
What does this mean, and how can we have life to the full?
Let’s keep this question in mind as we take a look at our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
As Jesus sat down near the temple treasury where people were making their donations He watched the crowd.
He saw a whole lot of rich people come throw huge amounts of money into the receptacles or what we would call ‘offering plates’.
Why was Jesus sitting there? Why was He watching these people. Why did He have His disciples so close at hand…watching this event?
I suppose there may very well have been a lot of people who were being entertained by watching what people put into the treasury.
“Wow, look what that guy donated.”
“Ooh, she must really be rich in order to afford to give that much.”
“Aw, he must really be devoted to God. Look at his gift.”
But this doesn’t seem to impress Jesus much.
As usual…Jesus finds true meaning where most of us miss it.
While everyone else’s attention is focused on the rich people and who brings in the biggest offering…
…Jesus’ attention is focused on the same thing, but from a different angle.
It’s not the amount of money that Jesus is noticing, it’s the commitment, it’s what is in the heart of the giver that intrigues Jesus.
Jesus is looking for the biggest offering as well, and that offering turns out to be two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny that a poor widow donates.
Isn’t God amazing?
For God, rich is poor and poor is rich.
The servant is greater than the one being served.
It’s not how much you have to give it’s what percentage you give out of what you have that’s important.
Everything is opposite from the way the world views things in God’s eyes…in God’s wisdom.
That’s one of the things that makes the Christian journey so exciting, but it’s also why so many people miss out on it.
Recently, I was talking with a friend about how ‘true’ and ‘alive’ the Scriptures are…
…and how this truth is so exciting the more and more we get to know the Bible and the longer we travel the journey.
For instance, The wages or the price for sin is death and hell…but this doesn’t just apply to the afterlife…
…it also applies to the here and now!
When we are entangled in sin, whether it be cheating on a spouse, lashing out in rage, or indulging in some lust of the flesh…
…we are truly living in hell right here on earth!
Oftentimes our consciences give us such unhappy feelings about ourselves that we develop depression or anxiety which can lead to self-medication through alcohol or illegal drugs which leads to more and more problems…more and more hell.
Or say, maybe our greatest goal in life is to become wealthy…so that we can drive the newest and fanciest car, have the biggest boat, the nicest house, the best clothes and so forth.
Quite often that competitive scratch and claw fight for the top will lead to an incredible amount of stress in our lives…maybe we will become so stressed-out that we can not enjoy life…
…maybe it will cause us to dislike ourselves and our situations…
…maybe it will cause us to dislike other people…
…maybe it will make us envious of others…
…and maybe this envy is eating away at our sanity and self-worth.
Let’s take another look back at verses 43-44 in Mark chapter 10.
The New International Version of the Bible says she “put in everything—all she had to live on.”
The original Greek is a little bit different and gives us a better perspective.
It says: “She gave her whole life.”
There are so many layers to this Lesson…
…it goes so deep that I can’t imagine how many different sermons could be preached on it…
…but it goes way deeper than money.
It goes all the way to the heart of the Christian Gospel.
It goes all the way to the heart of how we truly can have life and have it to the full!
It talks to us about priorities.
It talks to us about what is really and truly important in this life.
It talks to us about what most of us miss out on!
Throughout Scripture, and throughout His ministry on this earth Jesus is trying to get this through our tough, often thick skulls.
It is only in losing one’s life that we truly find life!
It is only in giving our lives completely and totally over to God that we find a happiness and a satisfaction and a peace that those who will go through eternity unsaved will never know.
Remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler?
The man who asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life?
What did Jesus tell him?
“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, Then come follow me.”
And “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”
Jesus is telling us over and over again…
…Give everything. Period.
This story is not so much about money as it is about salvation.
This widow did what the Rich young man could not do…
…what he couldn’t even conceive of doing…
…what many of us can’t even conceive of doing.
C.S. Lewis wrote that Christian charity is neither Christian nor charity unless our giving “cramps our style” and causes us to sacrifice some needs as well as luxuries. And that sort of giving, he added, is just the starting point of the Christian Journey, not its end.
In his mind he could hear Jesus’ words to that Rich Young Man, and His approval of the poor widow…
… “Sell everything you have”…
… She “put in everything.”
And against such a blunt and absolute standard, we know deep down that we fail.
But, again, this is one of the things that makes the Christian journey so exciting!
Once we have made the commitment to give all we have to Christ and follow Him…
…we daily find things that we have not yet given to Christ…things that cause us to truly have to deny ourselves, take up the Cross daily and follow Christ.
If we think we’ve made it. We will soon find out that we have not.
About a year ago I was riding to a meeting with John LeGault, the Pastor over at First Church.
We got behind a really nice, top of the line, brand new, very expensive automobile.
I remarked to John, “Wow, isn’t that a beautiful car? Wouldn’t you love to have a car like that?”
John’s response startled me.
He said, “No. I think it is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen in my life. I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it!”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because it symbolizes spiritual depravity. It symbolizes selfishness and greed. It is a treasure of earth, not of heaven.”
Boy, did that make me look at that car differently!
It gave me a glimpse of someone who is much farther along in his understanding of the Christian journey than I.
If we have any scruples at all, Jesus’ Words ought to cause all of us to squirm.
For many of us, wealth in its many forms is intimately linked with our self-identity and self-worth.
Our wealth may not be in coins or stock options.
But most of us have other kinds of wealth: a pleasing personality; the respect and friendship of our peers; perhaps some genuine authority at work; various skills, talents and gifts; leisure time; the benefits of a reasonably just, orderly, and free society.
We use them, enjoy them, have them at our disposal. They’re valuable to us.
And we’d fight like mad if someone tried to take them from us.
Giving them up willingly is an almost incomprehensible act of foolishness and humiliation.
What could God or the Church or anything else provide us with to compensate for their loss?
With that in mind, now let’s consider the widow and the rich man.
Think about Jesus’ words about each of them.
Which words would He say about us?
The widow’s gift of her whole livelihood was unthinkable and foolish.
She didn’t give in order to get anything, nor did she give because she had gotten anything from the Temple.
Jesus had already said what widows were likely to receive from the religious authorities.
She gave everything in exchange for nothing!
Or did she?
She gave her whole life to God.
She gave everything she had and everything she was.
She was entrusting her whole self to God.
Her two tiny coins were the final, foolish, unspeakable humble outward manifestation of that absolute gift.
Her gift was so humble that nobody knew its magnitude except for her Lord.
She is, in fact, what we are called to be: a tiny, flashing mirror that reflects the final foolish, unspeakably humble and utterly complete self-giving of God to us in His Son Jesus Christ.
Yes, this giving of our entire selves goes against our nature.
God and the world are polar opposites.
And so many of us miss this…
…and live in hell because of it…
…and if we live long enough…
…live in regret because of it.
But if we will only give our full lives to God, we will undoubtedly find the fullest and richest Lives possible!
Let us pray: God grant that we will see the Way to Real Life. Grant that we will give our whole lives to You. God grant that our Lord Jesus will say of us, “Out of their poverty they gave everything they had, all they had to live on. And by My grace, their nothing I claim as everything.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray. Amen.
