“Prophetic Stewardship”
Luke 21:1-4
Allen Huff
Jonesborough Presbyterian Church
Consecration Sunday: 11/1/15
Consecration Sunday. I imagine that some pastors like it. I
have yet to meet one, though. It feels too much like meddling. We know that not
everyone makes a formal pledge, and that that those who do usually prefer to pledge
the same way that Jesus urges us to pray: In private. That is not the way of
Christian stewardship, though.
What we do today is a defining act of communal and
sacramental faith. One of our role models is a nameless widow who makes a four-verse
appearance in Luke and the same in Mark. As a widow in first century Jerusalem,
this woman’s presence in the temple stirs the air about as much as a falling
leaf. But she wades into the clutter and ruckus of Passover, and whispers her two-cent
blessing.
Giving out of poverty is very different from giving out of
abundance. All-too-often, giving out of abundance becomes a conspicuous
display, but giving out of poverty is a prophetic act. It expresses a purer
sense of gratitude, and a more humble trust in a generous God who says, “my
word…shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.”
(Isaiah 55:11)
The
widow’s story is thick with irony. Two cents will mean little against the
temple’s budget. And if temple leaders are faithful stewards, they will commit
a large portion of their resources to caring for people in need. Like widows!
The story is tragedy, as well. Over time, the religious
community has developed a rapacious appetite for wealth and power. Its leaders
will collude with worldly power and its violent ways to protect their hold on
privilege. So instead of caring for those who are vulnerable, the temple uses
its considerable influence to make people feel
vulnerable. It wields an angry god in order to exist, rather than existing by
the grace of God’s Love, compassion, and justice.
How very Lukan. In this story, the one whom the community is
supposed to protect and care for becomes the one who teaches the teachers about
the nature of true gratitude and generosity. Jesus makes an enduring example of
a woman who gives all she has to a broken institution, an institution who
ignores her.
‘Look at this poor widow,’ says Jesus. ‘She gives all she
has to the temple in spite of its failures. She offers all she has to the community,
not because of their faithfulness to God, but because of God’s faithfulness to
us.’
While the widow gives out of the scarcity of her pocketbook,
even more does she give out out of the abundance of her hope. Through some
uncommon grace, she sees the presence of holiness in the creation, and in spite
of human failures, she can give with prophetic generosity because she does not
give up on God.
Another compelling thing about this story is that Jesus sees
his own life reflected in the actions of the widow. Her gift to the temple anticipates
Jesus’ gift to the creation.1 You and I, and our church can all be
as selfish, power-hungry, and hurtful to one another as the Pharisees and the
temple are to first century Jews. But for them and for us – a broken and beloved
humanity – Jesus drops the two cents of his life into the offering plate of
time. Knowing that even those closest to him will abandon him, Jesus does not
withhold his fullness. He empties himself in praise of God and out of love for God’s
creation. And this is the work not only of the cross. His entire life is an act of prophetic stewardship.
Jesus and the widow invite us to pledge our entire lives to
that same prophetic adventure. To live in their grace is to live an “in spite
of faith.” In spite of all that is broken about us and about our church, we
live and give in such a way as to proclaim God trustworthy and holiness
possible. Jesus even declares this “in spite of” poverty to be our true wealth:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he says, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 5:3)
The great teacher and preacher Fred Craddock tells a story
about his father, a man who saw nothing interesting, much less redeeming about
the church. Fred’s mother saw that he and his siblings went to church. Whenever
the pastor came to the house, Fred’s father kept him at arm’s length insisting
that all the church wanted was more names on the roll and more money in the
bank.
“‘Another name and another pledge.’ I guess I heard it
a thousand times,” said Craddock.
“One
time he didn’t say it. He was in the veteran’s hospital, and he was down to
seventy-three pounds. They’d taken out his throat, and said, ‘It’s too late.’
They put in a metal tube, and X rays burned him to pieces. I flew in to see
him. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t eat. I looked around the room, potted plants
and cut flowers on all the windowsills, a stack of cards twenty inches deep
beside his bed…And…every card, every blossom, were from persons or groups in
the church.
“He saw
me read a card. He could not speak, so he took a Kleenex box and wrote on the
side of it a line from Shakespeare. If he had not written this line,” says
Craddock, “I would not tell you this story. He wrote, ‘In this harsh world,
draw your breath in pain to tell my story.’
“I said,
‘What is your story, Daddy?’
“And he
wrote, ‘I was wrong.’”2
It didn’t matter how selfishly old man Craddock had reacted
against the brokenness of the church. What mattered was how much God loved old
man Craddock. In the end, the church managed a prophetic stewardship of Love,
and it made a difference.
The Session is not asking anyone to respond to all that is
right with Jonesborough Presbyterian Church, or to react against all that is
not so right about it. We are trying to encourage all of us to live prophetic
lives, lives that proclaim the holy “in spite of” of faith.
Whatever
you pledge today, may you pledge it bold, generous, and prophetic hope, to the broken
people next to you, to the broken church around you, and to the faithful God within
us all.
1Pete Peery, Feasting on the Word: Preaching
the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 4, Westminster John Knox Press,
2009. “Homiletical Perspective,” pp.
285-289.
2Craddock Stories, Fred B. Craddock, eds.
Mike Graves and Richard F. Ward, Chalice Press, St. Louis, MO, 2001. Pg.14.
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