Grandma's Mite

First Lesson: Ruth 3: 1-5; 4: 13-17
Responsive Reading: Psalm 127
Second Lesson: Hebrews 9: 24-28
​Gospel Lesson: Mark 12: 38-44

---

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
“I look forward to Tax Day every year because it shows that I have something to give.” –Sychar member Bob Eckstrom

Let me begin by telling a story about Grandma.  I was in high school; I had let Grandma know that I thought I might be called to go into the ministry. Grandma wanted to give me encouragement in this venture, so on a Thursday night during the school year, Grandma calls me up.  Grandma told me that she needed to drop off her “tithe.”

Grandma was never a real regular Church attender when I was growing up, as she tended to enjoy making phone calls to California during middle of the night, so getting to a 9 or 10:30 service at Trinity Lutheran could be a challenge.  While most people would wait until Sunday morning to try to handle their offering for Grandma patience has never really been a strength. So Grandma told me that she was picking me up at 8:30 and we were driving out to the preacher’s house to give him her offering.  My parents must not have been around to veto such an idea.  So Grandma and I driveway past the church to the other end of town, Grandma rings the doorbell (I would be surprised if she thought of calling), the preacher and his wife come to the door wearing pajamas.   Grandma proceeds to try starting a casual conversation; Pastor Tom lets her know he needs to go to “bed,” Grandma hands her “tithe” to him and drives me home with her lesson on the nature of ministry. 

Now Today’s Gospel lesson tells the tale of a woman who like my Grandma had her own noteworthy approach to giving[1].

The scene for Today’s lesson is Holy Week. Passover week would cause Religious pilgrims from all over to travel to Jerusalem where they would give their yearly offering.  Jesus and his Disciples are sitting within the Temple as it’s packed with people watching the whole scene unfold.  You had rich and poor alike gathering to deliver their offering at the same time. 

A couple of years ago, I went to an event on non-profit fundraising for North Shore Area Partners down in Duluth. I got paired up with a partner; my partner was the head of a large foundation down in Duluth.  We were comparing fundraising within our organizations; I described how we make due with a lot of small gifts $5, $10, $20, 50, 100, gifts larger than this would be noteworthy.  The woman describes to me how for her job, she would occasionally host small informal coffee parties of maybe 6-8 people for fundraising.  When I asked how much money these brought in? She proceeded to tell me $75,000 for a typical gathering.  My jaw was on the floor.  She had all sorts of connections within Duluth’s medical industry that could give like that without a second thought.  There were plenty of people like this within Jesus’ day.  The type of people when they walked into the Temple, everyone knew that large amounts of money we're going to be placed in the offering boxes.   Among the rich, they would try to out dress and out display each other.  Giving one’s offering for many was the social event of the year at the Temple. 

Now standing in one of the lines on this day was a lady that probably didn’t stand out in any way[2].  She certainly wouldn’t have stood out in such a busy and noisy crowd.  She is described as a widow.  Just like the wealthy temple goers, she approaches the offering boxes where she dropped in two small copper coins called “mites[3],” almost like dropping pennies into piles of gold and silver.  Jesus though noticed this woman right away.  Jesus might have been the only one in the room to notice this woman.

Jesus proceeds to point out: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on[4].”

Jesus noticed that this woman was making her next meal more difficult, yet she believed that she was giving to a cause with even more significant meaning. 

It was this woman that Jesus wanted to point out to his Disciples as a real model of generosity.  

Jesus wanted to remind the Disciples that there was much more going on in this story than all they could see on this day.

Later in Mark’s Gospel, a woman with a bad reputation approaches Jesus, she washed his feet with her tears and cheap perfume[5].  Everyone around objected that Jesus didn’t shoe her from his presence.  What they were saying is “Don’t you know of her sin?”  whereas when Jesus looked at this woman he didn’t see her sin, he saw in her forgiveness and new life[6]. 

It was people like this questionable woman and widow who truly understood the impact of believing that the love of God was without boundaries[7]. 

Once upon a time, there was an IRS Agent[8].  The guy was checking out tax returns when one gentleman’s caught his eye.  The guy claimed an income of under $10,000, yet he claimed to be giving over $1200 to his church.  The agent decided that he was going to investigate.  The agent shows up unannounced at the gentleman’s home the next day.  He was struck by how the gentleman like nearly every person who he encountered wasn’t nervous to be questioned by an IRS agent. 

The agent asked for a giving receipt from the church.  The gentleman calmly goes upstairs to retrieve it.   The agent reviews the receipts for ten seconds realizes this guy is on the level.  The agent apologizes for the bother[9]. 

As the agent is leaving, the gentleman proceeds to invite him to his church.  The agent is struck by the request, “Thanks, but I belong to a church myself[10].”

The gentleman is embarrassed as he declares “Excuse me, that possibility never occurred to me[11].”

The agent couldn’t shake the gentleman’s words, why didn’t he think that he attended a church.  The agent was well-off as we think of it, he went to church nearly every Sunday, yet he would never dream of giving like this gentleman that had so little.

The gentleman just like the widow had unbelievable trust that whatever his circumstances that the Lord would ultimately provide.  One man saw as an act of financial recklessness, the other man saw as an act of faith.  The difference towards life was noticeable. 

The whole point of our lesson seems to be how exactly, we think about being rich and poor is generally wrong.  Let me close with one final story:

Once upon a time, there was a father that wished to give his son a “life lesson” on wealth[12].   The father had done quite well for himself, and the boy was never in need of anything growing up.  The father wished to teach the boy what it was like to be poor, so they traveled to a farm in a foreign country where they spent a few days.  They spent the night at the farm of what they considered to be a low-income family.

So father and son return from the trip, when Dad asks if he enjoyed the trip.  Son replies “It was great[13].”
            Father asked: “Did you see how poor people can be?”
            Son answers: “Oh yeah.”
            Father asks: “What did you learn?” Hoping his life lesson to be effective.
The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four.  We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, and they have a creek that has no end.  We have imported lanterns in our garden, and they have the stars at night.  Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have the whole horizon[14].”

“We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields that go beyond our sight.  We have servants who serve us, but they serve others[15].”

“We buy our food, but they grow theirs.  We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them.” “It showed me just how poor we are[16].”

The Father’s jaw had dropped to the ground at such an answer.  The little boy was just like Jesus within the Temple; he understood something about the real difference between poverty and abundance regardless of what every other onlooker might see. 

My Grandma was a widow as a relatively young woman.  She was never one to stay in a job for very long.  She never had much to give when living on her own! She would never be the first target of any church’s stewardship campaign.  When Grandma did give, she was undoubtedly way more dramatic than the widow within our lesson.  Grandma though taught me something value about the nature of generosity.
The greatest givers are not always though with the most to give.  She gave not out of fear, force, or to get praise from others; she gave because she believed that God had not abandoned her through all quirks. Amen

 
             
[1] Mark 12:38-44. 
[2] Markquardt, Ed. “Hannah and 2%, the Widow’s Mite.” Sermons from Seattle. Web. Oct.25.2018. 
[3] “Lesson of the widow’s mite.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 16.Feb. 2018. Web. Oct.25.2018. 
[4] Mark 12:43-44. 
[5] Mark 14:3-9
[6] Stier, Leon. “Seeing Others as Jesus Sees Them (part one).” Email Mediatations. 2.June.2015. Web. Oct.25.2018. 
[7] Stier, Leon. “Seeing Others as Jesus Sees Them (part one).” Email Mediatations.
[8] Zingale, Tim. “Sacrifical Lifestyle.” Sermon Central. 3.Nov.2003. Web. Oct.25.2018. 
[9] Zingale, Tim. “Sacrifical Lifestyle.” Sermon Central.
[10] Zingale, Tim. “Sacrifical Lifestyle.” Sermon Central.
[11] Zingale, Tim. “Sacrifical Lifestyle.” Sermon Central.
[12] Stier, Leon. “What is Rich? What is Poor?” Email Mediatations. 22. Aug.2018. Web. Oct.25.2018.  Taken from a Facebook page by Dan Dan Asmussen. 
[13] Stier, Leon. “What is Rich? What is Poor?” Email Mediatations.
[14] Stier, Leon. “What is Rich? What is Poor?” Email Mediatations.
[15] Stier, Leon. “What is Rich? What is Poor?” Email Mediatations.
[16] Stier, Leon. “What is Rich? What is Poor?” Email Mediatations.