Proper 27, Year B
1 Kings 17:8-16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44
Early in my nearly 10 years as your priest, I learned that the ballot box next door in front of the Ballard library is the busiest in the entire county. Every year, but particularly in the years of a presidential election, the street is full of people walking, biking and driving up in order to put their ballots in. Usually at least one news crew shows up to film all the action.
This year they installed a second ballot box and doubled the number of poll workers on hand to make sure everyone’s ballot was properly handled. They installed large portable light stands to illuminate the block in around the boxes. I’m usually at church on Tuesday evenings and I get to witness the many different people who arrive with their ballots in hand. This year I even saw someone on a rented scooter with both hands on the handlebars and their ballot clenched between their teeth!
Even though I live in another neighborhood, I am always proud to vote here in Ballard because I am invested in this community and this is where many know me as the “Vicar of Ballard.” This year someone who is very dear to me voted for the first time in their life. They took the time to learn about the issues and consider why it was important to make their vote heard. As they went off to the ballot box, I jumped to my feet with a standing ovation!
Every person who comes to that box, does so with hope. They are trying, the best they know, to vote for the people and policies that will most closely represent what they value. They are not voting for the Messiah or to bring the Kingdom of God on earth but they are making their most informed choice about what might be best for them and their country. There are no perfect choices. Sometimes there is no clear choice. This year I was so torn on one of the initiatives that I crossed out my original “no” and changed it to a “yes.”
When you stand in the corner of this room, where our children gather every Sunday, you can look out and see the park, the street, Bartell’s and the whole front and inside of the library. You can see the children playing, check out the skateboarders, observe the shoppers, see our many unsheltered neighbors hanging out and, on Election Day, watch all the different people who are voting. They are not participating in a perfect system, their vote is neither moral nor immoral although it is informed by values. Voting is no more holy or unholy than the many activities involved with participation in a democratic society.
Voting is a reflection of what people treasure, what they care deeply about. And it is the reason why it is so painful when an election does not go the way you hoped, even when the margin is close.
Jesus positioned himself next to a busy area of Jerusalem. He sat down opposite the treasury for the Temple. From this position he could see the wide variety of people coming up publicly to make their contribution to the maintenance of the religious system that the Temple represents. The Temple contained the holy of holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant resided and sacrifice was made. But it also represented the central place of Jewish identity and society. More than just worship happened in this building. Cultural, political and economic activities were carried out in its environs.
You can imagine who Jesus might have observed as he watched the crowd. He saw the religiously devout who served as priests, scribes and lawyers for the religious system. There were individuals from villages and rural areas outside of Jerusalem since there was only one Temple for the entire nation of Israel. In fact, Jesus was from Galilee far in the north and like many Jews only came to Jerusalem rarely and usually for special festivals. There were men and women, individuals and families, the religiously devout and those who only came for Passover or Hanukkah. There were the fabulously rich, the desperately poor and everyone else in between.
Jesus watched them all. And the Bible tells us that Jesus loved them all. He was born into this world out of God’s love and his life would end on a cross because of the love he bore for all, even his enemies and persecutors. Every one he observed he knew as a child of the Holy One, beloved and valued. He could see their wounds and struggles as well as their pride and greed. He knew they were capable of both tremendous goodness and reprehensible evil. They never saw him sitting there, but he was watching.
Here’s something that is interesting and that you might not realize if you haven’t read the next 15 verses in Mark’s gospel. Jesus is watching all these people give financial support for the Temple, the greatest building in the country, the symbol of so much for the people of God. Just a few days later, Jesus will stand in front of the Temple and proclaim that that “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Not only will the Temple be destroyed, but he himself will be captured, tortured and put to death and his followers will be beaten and arrested.
With all this in mind – the imminent destruction of the Temple, his own upcoming death and the upheavals that are ahead for his followers – Jesus notices one person in particular. He singles her out from the crowds and points her out to his disciples. Why? Her gift of two coins seems foolish and useless. She is already poor and at risk since she is a widow without anyone to protect or provide for her. Her two small coins won’t make any difference in the costly upkeep of the Temple. And Jesus knows that the Temple won’t even be there in a few years. Why should she give all she has to a building that will be destroyed?
And what about his disciples? He keeps trying to tell them that he will be killed soon. Why should they keep following him if he is to be rejected and die? What will happen to them if their Lord is gone? They have given up everything to follow him. They had hoped for so much – freedom for their country, places of honor for themselves, peace, and a new regime where they would no longer be oppressed. Why should they give their all if everything they’ve worked and longed for will be destroyed?
Jesus has been watching them. He has observed their confusion and their petty quarrels about who will be the greatest. He has seen them exhibit terrific courage and run away with fear. He knows some will betray him, others will deny him and many will doubt. He is well aware of their limitations.
He loves them. And he know they love him as well. He has faith in them. Just as he observes the widow, in her poverty, giving her all, he has seen his disciples give their all to follow him. He believes that they are capable of greater love and service than they know themselves. He knows that they will receive his Spirit to empower and guide them after his resurrection. He is willing to entrust the future of God’s Kingdom to them, even knowing everything he does about them.
Friends, God knows none of us is perfect. We sometimes feel utterly hopeless and out of control. We have been beaten down by life’s circumstances. We may have become lost in grief or overwhelmed with rage. We have made terrible mistakes and are broken and damaged, sometimes in ways that no one but God can see. And yet here we are, showing up again in our faith and doubt, in our hopes and fears, in joy and sorrow. We are coming to Jesus to be fed with the bread of life, to drink the cup of salvation. We are coming into community with others to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven, to be seen (at least a little) for who we truly are.
The radical act of faith is to offer up all we are and all we have to God and to find it held and transformed in ways we could never expect or imagine. We are praying to see the world as Jesus sees us and to love the world as God loves us. We may only have two small coins to offer, but we give them with all our faith, hope and love into the hands of the One who is able to bring hope in despair, light in the darkness and life out of death. Amen.
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