Castles of Stuff, Mountains of Things
Sermon by Pastor Gary Brinn
November 15th, 2009
Sermon Text: Luke 20:45 – 21:6
In the hearing of many people Jesus said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of these rich; for they have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
When some people were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Sermon
We know the numbers. Less Americans are going to church than ever, less identify as Christians, and the children we do manage to raise in our congregations stop going to church the moment they leave the nest.
If we ask the “un-churched” what Christianity means, we might get a glimpse into the cause of our decline. Non-Christians will tell you that our faith is made up of obsessed busy-bodies with lots of rules, that the greatest purpose of this religion is to stamp out homosexuality. Other non-Christians might mention the televangelists, with their prosperity theology. This is the God who will make you rich just as soon as you give it all away, checks payable to Pastor Osteen please…
This is not to say that all Christians behave in this way. In fact, we can point to many Christians who do real good in the world, who have chosen the prophetic tradition… who feed and heal and visit and clothe and who proclaim the right and real Kingdom of God, women and men who have rejected the priestly trajectory and have chosen to follow Christ. But even in our best churches, even at our best, this is difficult and rare.
Christianity as commonly perceived and as commonly lived has mostly ignored the teachings of Jesus. For example, how much energy is spent arguing about sex? Yet Jesus rarely speaks on the subject, and when he does all he says is “the person you are sleeping with is not the person to whom you are married. Go and sin no more.”
What Jesus does speak about, again and again, obsessively, we’d rather ignore. Jesus spends his entire ministry denouncing legalism, self-righteousness and greed. Sure, Satan shows up in the gospels… sure, the end time, the eschaton, takes up some text. But again and again it is everyday human conduct that Jesus condemns.
Legalism… the Scribes and the Pharisees and the minutia of hundreds of laws, many of which needed to be re-interpreted for changing times. Boy did they ever have a policies and procedures manual, it even made ours look puny! And enforcement and interpretation of those rules not only took up a ton of energy, it also preserved the power of the elite, it was a subtle system of control, as are all bureaucratic rule books. It was a system which ensured the legalistic were profitably employed. Legalism and obsessive attention to rule and procedure remains one of the greatest threats to a living faith, remains a threat to this faith.
Then there was Jesus’ attack on self-righteousness. We see a bit of that in today’s gospel. The idea that we are better than others, that we can judge others. And hey, I’m guilty of it too… I haven’t had particularly loving thoughts about some of the racist and reactionary groups that have been dominating the media, have been dominating our public discourse. This is my own cross of self-righteousness… I am more than happy to proclaim the splinters in the eyes of others: I am a “holier-than-thou” progressive. Jesus had no tolerance for self-righteousness. In fact, despite the hagiographies that make every follower of Jesus into a near perfect saint, our Savior surrounded himself with knuckleheads and scoundrels, with the unclean and unacceptable. Would we welcome those followers of Jesus into our fellowship hall?
And finally, Jesus takes on greed. Caesar’s coin, the “Eye of the Needle,” and from today’s gospel, the “Widow’s Mite.” It is my duty on this Stewardship Sunday to ask you to give to the church, to the people of God, as the widow did. And no, I don’t mean give two copper coins. The gospel commands us to give beyond our comfort zone, to give more than we think we can.
I’d love to see each and every one of us dig a little deeper this year… this is a world in need. People need healing, they need food, they need shoes and gas cards and a hand to hold and a shoulder to cry on, and what you give makes this possible. The families in crisis are here, physically in this building, every week, and though you rarely see it, you provide for them. The biblical widows and orphans have become the modern day laid-off, homeless, uninsured… the drifters and wanderers and the mentally ill, struck down by modern day demons like schizophrenia.
And we have this Great Commission. Go forth and make disciples of all nations. And that’s intense and scary and not at all cheap, but if we find joy in Christ, if a life formed in Christ gives us joy, how can we not want to share that Good News? And that’s not cheap, and it takes time and talent…
So yes, I want you to give of your time, of your talent, and of your treasure and to give abundantly, for every one of us experiences the abundance of a stable, safe, wealthy nation… so please give! But I don’t want you to give your very last penny. I believe in miracle, but I can’t quite let go, I still want to have some control, to take care of myself, so I’m not going to ask you to take risks I’m not willing to take myself. In fact, if we all followed Jesus’ example, how would society function? If we all abandoned our jobs, our families, if we all just abandoned everything and acted like Christ, well, that would be a disaster. As in all things, our God calls us to do more, to be more, to risk more, than we can ever dream.
I’m not going to ask you to give the widow’s mite. But I am going to challenge you. You see, all of those things Jesus most hates are human made systems of control. Self-righteousness and legalism are about power… if I can use these weapons I won’t feel so vulnerable. And greed is the same thing. The rich people in the Temple, giving a tiny share of their wealth, these were scared vulnerable people, just like us, and they gave a comfortable amount… not a fearful amount. Fearful giving, that’s what I hear in the widow’s mite. Joyful and fearful, an echo of the scripture that declares us fearfully and wonderfully made… they go hand in hand… great risk, great joy!
Hold back enough to feel safe. Every one of our children on the way to an Ivy League education and a professional degree… big savings accounts… we’ll be safe! We’ve got to hold a little back to feel secure… we dare not risk it all. We’re responsible people! We’ve got obligations! You don’t really expect us to be like Peter! What a deadbeat dad he was!
But the widow gave boldly, gave a terrifying amount… trusted fully in the people of God. Where do you place your trust?
I am afraid to admit that my personal road to hell runs right through the mall. I use retail therapy. I buy and I buy. Why, why are we addicted consumers, why is our entire economy dependent on the flow of junk from cheap manufacture to our homes to the garbage dump? We can look to the post-World War II economic planners to find the answer. Retail analyst Victor Lebow stated it simply: “Our enormously productive economy . . . demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption . . . we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”
The basic human instinct to hold on to enough, to feel secure, this has been manipulated… we have to own and to buy and to control and to medicate… we have advertising on signs, on our televisions, on our buses and on our clothing. Buy, buy, buy. Build a McMansion! Tell everyone about your lovely riverfront apartment. Then you can feel good, then you’ll have control, then… then… then you won’t die.
But you will die. I will die. And our castles full of stuff, our mountains of things, they don’t make one bit of difference.
Self-righteousness was a way of feeling in control. Legalism was a way of feeling in control. Greed is a way of feeling in control. And Jesus tells it straight. We’re not in control. A life in full is a life that risks, that dares, it is a life in God’s grace. Few of us can let go completely, few of us can truly dare, can pick up our staffs, strap on our sandals, and walk in the way of Christ. But can we loosen our grip just a little? Can we trust God just a tiny bit more? Can we believe in grace? Okay, we might not be the widow… but we don’t have to be those rich dudes either. It’s not black and white! A tithe would be nice, but one percent more would be good too. Risk a little this year.
In fact, maybe I can be so bold as to suggest a retail recovery group, a new small group ministry. Maybe we can support one another in re-examining our priorities. Maybe we can listen to Paul and hold one another accountable. What would our lives be like if we rejected the Lebow economic system and declared one week a month a retail-free week? What would our pledges look like if we took the money we would have spent frivolously those twelve weeks and gave it to the church?
This isn’t just about money. Jesus despised the Temple bureaucracy. The last thing he’d want to see is more money in the hands of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In the very next episode he tells us that the jewel-encrusted Temple would soon be destroyed. This isn’t about money, it’s really about freedom, freedom to dare, freedom from our castles of stuff and our mountains of things. Freedom to live, for Christ is freedom.
We want security, a security few in this world enjoy. We want control, even if that control is an illusion. We want to numb ourselves and occupy ourselves and ignore our terror. Yet, there it is again and again. I will die. You will die. Jesus tells us death is not the end, that we cannot allow the fear of death to control our lives. And by the grace of God we believe, we have confidence in Jesus, confidence in our Creator, confidence in the Spirit. But do we have the confidence to live boldly? The confidence to step out of our comfort zones. To ignore rules, to admit our sinfulness, to give until it hurts.
God is calling. Our savior is calling. Do you dare? Dare! Dare! Dare.