Proper 27; Pentecost 26
Preaching
Preaching Mark's Gospel
A Narrative Approach
This week's Gospel text skips only Mark 12:35-37 from the ending of the assigned lesson for the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Chapter 30 sets the context for Mark 12:35-37, 38-44. Jesus is answering questions in this section which would appear to be the kinds of questions that Pharisaic Jews who had witnessed the destruction of the temple and who believed Jesus to be the promised Messiah might ask. The issue in Mark 12:35-37 is that of the relationship between David of old, to whom the promise of an everlasting Messiah was made, and the One who would come, who proclaimed himself to be the Messiah. In addressing this question Jesus gives a kind of riddle that must be given final answer by his listeners: "ƒ so how can he be his son?"
The key to Jesus' complicated argument is his assertion, through the quote from Psalm 110:1, that the Messiah will sit at the right hand of God. In this coded message Jesus points to the importance of the final days for the determination of the true character of the Messiah. The Messiah must die and be raised again in order to fulfill the promises made to David. As in Jesus' other teachings throughout this Gospel, it is through the death of the Promised One that God fulfills the promises made of old. The death of the Anointed One plays a major role in Mark's Gospel. The story of Mark is the story of the Crucified Messiah.
This week's appointed verses, 38-44, contain teachings on two different kinds of piety. There is, first of all, a false kind of piety. The scribes exemplify such piety. They want the best seats in the house as a reward for their piety. They want the places of honor. They devour widows and pray long prayers. The Hebrew Bible is filled with all kinds of admonitions that people ought to care for widows, aliens and orphans (Deuteronomy 10:18; 14:28-29; 24:1-22, and so forth). Piety that devours widows, therefore, is no piety at all. Neither is this the kind of piety that we have just heard spoken of in vv. 28-34. True piety, on the other hand, is like the piety of the poor widow who put everything she had into the treasury. Out of her poverty she gave her all. The clearest analogy to this story is the story of the rich man in Mark 10:17-31. He knew all the commandments. He had kept them from his youth. He was sure that his pious life would qualify him for eternal life. But he lacked one thing. He couldn't give all his possessions to God's service. So the rich man leaves Jesus in exceeding sorrow. He is a clear contrast to the widow, who lacked nothing in relation to the service of God. She gave all and was filled with exceeding joy!
We have discussed in an earlier chapter that the rich man sent away by Jesus is an example of thorny ground. "Thorny ground" people are those "ƒ who hear the word, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing" (Mark 4:18-19). The widow, on the other hand, is clearly good soil. The word has come to life in her bearing fruit, "ƒ thirty and sixty and a hundredfold" (Mark 4:20).
The story of the sorrowful rich man in Mark 10:17-31 ends with the familiar gospel saying: "But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." This saying surely fits our two stories for this week as well. The scribes in all of their public piety will be last. The widow who gave her penny will be first. In the reign of God such upside down logic is quite common!
Homiletical Directions
We stand here with another one of those texts from Scripture which is absolutely embarrassing for many Christian Americans. There are Christians in America who teach that wealth will be the reward for the true life of faith. They will have to skip over this story as quickly and as quietly as possible. There are many Americans in America who teach that wealth is the sure sign of success in our culture. Such is always the temptation in a capitalistic culture. Acquiring capital is the name of the game. Those who acquire are those we often admire. They have made it! It is their pictures we see on television and in countless magazines. We don't see many pictures of widows, or of anyone else for that matter, who give their last penny away. (Mother Teresa is an exception to this rule!)
So this simple text is a bombshell. Do any of us dare let it speak with its radically different vision of society? If we are not prepared to speak of this story in a way that grates on the American conscience perhaps we should not preach it at all. This text means what it says after all! That's the problem.
We have mentioned the story of the rich man in Mark 10:17-31 as a story in narrative analogy with this week's story. This is clearly one move we can make for preaching. We can put these stories side by side and basically let them speak for themselves. In the reign of God it is simply the case that by the world's standards the "first will be last and the last first." In the reign of God the rich man who has kept all the commandments is finally just so much thorny ground, while the widow with nothing is good soil. It may not be possible to explain this! Jesus doesn't explain it. He just tells the stories. We can do the same. Just tell the stories and let the Holy Spirit work through them in order to change the consciousness of those who hear. It may be that consciousness gets changed more through the simple juxtaposition of stories than it does through word upon word of didactic explanation.
The widow who gives her last penny is another of the "little people" in Mark who are the great heroes and heroines of the faith. This reality certainly suggests approaches to this text which are not based on telling Markan stories alone. As pastors we are well aware of the "little people" in our congregations who approach the widow's zeal in giving or in other areas of service of the gospel. Perhaps we should celebrate this Sunday as "little people" Sunday. Tell the story of the widow as the "matron saint of the 'little people.' " Then tell contemporary stories of "little people." "The first shall be last and the last first" can be the theme of such story telling if we desire to have a theme. A central theme may not be necessary in this case. Just let the stories speak for themselves.
The key to Jesus' complicated argument is his assertion, through the quote from Psalm 110:1, that the Messiah will sit at the right hand of God. In this coded message Jesus points to the importance of the final days for the determination of the true character of the Messiah. The Messiah must die and be raised again in order to fulfill the promises made to David. As in Jesus' other teachings throughout this Gospel, it is through the death of the Promised One that God fulfills the promises made of old. The death of the Anointed One plays a major role in Mark's Gospel. The story of Mark is the story of the Crucified Messiah.
This week's appointed verses, 38-44, contain teachings on two different kinds of piety. There is, first of all, a false kind of piety. The scribes exemplify such piety. They want the best seats in the house as a reward for their piety. They want the places of honor. They devour widows and pray long prayers. The Hebrew Bible is filled with all kinds of admonitions that people ought to care for widows, aliens and orphans (Deuteronomy 10:18; 14:28-29; 24:1-22, and so forth). Piety that devours widows, therefore, is no piety at all. Neither is this the kind of piety that we have just heard spoken of in vv. 28-34. True piety, on the other hand, is like the piety of the poor widow who put everything she had into the treasury. Out of her poverty she gave her all. The clearest analogy to this story is the story of the rich man in Mark 10:17-31. He knew all the commandments. He had kept them from his youth. He was sure that his pious life would qualify him for eternal life. But he lacked one thing. He couldn't give all his possessions to God's service. So the rich man leaves Jesus in exceeding sorrow. He is a clear contrast to the widow, who lacked nothing in relation to the service of God. She gave all and was filled with exceeding joy!
We have discussed in an earlier chapter that the rich man sent away by Jesus is an example of thorny ground. "Thorny ground" people are those "ƒ who hear the word, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing" (Mark 4:18-19). The widow, on the other hand, is clearly good soil. The word has come to life in her bearing fruit, "ƒ thirty and sixty and a hundredfold" (Mark 4:20).
The story of the sorrowful rich man in Mark 10:17-31 ends with the familiar gospel saying: "But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first." This saying surely fits our two stories for this week as well. The scribes in all of their public piety will be last. The widow who gave her penny will be first. In the reign of God such upside down logic is quite common!
Homiletical Directions
We stand here with another one of those texts from Scripture which is absolutely embarrassing for many Christian Americans. There are Christians in America who teach that wealth will be the reward for the true life of faith. They will have to skip over this story as quickly and as quietly as possible. There are many Americans in America who teach that wealth is the sure sign of success in our culture. Such is always the temptation in a capitalistic culture. Acquiring capital is the name of the game. Those who acquire are those we often admire. They have made it! It is their pictures we see on television and in countless magazines. We don't see many pictures of widows, or of anyone else for that matter, who give their last penny away. (Mother Teresa is an exception to this rule!)
So this simple text is a bombshell. Do any of us dare let it speak with its radically different vision of society? If we are not prepared to speak of this story in a way that grates on the American conscience perhaps we should not preach it at all. This text means what it says after all! That's the problem.
We have mentioned the story of the rich man in Mark 10:17-31 as a story in narrative analogy with this week's story. This is clearly one move we can make for preaching. We can put these stories side by side and basically let them speak for themselves. In the reign of God it is simply the case that by the world's standards the "first will be last and the last first." In the reign of God the rich man who has kept all the commandments is finally just so much thorny ground, while the widow with nothing is good soil. It may not be possible to explain this! Jesus doesn't explain it. He just tells the stories. We can do the same. Just tell the stories and let the Holy Spirit work through them in order to change the consciousness of those who hear. It may be that consciousness gets changed more through the simple juxtaposition of stories than it does through word upon word of didactic explanation.
The widow who gives her last penny is another of the "little people" in Mark who are the great heroes and heroines of the faith. This reality certainly suggests approaches to this text which are not based on telling Markan stories alone. As pastors we are well aware of the "little people" in our congregations who approach the widow's zeal in giving or in other areas of service of the gospel. Perhaps we should celebrate this Sunday as "little people" Sunday. Tell the story of the widow as the "matron saint of the 'little people.' " Then tell contemporary stories of "little people." "The first shall be last and the last first" can be the theme of such story telling if we desire to have a theme. A central theme may not be necessary in this case. Just let the stories speak for themselves.
