Two Coins in the Temple

 When the widow put her two in the offering plate, Jesus said:

“Truly this poor widow put more in the treasury. 

All of them have contributed out of their abundance,

 but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, 

all she had to live on.”

Adapted from Mark 12:38-44

Come Stewardship Sunday, one of the most common texts you will hear is Mark 12:41-44 focusing on the widow as a model of sacrificial giving.

It’s one I used often for the same reason; make a sacrificial offering for the ministries of the church.

Another way I used the text was to highlight the difference between God’s ways and our ways.

The scribes paraded around the marketplace in their robes while they “devour widow’s houses” while this poverty-stricken widow gives her last two coins to the temple.

The widow, therefore, is a model disciple because she gave all she had.

There’s a problem here; it doesn’t seem like Jesus to ask a destitute woman to give all she had to God.

Jesus, as a Rabbi, would certainly know the scriptures don’t demand the poor to give everything they have to God.

Jesus would also know the probable reason the woman was destitute was that her husband died leaving her nothing; no adult son for support, no brothers, sisters, mother, father, or fields.

More than that, if the leaders had kept the law and loved God, the widow would not have been poor.

When the destitute widow put her two last coins in the wealthy temple, which hardly needed her coins, the purpose of the temple was called into question.

Jesus’ teaching is asking, when does a temple of God lose its reason to exist?

There are many ways to answer that question in today’s society.

For me, a glaring one is misunderstanding or misusing scripture.

A Day the Lord Gave

This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Ps.118:24

The beauty of the day is not that it is new, but that we are being made new.

The glory of the day is not that it marks a change, but that we are being changed.

The blessing of the day is not that it is a day off, but that it is the Lord’s Day.

R.C. Sproul Jr.

The day began with my first-ever distressing case of acid reflux.

A call to The Dr. resulted in a prescription for omeprazole (Prilosec) which the pharmacist dispensed along with 2 pages of “instructions, warnings, and in some cases” comments.

Returning home I immediately took a pill, without reading directions, and my body began a disagreeable adjustment to the medication.

A portion of the adjustment was not being able to write last Monday’s “Reflections”, which I enjoy.

It’s Friday, and the Structured Me said it’s time to reflect on the Day the Lord gave.

I have reason to rejoice because in reflecting on the unexpected I came to realize a new experience as a time to look for a Creating God.

And then looking I saw God’s Re-Creation of a new day in the Morning sun on the autumn leaves.

The pause in my thinking as giving time to recognize this on-going re-creation and to give thanks even as I was in a time of confusion and concern.

Thanks be to God for the Day the Lord gave!!!

The Brother's Foolish Request

James and John, the sons of Zebedee,

came forward to him and said to him,

“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?”

And they said to him,

“Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."

(from Mark 10:35-45)

I have a passion for historic train rides.

That’s why I drove 6 hours to ride the Conway Scenic Railway to Crawford Notch.

That same passion led me to New Hampshire and the Mount Washington Cog Railway, the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway,

The epic ride, however, was the narrow-gauge rail through the San Juan Mountains along the Animas River from Durango to Silverton, Colorado which has run continuously since 1881 transporting silver and gold ore.

Along with the history came the breathtaking view of the river flowing along the canyon’s floor and the canyon’s walls which one could almost touch from the open-aired coach.

As the train ascended the canyon with the incredible landscape of its walls and river below, I was overwhelmed with God’s presence.

I knew I would arrive at Silverton, but wanted the experience to continue eternally.

This train ride was my baptism into the glory of God’s wilderness creation.

James and John had their baptism into servanthood with Jesus.

Experiencing the life-changing ministry of Jesus of healing the sick and forgiving sinners, they wanted to be leaders in this movement.

They ask to be appointed one on the right and one on the left when Jesus enters glory.

Jesus asks about their willingness and ability to serve the same type of people and undergo the same suffering he does.

They arrogantly reply, “Certainly we are able!”

OK, says Jesus, knowing James and John didn’t get the question, you will drink from the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism, but God does the seating arrangement.

Unlike James and John, we know what train we’re traveling.

It’s the train of our baptism covenant with Jesus to build God’s kingdom by resisting evil, injustice and oppression even when oppression seems as high as a canyon wall or injustice as deep as a canyon gorge.