My Two Cents

My Two Cents

Rev. Karla Miller

           Mark 12: 38-44 (Widow’s Mite) 

               November 12, 2012             

So, the Big Papi signed a two year extension contract with Red Sox, worth at least 26 million dollars.   Some question whether it was a good move, considering Ortiz’ age, and limited play this past season because of an injury.   

So, what do you think?  Good for the Sox, or not? 

You want to know my two cents?   

It’s a heck of a lot of money just to hit a ball, and I think it is definitely good for Big Papi!

Oh, and did you hear?  

This breaking news:  Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez broke up last week. 

My two cents?  Who cares?  (Well, perhaps a lot of Justin Bieber fans who dream about him.)  

If you don’t know who Justin Bieber is, no worries--

but again, that’s just my 2 cents.  

That’s Just My Two Cents.  It’s a funny turn of phrase, isn’t it?   We usually use it when we are expressing an opinion about something, and then we add it as a qualifier, meaning, well, this is my opinion, but it’s not really worth that much so you can take it or leave it. 

I think more often than not we use it to express opinions we really do believe are important, but adding the qualifier makes it a more humble opinion, or if someone doesn’t agree with our opinion, well then it looks like we don’t really care about our opinion.   But, again, that’s just my two cents.  

But what if...

all you had were two cents?  Like the widow in the gospel?  What would you do with it then?

It’s important to consider this story in the context of how and why Jesus is in the temple in the first place.  From chapter 11, we can ascertain that it is Tuesday of the Passion Week.

Two days before, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, where the crowds applauded and cheered for him.  He makes a stop at the Temple, looks around, and then returns to Bethany, where he is staying with Mary and Martha.    The next day, Jesus goes back to the Temple, and starts creating havoc--by throwing tables around and driving out the moneychangers and those selling doves. 

*Now, Jesus wasn’t necessarily upset at the  commercial activity going on in the temple--in fact  The Temple performed many financial functions, including operating as a central bank and treasury. 

He was upset with corruptness of some of the transactions.  For example, the moneychangers conducted their business on behalf of wealthy Jerusalem families, and their exchange rates were criminal--sometimes as high as 50%.   Can you say loan shark?  

Secondly, doves were an appropriate sacrifice for the poor, but those who were selling the doves inflate the price of doves so much that even the poor couldn’t afford them.  Therefore, the poor couldn’t participate in the cleansing sacrifices that were an essential practice of atonement and forgiveness of their religion.  

After the upset, on Tuesday, Jesus returns to the Temple, and launches into a critique of the Temple establishment, including the priests, and elders, Pharisees and the Sadducees.  

And our gospel opens with Jesus skewering the scribes, who were the Temple lawyers.   Jesus mocks their ostentatiousness--prancing in long robes, clamoring for seats of honor.  But what really gets into Jesus craw is the real damage they do, by “devouring the house of the widows.”    You see, when someone died, the scribes would swoop in to manage the deceased person’s estate, naturally charging a fee for their services.  However, their services were rife with embezzlement and exploited the widows.  They accompanied their exploits with long, showy prayers.

One can see why Jesus called these guys out on the carpet.  

So then, Jesus sits down by the treasury.   The treasury was located in the Court of Women.  It consisted of 13 chests into which people threw their offerings.  This was quite an open procedure.  Donors would state publicly the amount of their gift and the purpose for which it was given.  That such a system might generate some "showing off" would not be surprising.   

After observing the rich, and one poor beggar widow-- He states that the woman gave the most, because she gave, literally, “all she had to live on.”

But note, Jesus does not laud the woman or even suggest that anyone ought to emulate her.   Rather, she is a representative of the on-going exploitation of the poor by the Temple elite--not only do they devour widows houses, but they took at least one woman’s entire life.   She is  representative of the on-going exploitation of the poor by the Temple elite, who do not heed the prophet Jeremiah’s(7:1-15)  warning that  only if  “you do not oppress the alien, the orphan and the widow” will the Lord God “dwell with you in this place.”    This warning is on point in the first century Temple.   

 (*adapted from  John Petty on November 02, 2009 http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2009/11/lectionary-blogging-mark-12-3844.html)

So, what is this for us?   Most of us aren’t going around exploiting widows or taking the last pennies from the poorest of the poor.  That happens, I believe, but not necessarily with the good folk at Eliot.  

It’s hard, but I think the distinction for us, as people of the top 3% wealthiest of the world (yes, I did the calculations) is not so much what we give, but what we care about.   

And this is where it gets complicated.  

The widow, somehow, no matter if she was applauded by JC or not, cared that her all was given to the treasury of the Temple.  God only knows why, but her two coins showed that whatever it was, she wanted to give it.  

The temple, accepted it, caring for funding, rather than for her--directly opposite of the prophets teaching.  

What if you truly only had two cents?   What would be worth giving your all for?  

Would it be for the speaking out for the rights to education for girls in Pakistan, like the girl, Malala, who blogged about this, and survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban?  

Would it be for making sure that war veterans had all of the treatments necessary for PTSD and other issues, to the point that you founded a non-profit called “Operation Freedom Paws”, matching vets with service dogs in order to enhance their quality of life, like Mary Cortani?

Yesterday, I met someone who left everything, her family, her home, and sold her car, so that she might get an education--not only to better her family’s life, but the lives of school children in her country.  

I think we are being called, to consider truly, what we would give our all for, not just individually, but as a community.   What is it that we would give our all for, what and who do we care for enough to give it all?  

I don’t know what your answer is, or our answer, but it bears considering.

And that, beloved, is my two cents, for today.   

Amen.