Opening Prayer: Lord, may your Word proclaimed transform our lives to serve you daily in love and humility. Amen

Hmmmm. No, I can’t do it. I can’t preach on the widow’s offering, not so soon after our month of stewardship sermons. Besides, it would not do much good- I am still not ready to put all my discretionary money into the offering, let alone all that we have to live on. No, like the others in this account, Carol and I are not putting ourselves in danger of falling into poverty, as we give out of our abundance.

Now that may not be the case for some of you in these difficult economic times; I have read statistics that show that those near the poverty line give a greater percentage of their income to charity than those who are considered wealthy. If that is you, then I can only say “Bless you for your faithfulness”. But if I were to preach such a sermon- you would be listening to a hypocrite, at least in this matter, though I am surely a hypocrite in other areas as well.

Of course, it would have been helpful if Mark’s story of this event had included a follow-up on this widow showing that a miracle occurred in her life, similar to our OT lesson of the widow and her son who served God’s prophet Elijah with her last handful of meal and jug of oil. You remember, the small amount of meal and oil fed her entire household until the Lord again sent rain.

Wouldn’t it have been a better story if the widow who gave her last penny then found true love and married wealth, or something else good had happened to her. Then maybe we would be more willing to part with our retirement funds. Of course that would be too easy and would ruin the whole message of this story. We might be tempted to give more-- to get more. And suddenly we would be no better than those who gave out of their abundance- probably even worse.

But, I said I was not going to preach on stewardship. Besides, every preacher I have ever heard has ignored the first half about the scribes and used the widow’s offering as the basis for a stewardship sermon . I just couldn’t do it- I don’t like to take the easy way out. I like a challenge. So, all I can say is “Watch out scribes, here it comes!”

If I am going to preach about scribes, perhaps we should all be clear as to what a scribe is/was. There are over 60 references to scribes in the four gospels and they are also mentioned in the OT. They were the educated elite in Jewish society who had two functions: first, to teach the scriptures to the people (like catechism and Bible study instructors) and to be advisors to the priests as well, because they were well versed in the Torah, the Psalms and the Prophets; and second, to use their knowledge of scripture to judge disputes between people under Jewish law - this is why they are often referred to as lawyers. So scribes were essential to Jewish society and to maintaining the cultural traditions in an increasingly Hellenistic- we would say secular world. But they were not a sect, like the Pharisees and Sadducees. In fact both sects of Judaism had their own set of scribes- I suppose so they could argue their theological positions against each other. 

Well, in chapters 11 and 12 of Mark we read of Jesus’ encounters with priests, scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem- which we celebrate as Palm Sunday. His first encounter is with the temple priests and scribes after he chases out the money changers and again the next day when they gang up on him and demand to know by what authority he did such a thing. Later he tells the parable of the vineyard which ends with his quoting scripture to them “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Unable to shake him, they send him to the Pharisees who try to trick him into saying they should not pay taxes to the emperor- but he does not take the bait. So, the Sadducees ask him about the resurrection of the dead, and he confounds them, too.

And then Mark tells of the lone scribe who had been listening to all these disputes and who was impressed by Jesus’ answers.
We read in chapter 12, vs 28-34: "One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question."

So, we have a scribe who gets it, who has a good theology- he is close. The only thing he lacks is the recognition that Jesus is the promised one of God. And, this scribe did not seem to get the humor of Jesus’ answer ---that he, the scribe, really was “not far from the kingdom of God”—who was standing right next to him in fact! 
Though this scribe has shown that he understands the heart of the scriptural message, only four verses later in Mark’s account we hear Jesus take his fellow scholars and interpreters of the law to task; Jesus says to his disciples “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and be greeted with respect in public and sit in the best seats of the synagogues and banquets.”

To be clear, Jesus recognized the scribes’ value to Jewish society and more importantly to maintaining the faith of the people. They were instruments of God’s divine plan. But, their power and authority had gone to their heads; they had perverted their ministry. The humility they should have felt as interpreters of God’s law was replaced by pride. And you know all about pride: David Rhodes says pride is like a dandelion; its roots go deep and no matter how much you try to cut it out of your life, it grows back- time and again. And its seeds can take root in the smallest crevices of the heart. But the real problem with pride is that “it feeds on goodness.”

Jesus is saying that some of these good people- these scribes, important to the Jewish faith and culture, wanted to be recognized for the important people they were, so they took to wearing special robes, and then people began to want to be seen with them, so they invited them to their parties and put them in visible positions at the banquet table. Soon these scribes not only felt privileged, but they came to believe that society owed them, and they began to manipulate the law to their own gain- taking advantage of the helpless.

As scholars, the scribes knew the law was to protect the helpless. Our Psalm for today speaks of the Lord executing justice for the oppressed, giving food to the hungry, setting the prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, lifting up those who are bowed down, watching over strangers, upholding widows and orphans. This is the law he writes in our hearts. The law is not a list of “thou shalt nots”, it is a list of “thou shall”, because if we care for those who can do nothing for us, then we don’t need to be told what we should not do- we are living the law in our hearts.

No, it was not being a scribe, a teacher of the law, that Jesus warned his disciples about- it was the failure of the scribes to understand that the law is written first in our hearts and then on paper. It was not the letter of the law that Jesus commanded his followers to obey, it was the law written in their hearts- the law that he demonstrated in his daily life: he cared for the poor, the sick, the widows and children- the powerless.

Perhaps this is a way to make my point- if Jesus were among us now- what would his words of warning be? Allow me to give it a try, ---and may God forgive me if I offend anyone.

Perhaps he would have said, “Beware of Christians who wear a cross or carry a Bible in public. Beware of bumper sticker Christians. Beware of Christians who pray out loud with their family at a fast food restaurant. Beware of Christians who quote scripture or paste John 3:16 stickers in bathrooms. Beware of Christians who cross themselves in church or say Amen during sermons. Beware of the Christian who tells people who are suffering that they will pray for them. Beware of those Christian athletes who kneel and pray or point to heaven when they score a goal, or thank Jesus during post game interviews. For these Christians treat their neighbors poorly, but go to church every Sunday. They will receive the greater condemnation.” Ouch!

Do you do any of those things? I have. Certainly when people do these things they are showing us that they are Christians. And I suppose people know I am a Christian because they may have seen me pray in the college cafeteria or have seen my open Bible next to the easy chair in my office.

The number one criticism I have heard of Christians is that we are hypocrites. And why shouldn’t nonChristians say that? We put a bumper sticker proclaiming our faith and then cut someone off with our car or yell obscenities when we don’t like their driving.

We wear a cross around our neck, but lace our conversation with obscenities or gossip. We say amen during sermons, but the word of God proclaimed does not change our behavior when we leave the church.

Often I hear some Christians, and I have been guilty of this, condemn other Christians and congregations who make a show of their faith in public – maybe using these verses of scripture as our justification. But is that what Jesus is condemning? Isn’t it possible that their actions do bring some to Christ who are at a crisis in their lives and need the saving power of Jesus thrust at them at that moment? Judging the motives of those who make a show of their faith is another way to be a hypocrite.

In these chapters of Mark, Jesus is taking on the religious authorities and pointing out their hypocrisies- and only he has the right to judge. If there is any one message of Jesus about our outward show of faith, it is a message of the heart. He is always asking us- what is in your heart? The prophet Samuel said, “The Lord sees not as a man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” In Psalm 51 we read “Create in me a clean heart O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Jesus says “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.”

It is so hard to be humble. Like the scribes- we can easily get sucked into believing we are better than our nonChristian neighbors, even other Christians. Yes, pride does feed on goodness.

There is a phrase that we all tend to use when we see someone who is having trouble in their life “There, but for the grace of God, go I”. It is a terrible phrase; it implies that God has chosen them to suffer because of their sinfulness. Is it for the grace of God that I am employed and that so many others in this community, in this congregation, are not? Are they not graced by God? I don’t think any of us really believe that.

In this passage Jesus is not warning us about scribes, nor is he condemning them for their vital function as teachers and lawyers. It is ego and pride, like that of the scribes, that Jesus is condemning. It is ego and pride in our own religiosity that makes us think that we deserve the abundance God has bestowed on us. We need to continually remind ourselves that it is because of the grace of God received through the body and blood of Jesus that we should desire to give generously not just to our congregation’s daily needs, but to our local food pantry and the pastor’s discretionary fund, and the Wernle Home for Children, and the ELCA Hunger Appeal and the Lutheran Disaster Relief fund and the missionaries we send out on our behalf- just to name a few.

It is because of the grace of God that we should desire to work for justice for the oppressed, welcome the stranger, comfort the grieving. Through our generosity – in money and in service- we let the powerless and those in need know that the grace of God is still with them. He has not abandoned them, just as he has not abandoned us- hypocrites that we are.

If we are going to make an outward show of our faith, let it be from our heart as we worship the God who gives abundantly- and as we give generously from our heart of our time and treasure in our selfless, humble service to those who need to know that the grace of God is with them.