Heiwa (Mark 12:28-31)

The scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the most important commandment?” And Jesus responded: Shema yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
This is the first - and most important - commandment, a commandment known as the Shema.
How important is it? According to Deuteronomy, these words of the Shema are to be recited day and night, when you rise, and when you go to bed. They are to be taught to your children. You are to bind them as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead. You are to inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.
Did Jews take this literally, the part about reciting these words and binding them on your hand and forehead and writing them on the doorposts of your house?
Some did. Some still do.
Shema yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
After Jesus gave this answer, he  added that the second most important commandment, very nearly as important as the first, is to love your neighbor as yourself.
In Matthew’s version of this story, Jesus adds that all the other laws, all the other teachings of the prophets, hang on these two commands. And when Jesus says that, I picture a wooden door. Jesus’s father Joseph was a carpenter, and Jesus probably was, too. So Jesus probably built a few doors in his time.
And Jesus knew that doors had to hang from at least two good hinges. You can’t hang a door with just one hinge.
These two hinges, from which the door hangs, are the two commands: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.
And all the other teachings and laws are written on the door.
Sometimes people like to take one of the other teachings or laws, and make them more important than loving God and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. But those other laws and teachings don’t matter if you neglect the hinges. Those other laws and teachings don’t matter if you neglect love for God and love for your neighbor as yourself.
Without those two hinges, the door won’t balance. It won’t balance, it won’t swing right, it won’t open and close right.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.
Remember that, and everything else will stay in balance.

This is what we’ll be talking about on the fifth day of camp at Loch Leven. And the word of the day that goes with it is the Japanese word heiwa.
Now, perhaps you have guessed by now, that all the “words-of-the-day” are related to peace. Aloha. Ubuntu. Shalom. Agape. Heiwa.
Heiwa means peace, but it places an emphasis on harmony and balance.
Which makes it a good word for the fifth day of camp, the day of the two most important commands, the two commands from which everything else hangs. If those two commands are kept in balance, then the rest will hang the way they are supposed to. If those two commands - loving God, and loving your neighbor as yourself - are kept in balance, then you will have a much greater likelihood of following all the commands and all the teachings of the Bible - and doing it correctly, without misinterpreting them.
Heiwa applies to this passage in so many different ways.
The commandment says that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, body, and mind. These things need to be in balance.
How do you love God with all your heart? How do you use your emotions to love God? How do you honor God with your heart?
Maybe the place to start is by noticing that you have emotions. How are you feeling, right now?
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty good at hiding my emotions. If something is bothering me, I try to ignore it. I search for distractions. I think many of us do.
Disneyland is a great distraction - too bad I don’t have an annual pass. Social media is a great distraction - you can see how many likes your last post got, then hit refresh, and see how many more likes your last post got. Game apps can be a great distraction, if you’re in to playing games. TV can be a great distraction. If your emotions are unsettled, just turn on the TV and forget about them. Drugs and alcohol are great distractions. Porn is a great distraction. Even work can be a distraction.
Distractions work, for a while. But if you don’t address the cause of what’s making you feel the way you feel, then those emotions are going to come back.
This is when it’s helpful for me to remember what Thich Nhat Hanh teaches. When you feel any negative emotion, don’t ignore it. Don’t hide it. That emotion is part of you. It’s your baby. And if your baby is crying, you don’t ignore the crying.
Take that emotion, and imagine holding it as if it were your baby. Speak softly to your emotion. Speak compassionately. You are speaking to yourself, after all, and you deserve compassion from yourself.
Speak to that emotion, and say “I’ve got you. I’m going to take care of you. It’ll be alright.”
Just do that, at first. And then, maybe, that emotion will tell you where it came from, and what can be done to transform it into something more positive. And you can honor God by presenting your whole self before God.
Hey! I just realized: if you love God this way, with all your heart - you end up loving yourself at the same time. You are honoring God with your emotions by taking the time to care for your emotions. You’re loving God and loving yourself, and this will help you be better at loving your neighbor. And everything comes into balance.
Heiwa.
OK, let’s move on. How do you love God with all your soul?
Biblically speaking, your soul refers to your whole being. But we think of the soul as that eternal part of who we are, the part most in tune with God.
Either way, all of this is really soul-work, I think. But loving God with all our soul makes me especially think of the spiritual practices that are so helpful to a life of faith. Things like worship. Daily prayer. Bible study. Service to others. Generosity and giving. And fasting - something that we Protestant Christians generally don’t do very well.
And the others, well, some we do better, and some we do worse.
Worship. Daily prayer. Bible study. Service to others. Generosity and giving. Fasting.
Focus on improving any one of these, and you will grow in your ability to love God with all your soul.
How about loving God with all your body?
Psalm 139 has a wonderful poem about the how amazing the human body is. Part of it goes like this:
“...It was you [God] who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.”
I think it’s impossible to study the human body and not be amazed by how it works. ...How light enters the eyes, gets flipped upside down, and registers an image which then gets translated somehow into a message that the brain understands and interprets as “vision…”
...How oxygen enters our bodies, into our lungs, into our bloodstream, providing life, being transformed and breathed out as carbon dioxide (which plants then breathe in and transform back into oxygen)...
...How babies grow into adults, right before our eyes… how our bodies heal themselves when they are injured...how the t-cells in our blood fight off disease...so incredibly amazing, all of it.
Unfortunately, just as we ignore our emotions, we often ignore our bodies. Or we wish we had different bodies. Or we neglect to take care of our bodies.
But our bodies are amazing gifts from God, and we are commanded to love God with all our body, with all our strength.
And finally, how about loving God with all your mind?
When my grandmother was in her 80s, she said to me once, “Do you think it’s OK that I do my crossword puzzle first thing in the morning, before I say my morning prayers?”
Well, I had heard how crossword puzzles help stimulate the mind, especially in older adults, so I said, “Grandma, I think God appreciates that you do a little mind-exercise and strengthen your mind a bit before you talk to him in prayer.”
God wants us to use our minds. God gave us our minds, our intellect. God wants us to study the universe, to learn about the Big Bang and evolution, to understand what we can, and to ponder the marvelous mystery of the things we can’t understand.
And God wants us to use our minds to understand scripture… to recognize that some things in scripture are just ridiculous if you try to interpret them literally, but metaphorically they become very powerful words of truth. There are many stories in scripture that are meaningful not because they are literally true, but because they help us understand deep truths about God and about ourselves.
I really don’t know how a thinking person can not understand this.
Loving God with one’s mind also means using our minds to try to solve some of the world’s most important, most pressing issues. Issues like climate change. We’ve got to stop ignoring science, not to mention common sense, and use our minds on this issue. The entire planet is terribly out of balance - we’ve drifted far from heiwa - and it’s humanity’s fault, and it’s humanity’s responsibility to restore balance to planet Earth.

It’s interesting to me how all of these ways of
loving God also help us better love ourselves and our neighbors. When we follow God’s commands, things really do come back into balance.

Maybe that’s what the very first words of the Shema mean. Shema yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
The Lord is one.
We are one in the Lord.
All things are one.
All things are connected.
It’s not even possible to love God without loving your neighbor or yourself.
In 1 John it says: “Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”
The Lord our God is one, and we are all one in God. Love makes us one.
We forget this, and I think that’s why we get out of balance. That’s why we lose our heiwa.
We lose our heiwa, and the door doesn’t hang straight, when we forget to love God with all our heart, soul, body, and mind, and when we forget to also love ourselves and our neighbors.
But the word of God is always there, always calling us - calling us back to the Lord our God who is one - calling us back to love - restoring peace and balance to our lives.

"Not Far from God's Kingdom" (Mark 12:28-34)

It’s been a rough week in California, hasn’t it?

We had Election Day on Tuesday. Election Day is a great symbol of democracy, but it does take an emotional toll on us, even if we’re pleased with the results…

Then we had a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks. I have many relatives who live in or grew up in Thousand Oaks, and perhaps some of you do as well. Doc Rogers, who grew up here at BKCC, had been scheduled to play with his band at the Borderline Bar & Grill the day after the shooting.

And then of course we have the fires. 100s of thousands are evacuated. Many have lost their homes, and more than a few have died. First Christian Church in Paradise, a Disciples congregation I’ve visited several times, burned to the ground, along with the homes of many of its members. Possibly you know people who have been evacuated, or who have lost their homes.

It’s been a rough week. We’ve all been affected by these events to some extent, and we will lift up those more directly affected in our time of prayer.

I’ll say a little more about this shortly, but now I invite you to turn your attention to our scripture story. The setting is the temple courtyard, a noisy, bustling place, with all sorts of people meeting, gathering, and passing through. Folks on their way to present their offerings. Merchants selling items suitable for those offerings, and moneychangers exchanging Roman currency for acceptable temple currency.

Some had gathered to discuss issues of religion or politics; sometimes these discussions turned into friendly debates, or not-so-friendly disputes.

A certain scribe walking through the temple courtyard overheard one of these disputes. Some Sadducees and Pharisees were challenging a man named Jesus of Nazareth over some issue. Although Jesus was somewhat of an outsider, being from Galilee, the scribe was impressed with how he answered the questions. He sounded like someone who really knew what he was talking about, although many of his answers were unexpected, and some seemed to go against Caesar and the kingdom of Rome.

This made the scribe nervous.

The scribe decided to test Jesus. He wanted to know if Jesus was for real, if he really had the authority that he appeared to have, or if he was just kind of faking it.

The scribe decided to test Jesus with what he thought was the ultimate question, the question to end all questions:

“Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus turned and looked at the scribe. Since he was a scribe - one who makes copies by hand of the ancient law, and one who interprets the ancient law - then he (because he was a scribe) should have already known the answer to the question he was asking.

It would be like my auto mechanic asking me how many turns to tighten the oil filter on my 2010 Toyota Corolla. It would be like Clayton Kershaw asking me to explain the infield fly rule. The one asking the question should already know the answer.

And probably, the scribe did know the answer. But he asked Jesus to test him, so he could make a judgment of him, and decide whether or not he was legit.

“Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus looked at the scribe, and replied: ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one…”

Shema yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.

This declaration is the beginning of the Shema, which appears in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy. The Shema is among the best-known, most-recited phrases in all of Jewish liturgy, and the most essential declaration of the Jewish faith.

Shema yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”

According to Deuteronomy, the words of the Shema are to be recited day and night, when you rise, and when you go to bed. They are to be taught to your children. You are to bind them as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead. You are to inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.

After saying this, Jesus went one step further. Having answered what the first commandment is, Jesus then said that the second commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

It makes sense that this is the second commandment. From our recent study of James we learned that one cannot really love God without loving one’s neighbor. If you say you love God, but you do not love the person you see in front of you, then you don’t really love God. But if you do love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then it goes without saying that you will also love your neighbor as yourself.

The scribe couldn’t help but be impressed by Jesus’ words. Jesus spoke with authority, and he was true to Jewish teaching. There was no way to argue with what Jesus said.

So the scribe said to Jesus: “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.”

Keep in mind that he said this in the temple courtyard even as people were walking past with their burnt-offerings and sacrifices! An entire temple economy was built around burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and this economic activity was taking place all around them, yet the scribe agreed with Jesus that burnt-offerings and sacrifices weren’t as important as loving God and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. He agreed, and he said it out loud. That was a very bold and daring thing to say in the temple.

Even Jesus was impressed. Jesus said to the scribe: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Was that a compliment? It sounds like it.

Then again, “You’re not far from the kingdom of God” could imply that one is not yet in the kingdom of God, which makes it sound almost like an insult.

Or maybe it was a threat.  In the kingdom of Rome, to be associated with any other kingdom was dangerous, to say the least. It was dangerous to talk about the kingdom of God as a distinct, separate kingdom outside of the realm of the Roman Empire.

Or, maybe I'm just reading too much into this. Maybe it's just a statement of fact, spoken with no prejudice and no hidden implication.

However Jesus intended it, it is clear that the kingdom of God was always on his mind. In Mark’s gospel, the very first words Jesus spoke are: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.”

Here it comes! God’s kingdom is now arriving!

The kingdom of God is the world God wants. And the world God wants is a world in which all people are cared for.

In the kingdom of God, power is used to help the less fortunate, the poor, the needy. Strength is given to the vulnerable, and those at the top use their position to help those at the bottom. There is an even-ing out of the social hierarchy.

It is made plain by reading the Bible, from the books of Moses, to the writings of the prophets, to the teachings of Jesus, that this is what the kingdom of God is about.

The Bible says that in the kingdom of God, special attention is given to orphans and widows. In biblical times, orphans and widows were extremely vulnerable to all sorts of calamities. Legal standing and recognition went to adult men, so orphans and widows lacked legal recognition. They lacked the ability to control their own finances, their own property, their own wealth. Only an adult male could do that. That’s why scripture lifts up the plight of orphans and widows so often.

It is this kingdom, in which everyone cares for one another and shows love to one another, and where no one lives in fear, that Jesus says is not far from us.

And yet, it often seems that this ideal world is actually very far from us. We don't seem to be anywhere near God's kingdom.

Widows and orphans needed protection because they lacked legal status.  We know that, today, people's rights are under attack. The rights of transgender people are under attack. The Trump administration is literally trying to legislate them out of existence.

We know that some of the most vulnerable people in the world are immigrants and refugees. They are fleeing danger and violence, trying to find a place where they can simply live. Because they are vulnerable, because they are desperate, they find a special welcome in the kingdom of God.

But today's news headlines are enough to tell us that this world is not the kingdom of God. This world is not the world God wants.

In the kingdom of God there is no war. How can any nation go to war against another if we truly love our neighbors as we love ourselves?

It was exactly one hundred years ago today - November 11, 1918 - that World War I officially came to an end. It was “the war to end all wars.”

Well, what happened? We’ve had so many wars since. So many deaths, so much violence.

In the kingdom of God, swords are beaten into plowshares. Guns are melted down and remade into garden tools. Instead of taking life, they are made into tools that are used to sustain and nurture life.

In the kingdom of God, young people enjoying a night with friends at a bar listening to country music are able to return home, return to school, return to their families, instead of being gunned down in yet another mass shooting.  In the kingdom of God, legislators care about people more than they care about the radical gun lobby that funds their campaigns.

In the kingdom of God, people are able to live in their homes, and feel safe and protected. Climate change is threatening our safety, it is contributing to increasingly devastating wildfires, and our leaders are not taking this threat seriously. Homes are burning. Lives are being destroyed.

This world is not the kingdom of God. This world is not the world God wants. That's true today, and it was true during the Roman Empire.

And yet, Jesus said that the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God has come near. The kingdom of God is NOT far away from ANY of us.

How can that be? How can the world God wants be so near to us, when it seems so very far away?

In the gospel of Luke, there is a story of some Pharisees coming up to Jesus and asking about the kingdom of God. They wanted to know: “When is God’s kingdom coming?” They had been waiting for a long time for God’s kingdom to come.

Generation after generation had been waiting… waiting for a messiah who would bring God’s kingdom to fruition. Waiting for an end to oppression. Waiting for an end to death.

Now, with the Roman Empire in control, it seemed to them that God’s kingdom was further away than ever. They wanted to know: how much longer would they have to wait?

Jesus said, “Don’t you see? God’s kingdom is already among you. It is among you. It is within you. It is already present.

You can live in God’s kingdom whenever you choose.

It sounds too easy… but this is how you can choose to live in God’s kingdom now:

By loving your neighbor as yourself.

By comforting those who mourn.

By defending the rights of transgender persons and all those whose rights are threatened.

By always seeking peaceful, win-win resolutions in each and every conflict.

By actively working to overcome racism and prejudice.

By welcoming strangers, refugees, immigrants...and also by welcoming voters with cookies and coffee.

By visiting with those going through rough times, letting them know that whatever they're going through, they aren't going through it alone...just like all those who are reaching out to fire victims, offering meals, clothing, shelter...

By finding the peace within yourself: breathing deeply, walking in nature, spending time in prayer and meditation… whatever it takes to center yourself in God, to hold on to God, so that God’s peace will overflow in you and reach through you to those around you. Find that peace for yourself, and you can be a foundation of peace for others in these difficult times.

A person whose heart is centered on God has a powerful effect on those around them. In the presence of such a person, one feels a calm peace. If you can find that center, that focus, you can be that person for others.

And the kingdom of God will be present in your midst.

It takes a lot of practice, a lot of discipline, to reach that point.

But here’s a good place to start; if you want to find God’s kingdom, start by doing this...

Spend a few moments, take a few breaths, and say to yourself:

“Hear this, O my soul, and know that the Lord our God, the Lord is one…

In fact, repeat this after me:

The Lord our God, the Lord is one…

And I will love the Lord my God…

With all my heart...

With all my soul...

With all my mind...

With all my strength...

And I will love my neighbor as myself.

Sacrifice (Mark 12:38-44)

I feel bad for this widow.  Don’t we all feel bad for her?  She gave everything she had.  The two measly, almost worthless coins she put into the offering were, according to the scripture, all she had to live on.  More literally translated, they were “her whole life.” 

What compelled her to place her whole life into the treasury box?  What would she live off of now?

There was no social security.  No welfare.  No retirement benefits.  And apparently, no children or other relatives caring for her.  There was nothing.  Those two coins were her whole life.

She wasn’t just a widow.  She was a “poor widow.”  And in the first century, that’s saying something, since all  widows, lacking social safety nets, had it tough.  But she had it even tougher.  She was destitute.  She had to beg just to make ends meet.

So, why did she do it?  Why did she put her whole life into the treasury box?

Well, the law of the temple did require everyone to contribute to the temple treasury.  It was almost more of a tax than an offering.  It was a requirement.  After all, the temple needed money to operate, and to pay for the fine, long robes of the scribes and other temple officials, and the nice furniture that they liked to sit on, and the fancy food that they liked to eat, and the gifts they liked to give to one another and to other religious and government leaders so that they could be greeted with respect in the marketplace. 

And so, by demanding an offering even of poor widows in order to support their lifestyle, they were literally devouring widows’ houses.

You know, in this story, Jesus isn’t so much praising the poor widow as he is condemning those who would demand this payment from her.  It is injustice of the worst kind, extracting the last penny from the poorest, most vulnerable of society in order to provide for the wealthy and the elite.

Another question:  What choice did the poor widow have in all of this?  Could she, if she had wanted to, refuse to pay?  What would have been the consequences?

I don’t really know the answer to that.  Many sermons have been preached on this passage that suggest that her contribution was indeed an offering, given voluntarily (at least to some degree), and she has been praised throughout the centuries as a model of giving and stewardship.

I’m not sure that this is entirely accurate.  At the very least, there would have been an additional social stigma attached to her.  She would have been labeled as one who did not support the temple treasury, and that would have been a bad label to have. 

Still, I suppose she could have refused to pay.  It could have been a matter of civil disobedience.  Even today, there is a small minority that refuses to pay taxes as a matter of conscience.  There are consequences, of course.  And if this poor widow had refused to pay her offering as a matter of principle, as an act of disobedience in protest of an unjust system, I think she still might have received an affirming word from Jesus.

But she did pay.  She gave her whole life.  Everything she had.

I think maybe she needed to give.  I think she was compelled to give, and not just by the pressure and possible consequences that might be inflicted upon her by the ruling elite.  I don’t know for sure, but I think the need to give came as much from within her as it came from without.

Why do I think this?  Because I’ve experienced that same need myself.

At the Regional Assembly last month in Bakersfield, an offering was taken up during worship to support Disciples Mission Fund and regional camp scholarships.  And I’ll be honest, my first thought was, “Why should I contribute to the offering here?  I can support those same ministries through the offering we collect back home at Bixby Knolls Christian Church… and as far as the Disciples Mission Fund and camp scholarships are concerned, it doesn’t matter when or how the money is received…”

But then I felt a need to give.  I felt a need to give in that moment.  In that worship service, we were given the opportunity to offer an expression of gratitude.  In that moment, I felt a need to express my gratitude, and to do it in solidarity with those with whom I was gathered in worship.  This expression of gratitude was something bigger than just me, and I wanted to be part of it.

I mean, how often do we get the opportunity to be part of something bigger than ourselves?  How often do we have the opportunity to find meaning and purpose in life by expressing gratitude in real, tangible ways?

I look around, and I see teenagers with their eyes glued to their computer games.  I see adults stuck in 9-to-5 routines, seeking wealth that serves no greater purpose.  I see empty nesters and retired folks who have not found some new place to invest their energy now that their child-rearing and working days are behind them.  Everywhere, I see people living lives with little meaning or purpose, people longing to be a part of something bigger, something greater than themselves, and to find greater purpose and meaning for their lives.  I see people who need to find something worth living for. 

In the Harry Potter books and movies, this is, in fact, the one thing that enables Harry Potter to prevail over the evil Lord Voldemort.  Voldemort is certainly more powerful than Harry.  But Harry has something Voldemort does not:  something worth living for.  Something bigger than himself.

So even though Disciples Mission Fund and regional camp scholarships didn’t need me to give in that moment, I myself needed to give in that moment.  The need to give came from within me more than it came from without.  I needed to make that moment meaningful and full of purpose.  I needed to be part of something greater than myself.

So I think it was important to the widow to give.  I think she felt the need to give, to be a part of the temple experience, to share in a moment of gratitude to God, and that this was in addition to the requirement placed upon her to give.

I just wish she didn’t have to give everything she had to live off of; her whole life.  The fact that she did, and was left with nothing, makes this a hard story to understand fully.

I’m reminded of another difficult-to-make-sense-of story, about a man who also felt compelled to give everything he had. 

The man’s name was Abraham.  For years, he had been promised by God that he would have a child who would give him many descendants.  It was a hard-to-believe promise, since Abraham and his wife Sarah were already very, very old.  But one day they did indeed become parents to a son whom they named Isaac.

But then…

But then God told Abraham to take his son Isaac, his only son whom he loved more than life itself, and offer him up as a sacrifice. 

 Anne Lamott mentions this story in her book Traveling Mercies.  Here’s what she says:

 “Now, this was exactly the sort of Old Testament behavior I had trouble with.  It made me think that this God was about as kind and stable as Judge Julius Hoffman of Chicago Seven fame… It made no sense that God would ask his beloved Abraham to sacrifice the child he loved more than life itself.  It made no sense that Abraham could head for the mountain in Moriah still believing in God’s goodness.  It made no sense that even as he walked his son to the sacrificial altar, he still believed God’s promise that Isaac would give him many descendants.  It made no sense that he was willing to do the one thing in the world he could not do, just because God told him to.”

“But the way Kierkegaard [explains] it, Abraham understood that all he really had in life was God’s unimaginable goodness and love, God’s promise of protection, God’s paradoxical promise that Isaac would provide him with many descendants.  He understood that without God’s love and company, this life would be so empty and barbaric that it almost wouldn’t matter whether his son was alive or not” [Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies].

It’s still a theologically problematic story.  And I think that, like much of scripture, it is properly read as parable or allegory.  But it does provide another example of a person who believed that, without God, there is no meaning or purpose in life, and that it’s important to give of oneself to God, to something greater than oneself, in order to find that meaning and purpose.

Because without meaning and purpose, without finding something greater than yourself to live for, life just isn’t worth living.

The wealthy elite that Jesus saw placing money in the treasury box didn’t give in order to find meaning and purpose.  They didn’t do it to be part of something bigger than themselves.  They did it so that they themselves could be looked upon as something bigger.  And they were willing to rob and extort and oppress the poor – even poor widows – in order to carry out their wishes.

But the widow gives, and joins her life to something greater than herself, and in doing so finds meaning and purpose.  And it is that meaning and purpose that keeps her alive, even more than the precious pennies that could buy her a loaf of bread.

People who give in this way find meaning and purpose; and in finding meaning and purpose, they find happiness.  In fact, they find themselves.  Gandhi said that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.  It’s also been said that the best way to bring a smile to your face is to bring a smile to someone else’s. 

If someone comes to me and says they’re feeling sad, feeling down, feeling depressed, feeling like they want or need someone to do something for them to cheer them up, the first question I tend to ask is, “What have you done lately for someone else?”  Because there’s some kind of renewing of the spirit that takes place within a person when he or she is giving his or her life to someone else, giving his or her life to God through service to others.  There’s a joy that comes from doing something that has meaning, a joy you just can’t get any other way.

We live in a world where people try to get more for themselves, a world where it’s cool to put others down, make fun of others, to insult and call names.  People who try to get more for themselves, lift themselves up and put others down think they are doing it for their own benefit, but rarely do they ever feel better because of what they’ve done.

But people who give of their lives for others, who live for others, who seek to put a smile on others’ faces, end up feeling better about themselves and the lives they live.

I hope you’re listening, because this is probably about as close as I’ll ever come to preaching a “self-help” sermon:  the more you give, the more you live for others, the more you live for God, the better you’ll feel and the happier you’ll be.

Again, it’s about finding meaning and purpose in life, and living for something that’s greater than you.

On this day in particular, we are reminded of those who made the decision to live for others and live for a greater cause by joining the armed forces.  Now, I know that every Christian is caught in a difficult place: We’re followers of Jesus, who taught and practiced nonviolence exclusively, yet we live in a world that invests incredible amounts of time and energy into preparing for war.  Making sense of this is problematic in the same way that the story of Abraham is problematic; the same way that the story of a widow who gives everything she had, every last penny, is problematic.

However, it is very easy for me to see and understand the need to live for something greater than oneself, to be willing to sacrifice everything, even one’s life, possibly, for that greater cause.  A decision like that is noble.  Heroic.  Worthy of honor.

And for many of the men and women who serve or served in the armed forces, their commitment has given their lives meaning and purpose. 

A part of the reason some of those who served and experienced combat have such a hard time adjusting back to civilian life is that it’s hard to feel that same sense of meaning and purpose they once had.  Some would do anything to bring back that sense of meaning and purpose to their lives.

It’s the same need to experience meaning and purpose that the widow had.  Without it, life is not worth living.  Having so little, she probably felt bad that she couldn’t do more.  So she gave all she had.  She gave her whole life.

And even though the scripture doesn’t say it here, I think the gospel makes it clear that it is she who, in giving her whole life, finds new life in the kingdom of God.  And I don’t mean in some future, distant existence, but new life here and now, because it is she who has found meaning and purpose.  It is she who has found something worth living for.

What God Really Wants (Mark 12:38-44)

Oh, nice. Now that our stewardship campaign is finally over, we have a scripture about money. Great.

Some church leaders, including some who call themselves pastors, will tell you that God wants your money. They’ll tell you that God needs your money. Give your money to God, because God needs your money.

God doesn’t need your money. (I can say that, now that the stewardship campaign is over.) God doesn’t even really want your money.

In ancient times, people offered animal sacrifices to God instead of money; but those animals were worth a lot, and sometimes were even used as money, in a way, as people traded them, giving and receiving animals and livestock in exchange for goods or services. But repeatedly, God says that God doesn’t want their sacrifices.

In Psalm 50, God says: “I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds. For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air; and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.”

Through the prophet Amos, God says: “Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.” In the Message Bible, this verse is paraphrased in a way that gives it a 21st century twist; it says: “I’m sick of your fundraising schemes, your public relations and image making.” (I can say that, now that the stewardship campaign is over.)

By the time we get to Micah, the people are exasperated. They cry out: “What can we give you, God, that would make you happy? Can we come before you with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will you be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of the finest oil? No? What about our firstborn children, our precious babies?”

But none of these offerings are acceptable to God.

And let’s not forget the money-changers in the temple. Jesus saw them there, and he got so upset that he overturned their tables; but do you know why they were buying and selling and exchanging money in the temple? They were doing it to help people make proper offerings to God. Jesus’ own parents made such an offering shortly after he was born. They went to the temple, exchanged some money, purchased a pair of turtledoves or pigeons, and offered them to the Lord; and they did it all according to ancient Jewish teaching. But Jesus overturned the tables, because apparently, God does not want these types of offerings.

If these types of monetary offerings were what was really important, then why wouldn’t God be happy with the large sums of money placed into the treasury boxes by rich people? But according to Jesus, God is not all that impressed with their gifts. Jesus says that God is more impressed with two small coins, worth but a penny, placed into the treasury by a poor widow.

Now, I could tell you that God wants your money, that God needs your money, but that would be a lie. Anyone who really needs money isn’t going to be satisfied with a penny. Anyone who really needs money will be happier with the larger sums.

So if it’s not money that God wants, then what does God want? Let’s return back to Psalm 50, where God says “I will not accept your animal sacrifice.” Later on in that same Psalm, God says: “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me.” Thanksgiving, then, is a sacrifice pleasing to God.

Let’s return back to Amos, where God says “I will not accept your burnt offerings, and I’m sick of your fundraising.” It is in that same passage that God says: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Justice and righteousness, then, are offerings pleasing to God.

Let’s return back to Micah, where the people are trying to figure out what they can give God that would make God happy. They offer up their own children to God, the greatest gift they can think of, but in return they are told this: “God has told you what is good. What does the Lord require of you? The Lord requires that you do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”

I haven’t yet mentioned Hosea, but he, too, talks about what it is that God really wants. In the book of Hosea, God says: “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice; the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” What’s interesting about this verse from Hosea is that it is repeated elsewhere in scripture. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus himself quotes it not once, but twice. “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice; the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

The rich people gave more money than the poor widow. So what. They gave out of their abundance. They gave what they could spare. Their offering of money was just that: an offering of money. And God doesn’t need money.

The widow put in her two coins that added up to a penny, but really, she put in so much more than that. Her gift wasn’t just a gift of money. Her gift was a gift of the heart. She put all of her money in the treasury box, and she gave all of her heart to God.

God doesn’t want your money. Now I know that there’s probably someone in this room who heard me say that, and they thought to themselves, “Great! I’m off the hook!” But most have you have probably figured out by now that that’s only half of the message. God doesn’t want your money; God wants something much bigger, much more important, much more significant than mere money. God wants your heart.

The problem with al those ancient sacrifices was that, too often, people looked at them as a way to buy God off. Same thing with the money changers in the temple. Same thing with the rich who contributed large sums out of their abundance. Not only does God not want these types of offerings; God is offended by them.

God does not want an offering of guilt. Forgiveness is free. You cannot buy it.

God does not want an offering of appeasement. You cannot secure God’s favor with money.

God does not want an offering that tries to secure God’s love. That’s not how our covenant with God works. God’s love is a free gift to us, and any offering we make in return is an offering of thanksgiving.

All of this is not to say that money is not important. God is interested in the heart, but ancient wisdom tells us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The reason God is not impressed by the offerings placed into the treasury box by the rich is that the hearts of the givers were not in the offering. Their hearts were with the even larger treasure they kept for themselves.

Ancient wisdom also teaches that a good offering to give to God is a tithe—one-tenth of one’s income. However, it is clear that a tithe given without heart is worse than no tithe at all. On the other hand, a penny given with heart is greater than the most enormous sum of money given without heart.

In a few minutes, our worship leader will say a few words on stewardship as we prepare to take up the offering, and I don’t want to make his task any harder than it already is. So let me clarify: I do think it is a good thing for you to give money to the church. However, it’s only good if you give your heart as well. It’s only god if you give cheerfully. It’s only good if you give because it brings you joy to see how God’s kingdom is made real and present through the ministry we share. It’s only good if you give with a heart full of thanksgiving. If you can give like that, then it is a very good thing.

But if you give out of guilt … if you give because you want your neighbor to see you place something in the plate as it passes … if you give regretfully, thinking of what you could buy with this money if only you didn’t have to support the church … if that’s why you’re giving, then keep your money. God neither needs nor wants your gift of money if that’s all it is, a gift with no heart.

In just a few weeks, people will—if they haven’t already—start their Christmas shopping. Americans spend over 400 billion dollars each year on Christmas. Often, someone will ask me what I want for Christmas. Then they’ll go out and get it for me.

The truth is, we feel obliged to buy things at Christmas. A lot of the things we buy, we don’t want to buy. Fighting the crowds at the mall, racking up credit card bills, does nothing to put us in the Christmas spirit. The season of Christmas joy becomes a season of Christmas rush, and our heart just isn’t in it.

You know what would be a really meaningful gift? One that you put your heart into. Maybe it costs a lot of money, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it only costs you a penny, or even nothing at all. But if your heart is in it; if you’re giving it because you want to, not because you feel obliged to; if you are giving it out of gratitude, and if, in giving, you find joy … that is a wonderful gift. That is a gift that brings joy to the one who receives it.

That is the gift that God really wants.