Grace and peace to you from God our Creator and Sustainer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that abides in each of us.  Amen

[Jesus] said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!  They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

These are awfully harsh words aren’t they?  Jesus doesn’t seem to offer much hope for the scribes, does he?  Just prior to this, though, in the same chapter we read that Jesus spoke with one of the scribes about the “greatest commandment?”  At the end of that conversation he even told the scribe that he was “not far from the kingdom of God.”  This sounds pretty complimentary to me.  So are the scribes good or bad.  Well, that depends, and as we will discover today, often times it is not what we do, but how we do it that makes a difference.  In the case of the scribes, these men knew the Torah.  They knew God’s commands and they knew it so well, that many looked to them for guidance.  But there were some scribes who, although they followed the letter of the law, they failed to live their lives and witness to God before others as God desired and that is where we begin this morning.  Jesus now condemns some of the scribes, not because what they were doing was wrong, such as praying long prayers.  No, Jesus condemns them because they were doing these things so others would think highly of them.  Jesus warns them that how they live and act is what is important. 

With that warning stated, our story now shifts.  Jesus moves so that he can watch those that are placing their offerings in the Treasury.  WOW!  Isn’t that snoopy!  I mean it shouldn’t be anyone else’s business what one offers, right?  That is a private matter.  Why is Jesus being so snoopy?   Now if this is what you think ab0ut making our offerings to the Lord, to a point you are correct.  And in some sense that is what this text is really about.  You see Jesus is not concerned with how much is offered at all.  No this text is about something else entirely.

This is one of those Gospel stories that most people hear and then think they know the sermon that is coming.  Isn’t this one of those stories that most people, when they hear it say, “Okay, here it comes, Pastor is going to talk about giving our money to the church.”  Isn’t that what you're thinking? 

Well, there is some truth to that, and I will talk about being good stewards this morning, but this text is about so much more than how much of what you have you offer to God’s mission.  So right now, I want to talk about Jesus.  You see, this story can be about how much money we give to the Church, or should I say God.  But when I read this story I hear something else.  As I listened to and read this story over and over again this week, I kept imagining those rich, well-educated people, walking up to the treasury all cleaned-up, all dressed-up in their Temple best strut’n their stuff.  Can’t you just see it?  It must have been a sight to be seen.  With great pomp and circumstance they would enter the treasury and allow, or better, yet, encourage everyone to watch as they declared their offering.  Now, this is where we can learn a little bit about how God expects us to return our blessings because you see, it wasn’t wrong to allow others to know what you gave because what we offer to the Lord was, and is, not a private matter.  All we have has been given to us by God, it is not private.  In fact, God expects us to use what we have to serve.  What we offer, our money, our time and our gifts, is a personal matter, but not private. 

Now, let’s go back to our scene.  For me, the real interesting point here is that in the midst of all of that pomp and circumstance, Jesus saw that widow; an woman, alone, walking in and putting in a mere pittance compared to the others and yet she is who he noticed.  I find that fascinating.  The one person everyone else over-looked, but not Jesus, he saw a faith-filled, women who placed her trust in God.  While everyone else was watching the rich and famous as they came to the Treasury, Jesus was watching the widow.  I like that image and somewhere in there is a lesson for us today.  Jesus reminds us to keep our mind and our eyes on what is important to God and for God; living a life in communion with God and caring for the poor, the orphan, the oppressed and the widow is important.  God also desires that we trust in Him completely.  As Jesus observed, this widow trusted in God completely.  How do know this, she gave her last bit of money, all she had to God because she trusted that God would somehow provide for her. 

The “rich and famous” came and gave much, but their trust was in their ways, their wealth, their strength.  They gave out of their abundance trusting that their excess wealth would continue to care for them.  The widow on the other hand took the opposite approach.  Which of these two groups, “the rich and famous” or the widow, best represents you?  Are you more like the rich and famous, or are you like the widow.  If you are like the rich and famous, you look at your schedule to see if there is time available to serve others, you look at your bank account to see if there is anything left to give to God and lastly, you determine ahead of whether or not you gifts are good enough to use to help others.  These type of people live on a model of scarcity because they believe, there is never enough.  If you are like the widow, you first decide that everything belongs to God and you trust that no matter how much you of your money, time, or talents you give away, God will continue to provide all you need.  You truly deal from a model of abundance.  There will always be enough.  In a world that was, and is, full of miss-trust and fear, this woman, who could apparently trust no one, not even those scribes that were supposed to look out for her, trusted God.  She gave everything she had, which was only worth about 1/8 of 1 penny.  She may not have been giving up much, but her actions were actions of trust.  I see it as a radical challenge to her community.  She is surrounded by people steeped in the same Scriptures she was. She trusted God, and God's influence on those around her, to see her and understand their obligation to her, and follow through.  Some may say she was foolish, but she trusted God. 

Now before we go thinking that Jesus is watching how much we put in the plate, and maybe he does, I want to point something out.  You know I often talk about properly translating the texts from their original languages to English, well I think that our translation today is missing a very important word.  In our text, Verse 41 is translated, “He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury.  Many rich people put in large sums of money.”  However, the problem I see is that our translation has left out one very important adverb.  The Greek text includes the word “pos,” which means “how.”  If I were translating this text, I would say, “He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched how the crowd was putting money into the treasury…”  You see, I don’t think it was the amount of money that Jesus was commenting on, what concerned Jesus was how the money was given.  Was it given because it was required?  Was it given so others would see one’s “generosity” and used to gain power and more wealth? Or was it given freely, without fear or fanfare?  Was it given joyfully, with no strings attached?  Was it given so that the Church, God’s community that is empowered to do God’s work, would have the resources to do what God is calling it to do? 

That is our challenge this week.  As we prepare for our Stewardship dinner next Friday night, I ask you to prayerfully consider HOW you will be a good steward this year.  Consider how you will offer your time, your talents, and your money.  And as you fill out your cards, I pray that you complete them with joy.  I pray that as you submit your offerings that you may be like that widow, who made offering as Christ made his offering, with joy and with no strings attached.