I have to be honest, when I read this gospel text today, I have this image in my head of Jesus and his followers sitting on a bench mere feet from the collection box. And as each person comes forward to place their intended offering in the treasury, they become uncomfortably aware that they are being watched by Jesus. And for most folks, it makes them nervous – so much so that they add a little extra to their offering just so they feel better about themselves. I wonder if we sometimes feel like that when we give? Imagine if we didn’t have these wonderful giving envelopes to that our giving could remain somewhat anonymous. Imagine we didn’t fold our checks in such a way that what we wrote was hidden from everybody else. Do we feel like we should be doing more? Do we feel like we’re not giving as generously as others? How would you feel if the entire church council was looking over your shoulder as you wrote your check to give to the general fund here at Esperanza?
Why we give matters. That’s one of the things I think is sometimes missed as we explore this season of giving. Why we give matters. And the truth is, God sees our why’s sometimes before we do. God sees what we’re hoping to accomplish, what we intend to receive in return for our giving, and – as is expressed in our scripture reading today, then responds. The widow of Zarephath – giving out of her own poverty to Elijah – receives a response that goes beyond any blessing she could have possibly expected. She had no reason to trust Elijah. Her tone when confronted with Elijah’s presence – and the area where she resided – suggests she did not really know God. But when God’s word through the prophet comes to her, she cannot help but to respond with obedience.
So how is it that we respond when we are challenged to support what God is up to in this world? I’d love to say that we all give more like the widow with two coins. — Wait, I know some of you folks are looking for the technicality that makes it seem like you only need to give about a penny. That’s not what I mean. What I mean – and what is expressed by Jesus’ words – is we give because we have felt God’s blessings, and trust that God will do amazing things with whatever we have to offer. It’s the opposite of the scribes that Jesus calls out in our gospel today. They give because they believe they’ll gain glory for what they are giving. The widow gives because of the glory that God will receive through the use of those gifts. The widow gives because she has truly experienced God’s goodness, and trusts in that goodness above all things.
But that makes the widow of Zarephath a bit of an odd case in our first reading today. She’s different because she’s not a believer in the God of Abraham. She doesn’t follow the God of Elijah. She knows of the God of the Israelites, but did you catch the fact that she herself isn’t an Israelite? This is where it helps to know a little ancient geography and a little more background on what was happening in the scriptures. You see, Elijah was prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel a few generations after the death of King Solomon. The king, Ahab, was married to a foreign woman who introduced to Israel Baal, a god of fertility who was primarily worshipped in the northern reaches beyond Israel. After God declares punishment on Ahab and Israel for their abandonment of God in the form of a drought, Elijah has fled the king’s presence and traveled east of the Jordan river, in what would probably be modern day Jordan. Now God speaks to Elijah – “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
To the ancient hearer of this text, this would be a little confusing. In modern terms, Zarephath in Sidon was probably in present day Lebanon. Why go to Zarephath? Why travel to a widow there? Aren’t there plenty of widows in Israel? Not only that, but if this widow didn’t believe in the god of Abraham, then the most likely scenario is she resides in an area that also primarily worships Baal. So instead of coming to live with a widow in Israel, with who he may have shared a common belief in God, Elijah is sent to a widow in a foreign land, several days’ walk away, who most likely worships the foreign god who is the symbol of Israel’s idolatry.
It seems that God is making two points here – the first point is to emphasize again God’s care for the most vulnerable in a society – in this case, a widow. The second point is that God’s mercy isn’t being reserved for just a specific group of people. Even those who worship and think differently can be included in the promises of God. Even they can be examples of obedience and generosity, giving out of their poverty and thus receiving blessing in return. We are being reminded here that God is God over all, and earthly boundaries don’t separate anybody from God’s love.
And that brings us back to those who are giving in the temple in our gospel reading today. I guarantee you that those scribes felt that there was a firm boundary between themselves and the widow. They probably felt not only that they were more blessed, but also that they had somehow earned that blessing. I also strongly suspect that that widow was and also felt more blessed than those scribes ever really did. Because those scribes wanted to prove their blessings and glorify themselves in those blessings. For the widow, those blessings were enough.
I promise I’m not going to be looking over your shoulder as you consider your giving intent to Esperanza for the coming year. But I am hopeful that you’re giving because you think it’s worth giving to this place. I’m hopeful that you’re giving because you’ve truly experienced God’s blessings in your life through this place, and you want to bless others in return. Why we give matters. And here in this place, as we have and continue to experience God’s blessings, I am truly hopeful in this place. I am hopeful because I know that God has and will continue to bless us. And because we have been blessed, I have true confidence that our gift to God is still just a reflection of the true gift that we have already received – grace and purpose through Christ our Lord, in whom we all have received the greater gift.