November 7, 2021 – A Penny for All Saints’ Day

This weekend, we mark All Saints’ Day, celebrating the promise that saints are made by God’s grace, not by the good works we do or how much we give. Everything we do is in response to what God has already done for us through Jesus Christ.

For this week, we read the texts appointed for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost in Year B, Hebrews 9:24-28 and Mark 12:38-44. I appreciated Linda G Tenneson’s God Pause devotional for November 3, 2021.

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Isn’t this a fascinating Gospel reading for All Saints’ Day? The Bible is full of examples of faith, stories of great saints of the early church, but this poor widow is a lot to live up to!

I don’t know what you put in the offering plate today on your way in, or—and I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention it, if you have an offering to give, you can also put it in the offering plate on your way out after service or give online, and again, I don’t know what any of you contribute—but I know that personally, I have not put in all I have to live on. I’m willing to guess none of you will be giving your entire life savings today.

I truly believe this story works as an example of the principle that everyone has something to offer, even if it is only a penny, and I’ve said before, I truly believe a congregation where everyone contributes a dollar a year would be healthier than a church that has millions just from a couple people.

But even saying everyone can give something, I don’t expect anyone to give everything you have. If this widow’s gift is the standard, well, that’s a lot to live up to.

So, as we hear this story on All Saints’ Day, my question is, “To be a saint, does that mean you need to give away your last two cents, like this poor widow?” Do we have to be quite that saintly?

The answer is no. No, giving away everything you have is not what makes you a saint. In fact, I think it’s the opposite. This widow makes her generous gift because she is already a saint, as are all of you.

At our church council meeting on Wednesday, I talked about All Saints’ Day, and the definition of “saint” and I like how Karl Jacobson puts it. This is from his book, Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms. He writes,

“In the New Testament, the word saint never refers to a special class of super-duper Christians, rather it always refers to all Christians…Saints are not saintly because of what they do but because of what Christ has done for them.

Christian saints are identified not be their own wisdom, good works, holiness, and wholeness but by the fact that they belong to Jesus. And that means, of course, that you are qualified to be a saint too.”

A saint is anyone who belongs to God, anyone who recognizes the gift of life God has given them. This poor widow gave her gift out of faith, out of trust and gratitude to God.

God made her a saint by creating her and redeeming her, and she realized what God had done for her, in a way that the materially rich people around her didn’t.

I’m not one to say wealth is necessarily bad, and I hope that I use the abundance I have for good, but wealth is dangerous, because it tempts you to trust in it.

Wealth tempts you to believe that you’ve earned it, to put your faith in yourself and your bank account and your car and your house and your full chest freezer and in all sorts of stuff that isn’t God. Wealth is dangerous because it tempts you to believe in something other than God.

I hate when people glamorize poverty, when people who have the privilege of being born into circumstances of wealth and security and abundance comfort ourselves by saying, “Those people might be poor, and that’s sad, but isn’t it great how happy they are!”

Ever heard people do that? It happens on mission trips sometimes, because it’s a great way to make ourselves feel better about all the stuff we have when we know on some level that it’s unfair that I have the ability to travel and spend my free time helping someone who’s literally living on the street.

And yet, there’s also some truth to it, not that it is good to be poor, but that it is dangerous to be rich. Wealth—and I mean owning-two-or-more-pairs-of-shoes rich, not private-rocket-trip-to-space rich—being rich distorts our perspective. This woman has the perspective to recognize what God has done for her, and in response, she gives everything she has to God, knowing that no earthly wealth can compare to God’s grace.

It’s interesting, because the treasury Jesus and the disciples are watching is a collection box at the temple for a fund to help the poor. Over and over in Scripture, God says to help the poor, and the most common examples of the poor who need help are “orphans and widows.” This poor widow is donating to the fund intended to help her!

Now, I say “intended” to help her, because sometimes, temples and churches fail at the task they’re called to. Jesus points that out. As a professional religious leader who does sometimes walk around in long robes, this is one of the toughest passages in the Bible.

I hope this story is about a grateful woman giving to God out of joyful faith, joyfully responding to the good news of God’s love for her.

I hope that it is not a poor woman being exploited by the powerful religious leaders, manipulated by religion to feel guilted into giving away her last pennies. If you’ve ever felt manipulated into giving, I am sorry, and I ask for your forgiveness. Faithfully talking about money is hard.

So no, you do not need to give away all your money to be a saint. In fact, you cannot make yourself a saint by giving away all your money! I know Reformation Day was last weekend, but I don’t think it can be over-emphasized: You cannot buy your way into heaven!

Our hope is not found in money, or wealth, or in doing good deeds, or even in sinning less. Our hope is found in what God has done for us.

We can gather here today and remember those saints who have died because our hope is in Jesus Christ. We celebrate and honor those who have come before us, those who have taught us the faith, who have impacted us, those who have, yes, given generously to build this nice building we’re in right now; we honor them not because of what they’ve done, but because of what God did for them, which inspired them to do the good they did.

That’s a long way of saying, God’s love comes first. Our love is in response to God’s love for us. Always. Period.

Our hope on All Saints Day, is in what God has done for. As Hebrews says, Jesus Christ our Savior has removed sin by sacrificing himself.

Christ has born our sins. No more sacrifices are necessary, which is good, because nothing we could sacrifice would be enough. We don’t have the power to save ourselves.

No matter how good and saintly you are, no matter how well you live out the commands we talked about last week to love God with all your heart and mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself, no matter willing you are to empty your bank account into the offering, you’re still going to die and you can’t save yourself from that.

But Jesus has done what we cannot. Jesus has died, and in rising again, he has broken the power of the grave.

Your salvation is guaranteed by Jesus. Your eternal future is secure. And in response to that promise, that guarantee, we live in love. We give thanks to God.

We offer our stuff and our money and more importantly our lives for God to use. All out of gratitude.

Christ has died. Christ is risen. And Christ will come again.
Amen