“God
Is Watching Us”
Mark
12:38-44
First
Presbyterian Church
The
Reverend Donald E. Ray
November
8, 2009
It’s sometimes strange the path the mind takes,
at least the path my mind takes. Reading
the Lectionary text for today from Mark’s Gospel, I envisioned a picture of
Jesus sitting by the offering box watching the crowd putting money in. Then,
the mental leap. Julie Gold’s
lyrics made popular by Bette Midler came to my mind.
From
a distance the world looks blue and green,
and
the snow capped mountains white.
From
a distance, there is harmony,
and
it echoes through the land.
It’s
the voice of hope, it’s the voice of peace,
it’s
the voice of every man.
From
a distance we all have enough,
and
no one is in need.
And
there are no guns, no bombs, no disease,
no
hungry mouths to feed.
God
is watching us. God is watching us.
God
is watching us from a distance.
The tune, I find haunting - one that sticks in my
head for hours after I’ve heard it. My
only problem is - the theology is all wrong. Well,
maybe not all wrong. Harmony, hope,
peace are our dreams and here and there we see glimpses of their reality. Gold
has stated that the song is about the difference between the way things appear
to be and how they really are. But I
have difficulty reconciling her belief in an immanent, beneficent God with God
watching, from a distance.
Returning to the word picture Mark paints for us,
we envision Jesus, usually active, moving, doing, sitting and watching. Jesus
is watching, of all things, the offerings presented at the
In my Methodist heritage, the part of our history
we admit with great shame is the racial and ethnic splits that have occurred. I
count it fortunate to have been part of the church during the healing of some of
those artificial divisions. I had
heard the stories about how the offering was taken, but during a Conference
meeting in
This not a stewardship sermon.
Well, not a church financial campaign sermon -- it is about stewardship. By
definition, stewardship is recognition that in spite of our claim of ownership,
we are only managing that for which we have responsibility, but in the larger
scheme of things is not really ours. Jesus
was watching as the offering was given. He
calls attention to the poor widow who has given “everything she had, all she
had to live on.” (Mark 12:44) She
recognized that it was not in the coins in her purse, but in God that she lived.
The opening talk of a weekend retreat program asks
the participants to consider the ideal that drives their life. The
outline of the talk suggests reflection on how we use our free time, what we
spend our money for. Such reflection
is a valued discipline. With all the
demands we feel on our lives, sometimes it seems we are just swept along with
the tide. We come to our ideals, our
goals by default rather by deliberate choices.
When and where is it that we feel closest to God -
sense being in the presence of God? Some
say they feel closest to God in nature; a hike in the woods, viewing majestic
mountains, the endless sandy beach and relentless waves of the seashore. Many
would claim the birth of their child, that human participation in creation as
the most profound moment of God’s presence. Some
would affirm that in worship the presence of God is in the music, word and
sacrament and then it is they feel close with God.
I think that it is in our giving that the presence
of God may be most evident. Tom has
said that the benediction is his favorite part of worship because it is the
church going forth into the world. I
can’t say that I have one favorite part, but while some might rank the
offering far down their list, for me it stands right up near the top. The
offering is not just the money in the plate for the internal workings of the
church. Like the benediction, it is
the church, and as I am a part of it, extending out into the world. When
our giving is of all that we have and are, like the poor widow at the temple
treasury, God is watching us - and not from a distance.
Eugene Peterson asks: How
do I make a difference? The world is
a mess: people are living in spiritual impoverishment, moral squalor, and
material confusion. Some massive
overhaul is indicated. Somebody has
to do something. I have to do
something. Where do I start?
What
does it mean to represent the
Jesus, the teacher, saw a poor widow put in two
small copper coins. She didn’t put
in one and keep one for herself. She
put in all that she had. The lesson:
it’s not how much we put in the collection plate but it’s about our life
invested in the
Paul quotes Jesus as having said, “It is more
blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Receiving
tends to be mundane. We may receive
a pay check, a Social Security or pension deposit and it’s with a sense of
entitlement; it’s expected, the fruits of our labors. ‘Tis
the season coming for giving and receiving. It’s
a real challenge to make that part of the holidays spectacular. It’s
rare that we receive that Christmas gift that really stirs appreciation and
rejoicing. It’s at least as
difficult to give such a gift.
Then there are those places when we are caught up
in an opportunity to be part of something larger than ourselves, to invest our
life, commit all that we have, even if for just a moment. I’m
not speaking of one of those opportunities that promise a fortune in return is
too good to be true, so probably isn’t. I
mean those times when someone has need, when the world is a mess and we can
contribute some part to cleaning it up and straightening it out, when we can
touch someone’s life with the gift, to use an old cliché, from the heart.
Julie Gold acknowledges that people have a right to
interpret her song any way they want, as with all art. In
the Genesis creation story, God affirms of each element of creation that it is
good. So in spite of the mess the
world is, if we back away to get perspective, harmony, hope, and peace are
there. But if God has eyes, if God
is watching us, I think the image of Jesus watching the temple offering serves
us better. It is as we live and move
and have our being in God, giving, investing all our life in the kingdom on
earth as in heaven, that harmony echoes through the land and hope of hopes. Love
of loves becomes the heart of every one.
Jesus sat and watched at the offering box. It’s
a place we are always sure we want anyone watching. But
it is the place where we define the investment of our life in the harmony and
hope and peace in God’s love.
Be it the offering plate in church, or the places
where we may touch needs, make a difference in the mess of the world,
metaphorically speaking, God is watching; God is with us, within us blessing our
commitment. God is watching us; but
if it is from a distance that distance is very, very short.
Amen.
(1)
Living the Message by
Eugene Peterson p. 286