1. Jesus came to offer all

We are continuing the lecture the Gospel according to Mark. In the Palm Sunday Jesus entered into Jerusalem and gave teachings to the crowd inside the Temple. Thought Pharisees and Sadducees there challenged him with debates none of them could prevail over. Even a law teacher, strongly impressed by Jesus’ wisdom, finally concurred with by saying ;- “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."(Mark 12:33-33)

And Mark reported ;- ” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:34)

Then Jesus takes his turn to ask a question about “Whose Son Is the Christ” ;- While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? (Mark12:35)

Please remember that a blind man named Bartimaeus shouted likewise when Jesus set out from Jericho ;- “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"(see Mark 10:47) And the crown in the Jerusalem also shouted to welcome Jesus ;- “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!” (see Mark 11:9-10)

Because Jewish people of that time believed that Messiah must be born as a descendent of David and he, as the savior, would emancipate them from Roman domination. Those who witnessed Jesus’ miraculous power thought he might be the very Messiah. Therefore they shouted in that way to express their aspiration and hope.

But to those people Jesus said that he was not a son of David and did not come to set Israelites free from shaming status under Romans. Jesus meant that he came on the earth to establish the kingdom of God inside humans’ heart. And spiritually peaceful life can realize only through the faith in God.

Therefore Jesus was moved by the conduct of a poor widow in today’s lecturing portion. She offered to the treasury of the Temple all of money she had. At that scene Jesus gave the teaching of “the Widow’s Offering, ” which implied that he would offer all of his existence, the life, similarly to the widow. By reading the passage we will reflect on spiritual peace through the faith .

2. The widow offered all

In Jesus time a huge wealth has been raised in the Temple, from which the rich of the Jewish community took profits. They leagued with Sadducees, or hight priests. Meanwhile Pharisees, the majority of law teachers, sought to make people to respect strictly laws in accordance with oral laws, or Mishnah*. Due to their specialized knowledge of those oral laws they were highly respected by ordinary persons. Nonetheless Jesus said ;- ” Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."(Mark12:38-40)

Furthermore Jesus criticized severely their attitude this way;- “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;(Matthew 23:5)

And the criticism above might be a warning to our own lifestyle because majority of us are mostly concerned about social reputations like those law teachers. Thus we seek hight appreciations from neighbors at any rate. But as long as we remain in that mentality we won’t be connected with God. Besides that attitude prevents us from peaceful human relationship.

Jesus gave also a significant remark in other occasion ;-They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.” (Mark 12:40)

In Jewish society of the time, heritage of the deceased husband was crucial for widow’s life. And law suits concerning heritage were also handled by law teachers. The verse above implies that some of them required abusing fees by exploiting clients’ weak position.

Widows, with orphans and foreign people, were the most weak persons, from social point of view in the Biblical world. Therefore a law concerning the matter was given ;- “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the LORD must be destroyed. ” Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. “Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.(Exodus 22:20-22)

The law aims at secured life conditions of persons of three categories because they do not have official protectors.

And Mark might insert the passage in connection with the episode which begins with the verse 41, today’s lecturing portion. The scene commence this way ;- Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.

It is said that there were 13 places of the temple treasury there and they were classified according to receiving amounts of every offering. Each place was attended by a priest and when someone gives a lot of money the priest cry out aloud the mane of offerer and the amount of donated money. The custom allowed the crowd to know who and how much they gave and, as a result, exhorted offerings. We might say that they measured degrees of faith following the amount offered.

However, in contrast to those rich persons ;- a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.(Mark 12:42)

” Very small copper coins” is ” ¦Ë¦Å¦Ð¦Ó¦Á ”, plural of ¦Ë¦Å¦Ð¦Óό¦Í {lep-ton’}” in the original greek text. Two lepta were worth around 1/ 64th of a denarius. One denarius was equal to almost one day’s working wage. So we can evaluate two coins as today’s \100 in Japan. Perhaps she did it in avoiding others’ view because she might be ashamed of such a small amount.

But, despite the sum, Jesus was strongly moved by her act and ;- Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."(Mark12:43)

Jesus even emphasized the comment by beginning it with ” Ἀ¦Ìὴ¦Í ¦Ëέ¦Ã¦Ø ὑ¦Ìῖ¦Í {Amen lego u-min} (Indeed I affirm you) ” Merely watching her, Jesus could get insight into her mind. Two coins in her hand should be all the money which she had. Nonetheless she wanted to offer them to give thanks to God for the mercy. After that donation she might have no bread for the day. She did it, regardless of her extreme poverty, because she trusted herself entirely to God, Father in heaven. Jesus understood her faith and was strongly moved. So much so he said, “Amen.”

3. Happiness of the deprived

The widow offered all of her money. Then should we also offer to the poor all of the money we get by selling full assets? Or should we renounce earthy life and enter into a monastery where we spend our whole time on worshipping God ?

Some thought yes and did so. However, I don’t think such a way of living can necessarily lead us to spiritual fulfilment. Whatever we offer to God, if the act is done as achievement of obligation, we cannot feel any faithful joy from that. Only when we give offerings in order to express our thankfulness to God, the act pleases God.

I celebrated the 60th birthday this year. It means I already lived about three quarters of Japanese life expectancy. And according to my personal experiences I would say that a life in seeking self-realization cannot give us spiritual happiness.

And looking for complacency if living like law teachers portrayed in the Gospel ass Jesus said, “Everything they do is done for men to see. They tried to show their social status by putting pretentious garment and taking high-placed seats. They were strongly pleased by others’ respectful attitude towards them. And, I dare say, way of living of Japanese CEOs of big companies is similar to theirs. I cannot believe that they feel peaceful joy in mind, despite their reputations. Because the tops are always wary of being overtaken the post by persons of subordinary positions. And once it happens they could not remain on the same social hight. Indeed, I witnessed several cases. Even though a man feels superior to his colleagues due to his post higher-graded than others, nobody would pay the same respect as before after his retirement.

Therefore John was right ;- The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.¡Ê1 John2:17¡Ë

Today’s invocation verses are 1 King 17:13-14 ;- Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’ ”

In the period of Elijah, a severe drought occurred in Palestine, including Syria, and all inhabitants there suffered from harsh famine. Under such circumstances Elijah came to Zarephath, where he met a widow. She had almost nothing to eat, because of the famine, except a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Nonetheless with those few quantity of food she prepared and offered a small cake of bread to Elijah.

Then a marvelous thing happened. As God promised, she and her family were not sturbed during the period of famine.

We have no means to know how God carried out the phenomena. We only understand that there was an incredible happening which gave birth to the legend. God’s power worked on the woman’s willingness to trust her life to God.
But you must wonder if such a way of living is possible in today’s society in which political and economical systems are so complicated.

My wife and me lives in the manse and we do not possess any personal residence. As a matter of fact, during 32 years of marriage we had several chances to purchase a real estate. Even we signed twice buying contracts, the first one was a flat then of a house. But each time we gave up our plan, because my working conditions changed. Both of new posts were in distant regions, far from our chosen places. However if we had bought a house or flat I would not have responded to the calling at the age of 50. I could not have quitted the job due to a huge mortgage loan. Now I am a pastor thanks to God who prevented us from having personal property. And we are not wary about the future because God will support our life. God who took care of us for 60 years should continue doing until our death.

Even the most deprived have a unique supporter, God. And I think that the poor widow could offer two very small copper coins because such an amount was almost worthless for her future. She could not have buy any bread with them. If she had 10 denarii, equivalent to wage for 10 days’ work in that time, she might save a half for her. She offered all she had because she was so poor. She had nothing and nobody but God. Therefore she could trust her entity to God. That stance must be the entrance of the path to the kingdom of God.

The widow in Zarephath was the same. She knew that she would face death after eating the last flour and oil. At the very moment Elijia came and asked her a small cake of bread. In reality such a quantity of food would not change anything of harsh circumstances. So she obeyed to Elija by surrendering herself to God’s will.

Only when we possess nothing worth on the earth we arrive to give up our total ego to believe in God . The miserable conditions allow us to reach to the faith that God will take care of our life. Thus we get spiritual peace in mind. Those who had materially and intellectually privileged will earn, save, and offer. The poor will live in faith in God’s mercy. And all of them together will worship God. Such a society must represent a kingdom of God, of which chiristinas are citizens.
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*Mishnah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishnah