Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Yr B, Proper 27, Nov 10 2024, St. M and M, Eagan MN

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Yr B, Proper 27, Nov 10 2024, St. M and M, Eagan MN

1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 146, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44

I’ll begin this morning with the great prophet, Gandalf, who says in response to Frodo’s comment, "I wish it need not have happened in my time." Gandalf says, "So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” 

(JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit, Book 1, chapter 2)

As we sit in these chairs this morning, as we go about our business and our lives, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. I acknowledge the emotions swirling about post-election. 

Grief, 

rage, 

happiness, 

satisfaction, 

smugness, 

abandonment. 

What will you do with the time you are given?

In this story from Mark, Jesus shows us what to do with the time we are given. Jesus focuses our attention, and begins with this admonition. “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.” And then Jesus points us to the widow, he focuses all our attention on the widow. Jesus notices her, and lifts up her ordinary and humble faithfulness. Jesus calls attention to her generosity and faithfulness.

No matter what is swirling around us, Jesus calls us to generosity and faithfulness. No matter what crumbles and collapses in front of us, Jesus calls us to generosity and faithfulness. No matter who is leading, Jesus calls us to generosity and faithfulness.

Our marching orders remain the same no matter what, like the widow who shows us generosity and faithfulness, we go out into the world bearing witness to God’s love, we bear witness to generosity and faithfulness. St. Francis of Assisi has been quoted wrongly, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” When actually what St. Francis really said, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” This makes so much more sense to me. Our walking is our preaching. What we say and do must be the Good News. What will you do with the time you are given? What does your walking say to those around you? How does your life embody the Gospel of love, generosity, faithfulness, inclusion, wherever you are walking?

When the earth shakes around us, what does your life say about the God who stoops and pulls you off the floor and says, I am with you? When there are wars and rumors of wars, what does your life say about the God who says you are strong and capable of doing hard things? When you are feeling alone and alien, what does your life say about the God who goes to the ends of the earth to include all creation in God’s body? When you feel like you cannot go on, what does your life say about the God who brings life out of death?

What will you do with the time you are given? 

How will you bear witness to God’s light and God’s love? 

Jesus points us to the widow, Jesus raises her up, Jesus calls attention to her poverty, and to her generosity. She begs these questions. Where will you focus your attention? With whom will you stand? And I can’t answer any of these questions for you. But I don’t need to, you need to. I believe the arc of God’s love answers these questions. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, love those who are alien. Be an advocate for health and healing, for justice and mercy, for honesty and truth.

None of this is easy, but God doesn’t call us to easy, God calls us to generosity and faithfulness. 

God calls us to be alert and present in the time that is given to us. And there is always something else we must remember. Jesus calls the disciples, ill-equipped as they are, a rag tag bunch of fishermen, women and men who long for something more. Women and men who are just like us, full of pride, full of anger, full of indignation, full of joy, full of ourselves. Jesus has stooped and picked us out of the bottom of the fishy boat, picked us up off the street, picked us up off the bathroom floor, picked us up out of the muck and the mess, and incorporates us into his body. We are made whole in the body of Christ, we are connected to God, to Jesus, to Spirit and to one another. We are not alone. This is our superpower. We live out this life in relationship with God, Jesus, Spirit and one another. We are not alone.

And it is in the middle of all of this where the light burns. No matter who you are or where you stand, 

let your light shine, it joins with all the others whom God loves, and God loves all of creation, to make one incredibly bright light. Together we will shine the light of God’s love. We will show our families, friends, neighbors, and those with whom we radically disagree, what love looks like. 

May we be like this woman in our story who knew no other than generosity and faithfulness.

Make it so. Thanks be to God.

  

“Life is short, my friends,

and we do not have too much time

to gladden the hearts of others.

So be quick to love,

and make haste to be kind.

And the blessing of God Almighty,

who created you in love,

who walks with you in love,

and who will bring you home in love,

be upon you and all whom you love,

this day forth and forever more. Amen.”