25th Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
Pentecost 25
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you
from the one who keeps promises forever. Amen
When we look at our readings for today,
and the broader witness of scripture
it may seem like a there are so many small details
that we may despair of ever truly being faithful
but it’s really very simple,
it’s about where we place our trust.
We have two main choices,
to place our trust in God,
or in anything else,
and God is very clear
about what God recommends
commands even.
It’s the first commandment:
You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean? Luther asks in his Small Catechism
and then answers:
We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.
It’s simple,
perhaps too simple,
what does this actually look like
when applied to daily life? we wonder
To which the Psalmist responds with our Psalm for today:
Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Put not your trust in rulers,
in mortals in whom there is no help.
When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish.
Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help,
whose hope is in the Lord their God;
First we are to praise God,
and centered in praise
we turn to God for help and hope,
but not just any nameless faceless deity far away
but the God of Jacob.
Who is this God of Jacob?
What does this God do?
The Psalmist continues:
who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps promises forever;
who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.
The Lord sets the captive free.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord cares for the stranger;
the Lord sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
God does all this
and invites us to join in God’s work,
God has done this from the very beginning,
having Adam name the animals as they were created,
giving the first humans care of creation,
and God continued to invite people
to share in God’s work
even as humans broke the initial relationship.
Even when God decided to wipe out everyone and start over
God still chose Noah and his family
to work with and continue on,
and then it was Abraham and Sarah,
and Isaac and Rebekah,
and Jacob, Joseph, the people of Israel,
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam,
Joshua, the judges, David, the prophets,
All along God raised up people
to proclaim that what God desires is
justice for the oppressed,
food for those who hunger,
freedom and healing,
care for the stranger and vulnerable,
and not only proclaim this
but to then live it out,
trusting that God who created the universe
has the best interests of that universe at heart,
that what God desires
is a mending of that universe
through lived justice and care for all.
Of course this is a long process
because it seems that God mainly works through humans,
very flawed humans,
even when God sent Jesus to be God with us
those Jesus called to work with him, the disciples
were less than perfect
none of those people named above were perfect,
far from it,
and yet God was with them
God worked through them
and was able to do so
because at the right moment they trusted God.
Noah built the ark.
Abraham and Sarah followed God to an unknown destination,
Isaac offered his blessing,
Jacob wrestled with God and would not let go,
Joseph preserved his family from famine
by working with Pharaoh,
Moses turned aside when he saw the burning bush.
The disciples dropped their nets and followed Jesus.
In the moment these all seemed like seriously questionable choices,
why are you building that huge boat Noah?
You’re at the end of your life Abraham
and you’re just going to get up and leave?
You were tricked and still you offered your blessing Isaac?
You’re wrestling God Jacob,
you’re going to lose,
why won’t you let go?
You’re just going to leave your father in the boat James and John?
But they trusted God
and God worked through them,
in ways contrary to the logic of the world,
again and again God sought and seeks out
the unexpected by worldly standards
the powerless and forgotten
but who trust in God,
who has promised that the brokenness of the world will come to an end
even as the Lord reigns forever.
We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.
But what about the times when all seems lost,
when the End is in sight?
When like the widow at Zarephath we see no way forward but death?
Even then we are to trust in the Lord and listen to God’s call.
God has called this woman to feed Elijah,
now keep in mind this is not her god
who has called her to do this,
but she is the one God has chosen
God sends Elijah to her to be fed,
and all she has left is a handful of meal and a little oil,
when she encounters Elijah
she’s about to prepare it for her and her son
and then wait to starve to death.
But Elijah tells her what God has promised,
that the meal and oil will not run out
until the rain comes if she feeds Elijah,
and if she feeds Elijah she and her son will eat too.
And so she does as Elijah says,
now I’m not sure it was out of an abundant trust in God
but rather an action born of nothing left to lose,
in her mind she’s going to die
whether or not she shares her last little bit of food with Elijah,
so why not?
Sure she’ll make Elijah some food,
and sure enough,
God keeps the promise
and the whole household is provided for.
Perhaps it was a similar sentiment
that brought the widow the Jesus observes in the gospel
to give her last two pennies.
Or perhaps she was trusting in God
and obediently giving to God first come what may.
This seems to be Jesus’ interpretation of her actions
particularly as he contrasts her with the scribes,
the wealthy who are giving for the sake of appearances,
out of their abundance,
they are placing their trust for the future in their resources
and their appearance of faithfulness
rather than in God.
We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.
Beware of appearances Jesus says
they can be deceiving.
Those who seem faithful and trustworthy, blessed by God,
but this is not so if their heart is in the wrong place,
if they place their hope for the future
in something other than God,
if they fail to follow the ways of God,
which boil down to “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all our mind, and with all your strength…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
And appearances the other way can be deceiving,
two pennies- what can God do with that?
Or a jar of meal that is about to run out,
yet when these are placed into the care and service of God,
they are enough for God to work with
to accomplish what God sets out to do.
Notice how God rarely works out of an abundance of material resources,
At least abundant by human standards
that is God’s promise and faithfulness,
that when God is at work there will be enough,
and when the appointed time ends
and the meal and oil run out,
the resources run out and it truly seems like the End,
then God brings us to the cross,
and we find that it isn’t the End,
God has more to offer,
And it probably won’t look like what we expect,
appearances can be deceiving,
but it is real and true Life.
The Lord shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!
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