“I Dare You to Do It Again!”

Mark 12:38-44

November 10, 2002

St. Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John Fleming

I had not thought about her in about eight years until the other afternoon while I was reading our scripture lesson, again, in preparation for this morning’s sermon. I remember her and the half an hour that I spent with her now nearly eight years ago. At the time, I was the senior pastor at the Harmony Grove United Methodist Church near Camden. By the way, I was also the associate pastor and the youth minister and the janitor and everything else that pastors do in small churches. I remember that it was a fall day, a very cool day, much like the days that we have been having lately. There was a hint of rain in the air. Our worship service was over and I was standing at the front door of the church, shaking hands and telling everyone to have a good week. Most of the people were out in the parking lot deciding where they were going to have Sunday’s lunch. Inside was Rose Martha Johnson and her two young grandchildren. Rose was our church’s treasurer. She was on one side of the sanctuary sorting and stuffing the morning offering into nylon bank bags. Her grandchildren were picking up left behind worship bulletins and putting the pew Bibles and the hymnals back in the racks that usually held them. Jimmy Wilson, one of our church members, came back inside and said to me, “John, there is a woman out here, in the parking lot, who has two young boys. She’s asked if she could speak with the pastor.” I thought to myself, “Oh great!” Everyone knows everyone in Harmony Grove and so if she wanted to speak with the pastor, that meant that she did not know me. Now that I am in Little Rock, every once and a while, Kathy will call me out of my office to say, “John, there is someone out here who would like to speak with the pastor.” I know that I shouldn’t, but sometimes I cringe when I hear those words. Sometimes I think about using the outside door that leads to a sidewalk that curves around the church. I know that I should not think that, but sometimes I do.

Jimmy ushered this woman into the church. He brought her to one of the front pews. On the other side of the sanctuary was Rose, counting the money. This woman’s two boys walked over towards where Rose was sitting. There was a stage on that side of the sanctuary that the choir sang their specials from. In Little Rock, we sing anthems, but in that church, we sang specials. The woman’s two children sat on that platform. Now that those two boys are in my mind, I cannot seem to stop thinking about them. Their mother began to tell me her story. She said, “Pastor, I have fallen on hard times. My life is not what I want it to be. In fact, it is an awful life. I need a new life.” She said, “Pastor, in about four weeks, Christmas will be here. This year, for Christmas, I am asking God for a new life. I do not like the one that I have now.” She kept talking about her needing to leave and her needing to start over. She said to me, “I wanted to come to your worship service this morning, but I did not make it on time. I didn’t want to come in late.” She said, “I used to go to church, all the time, with my grandmother. I loved to sit with my grandmother. I loved the smell of my grandmother’s dresses. I loved to hear the stories of Jesus.” She said, “But now life is really hard on me and I just need to get away.” she reached down for her purse; out of it, she pulled three bus tickets. She said, “Tomorrow morning, me and the boys are leaving Harmony Grove. We grew up here. My mom and dad are here. Our friends are here, but I just cannot be here anymore. I have to leave.”

This thought started to cross my mind: She wants money. I looked over at Rose who was counting our money. I thought to myself, she wants our money. Quite honestly, our church had trouble making ends meet. Some weeks we barely made it. Sometimes we had to put off bills because there was not enough money in the checking account. I thought, “I’m going to have to give her some of our money.” She said, .“I bet that you are wondering what I want.” I said, “The thought has crossed my mind.” She said, “I bet you think that I want money.” I said, “Well, honestly, that is exactly what I thought.” She said, “I don’t want money. I didn’t come to ask you for money. In fact, I came to give you a donation.” I asked, “You came to give me a donation?” She said, “Yes, I want to give you ten percent of my last paycheck and I want you to pray for us.” She kept talking about leaving Harmony Grove. She talked about the new town that she would move to. She had picked it out. She talked about the new start that she would have. She said, “I haven’t been to church in a long time, but when we get our new life, I am going to find a church and we are going to be there every time the doors are open!” She said, “I know that in this new town, where I will know no one, I will have to trust God.” Three times she said that, “Now I will have to trust God.” She reached down for her purse. In it, she had an envelope from a ban. She carefully counted out $42.16 and handed it to me. I don’t mind telling you that I did not want to take her money. I knew that our church could use the money. I knew that $42.16 would buy our youth group pizza a Sunday afternoon or two. I wanted to say, “Please, keep your money.” Then it occurred to me that $42.16 was not going to make her or break her in her new town. It wasn’t. But then I thought, “But giving this money to God, her $42.16, might make the difference in her life. Trusting that God would help her and provide for her.” So I reached out my hand and I took her money. I walked over to Rose and handed her the cash. I ran back to my office, back behind the sanctuary, grabbed one of my Bibles, quickly wrote down some helpful scripture lessons about trust and I went back to the pew and prayed with her and her two children. We walked to the front door together. She was about to take the first step towards her new life, but first she turned back to me and said, “Preacher, I want to tell you one more thing. I know, I know, that God is going to take care of me.” She left and I did not say a word. I did not say a word. I should have said, “I believe that, too. God will take care of you.” but I did not say anything. I could not say anything. I was speechless. One is not bold in the presence of Almighty God. She and the boys walked away.

It is funny, I had not thought about her in nearly eight years until I read again the story of this widow who came to give her offering to the Temple treasury. This widow is another women, in my opinion, who trusted God with everything. Mark gives us the details of her story in his gospel. Mark begins by describing some pretty important people. He says this: Beware of the scribes who walk around wearing robes. I am wearing a long robe. “Beware of those who like to have places of honor at banquets and who like to be seen in the marketplaces.” I like sitting at the head table, don’t you? Didn’t I see some of you at the mall yesterday? We like to be seen at the marketplaces. “Beware of those who say long prayers.” My wife says, “John, you have got to cut down on your prayer time during the worship service. You have got those folks with their heads bowed and the heat on. They are going to go to sleep.” “Beware of those who devour widows’ houses” Whew. I have not done that. Jesus, surely, is not talking about me!

Jesus says that and his words set the scene for the second part of our lesson, the widow and her gift. She walks in to the Temple. Jesus is there at the Temple treasury. It must be stewardship time at the Temple. They must be filling out pledge cards and giving their offerings to God. That must be what is happening. Jesus sits across from the treasury. That is what our lesson says. He sits across from the treasury and he watches as many rich people come in and put their gifts in the coffers. Our offering plates are nice, round, and user friendly. When you put your money in our plates, it does not make a lot of noise. That is the way that it is now. That is not the way that it was in the days of Jesus. In Jesus’ day, there were no checks and the money given made a lot of noise. In the days of Jesus, people put their offerings in coffers, horned shaped collection vessels. These coffers were big at the top and small at the bottom; the more money you put in, the more noise it made.

When I was a little younger and ate at McDonald’s more often than I do now. At McDonald’s there used to be a big round tub near the place where you ordered your food. It was a collection plate for, I think, the Ronald McDonald House. Here is how it worked. You put your money in a little slot and if you dropped it just right, it would go around and around and around the plastic bowl until it came to the bottom of it and then it would just drop in. If you dropped it right, quarters and dimes and nickels would make a lot of noise.

Mark tells us that many rich people were coming into the Temple and giving their offerings to God. A preacher that I heard of once stood in the pulpit and when it was time for the offering to be collected, he invited the ushers to come forward. Normally he would sit back down, in his pulpit chair, and listen to the offering anthem. But this Sunday, he walked around with one of the ushers. He watched as the offering plate was being passed down each of the rows. He noticed what everyone was giving. Mentally he took note of the ones who did not give. Then he went back to the pulpit and said, “I know that some of you are uncomfortable with what I just did.” Then he said, “But as surely as I know what you gave, God knows, too.” If he was a United Methodist pastor, he might have been moved to another church before that church worshiped again. By the way, you won’t see me doing that. I believe that giving is between you and God.

Jesus knew what people gave. In walks this widow; she was alone. She has been alone since her husband died. No one has paid her any attention. She does not have much money; she is broke and depends on so many to help make ends meet. She stood in line with everyone else to give her offering to God. The disciples and Jesus were sitting across from the treasury. They were watching the coffers as they were filling up. They saw who the big givers were. They noticed who gave what. But no one noticed this widow. No one saw her come in. No one watched as she put her offering in the coffer. No one? No one? Someone. Jesus, our Lord, saw it. He noticed her. She pulled out two copper coins and dropped them in the coffer. Her gift did not make a noise. Jesus called the disciples to his side. He must have asked them, “Did you see the widow?” They might have answered, “No, we didn’t see her. What about her?” Jesus might have asked, “Did you see what she gave?” The disciples could have asked, “Did she give a lot?” Jesus might have said, “No, she did not give a lot, but she gave the greatest gift. She gave everything that she had and all that she had to live on.” Boom! That is it. That is how our lesson for this morning ends.

Now, what should we do with this story of the widow who gave all that she had? How can it speak to us today, on this consecration Sunday? My guess is that none of you will come to the front pew to talk with me and say, “I need a new start. Here’s $42.16.” My guess is that when the offering is collected in a few minutes, no one will give all that you have to the church. That is fine. I won’t do that, either.

The other night, Susie went to bed early and I put the finishing touches on our sermon. After that, I decided that I would pay a few of our bills. I want you know, and maybe you have experienced this, our bills multiplied before my eyes. I paid the cable bill and the water will and the electricity bill and the gas bill and the credit card bills and the cell phone bills and well, you get the idea. I looked down at the checkbook balance and I thought, “All that I have left is a couple of copper coins, worth about a penny!” We may feel like that, from time to time, but the truth is that most of us have a little more than that. But we worry about money.

The other afternoon I looked up how many sermons that I have preached in my nine years of ministry. If you are interested, I have preached 319 sermons. 315, thus far, have not been about money. I do not like the subject. I want you to hear that today. I read our lesson, I poured over it. I studied it. I looked at it over and over and over again and I decided something. I decided that this passage is not just about money. I decided that this passage is about trust. I want you to hear that. In walks a widow. No one notices her. No one takes care of her. She comes in and gives all that she has. She drops it in the coffer. I want you to know what she knows. She knows that God can be trusted. You, too, can trust God, not just with your money, but with your life. That is a lesson that I do not want you to forget. You can trust God. When the bills get higher, you can trust God. When you do not know if you are going to make it in a relationship that you are in, you can trust God. If you are worried and overwhelmed and stressed out, you can trust God. That is what this widow knew.

The second thing that I want you to hear this morning is this. This passage isn’t just about trusting God. It is not just about giving your money. I want you to hear what Jesus said. Jesus said that this widow gave everything that she had. There are some words on either side of that, but Jesus tells us that this widow gave everything that she had. I think that we need to give everything that we have. not just money, but time and our prayers and our commitment.

Let me ask you this. Can you remember a time when you were spiritually alive and excited about your relationship with God? I do not want to assume that you are not there this morning. I can remember when I first felt alive, spiritually. I am still spiritually alive. But when I was first spiritually alive, I looked for a job in the church. I was so excited about my faith. I could not read enough of the Bible. I could not go to enough Bible studies. One day, I showed up a UMW Bible study at my home church. There were 30 women there. I sat down and they asked me, “What are you doing here?” I said, “I’m here to study the Bible.” I wanted to tell people about my God. I wanted to preach. I couldn’t wait to have my own pulpit. Think about such a time in your own life. Maybe that time is right now. I want you to put that time on the shelf for just a minute. While it is there, I want to tell you a story.

It is the story of a man who was at a prayer meeting. He was sitting on the second row. His pastor was leading the service and said, “Tonight, as a part of our worship, we are going to have a time of testimonies. If there is anyone here who would like to share their story about what God has done in their life, then they are free to stand and testify.” This same man stood up and said this, “Twenty-one years ago, I came to this church. I have been a member here for twenty years. Twenty-one years ago, I came here on a Wednesday night. The church was open, but there was no one in the sanctuary. I walked down the aisle to this altar. I was hurting. I didn’t have any money. My wife had thrown me out of our house and I only had two dollars in my pocket and no money in the checking account.” He said, “I lost my job. I did not have anywhere to go and no where to turn. So I came to this church.” He said, “I prayed at the communion rail and I asked God to help me. I asked God to take control of my life. I asked God to give me some guidance.” He said “I got up, put my two dollars on the communion rail and walked out of this church.” He testified, “When I got outside, there was a man there that I knew. He asked me what I was doing at his church and I told him my story. I told him that I was thrown out of my house. I told him that I didn’t have any money, that I had just given my last two dollars to the church. The man took me home, gave me a meal and a job.” The man said, “I got back up on my feet and now twenty years later, I am a millionaire and it is all because of that one night, twenty years ago, when I gave my last two dollars to this church.” He sat down. The church was silent. Those who were there were spellbound. They did not say a word. They could not say a word. They were speechless. There was a woman at the back of the church. After a few minutes of silence, she stood up. She had been a member of that church for over seventy years. She grew up in that church. She stood up. She pointed her finger at the man who had just given his testimony.

Everyone in the church was looking at her. She said this, “Sir, I dare you to do it again!”

Dear friends, think this morning about your commitment. Think about your gifts. Think about your prayers. Think about your presence. Think about your service. Think about what you are committing to do for God in 2003. Wrap all of that up and consider giving it all to God.

And when you think about, I want you to think about that lady, with her crooked finger in the air, and then her words, “I dare you to do it again!” Let us pray.