Pentecost 25B, 2024
Mark 12:38-44

A STITCH IN TIME... CAN RAISE QUESTIONS OF JUSTICE

This week I sought out and re-read an interesting article by a bloke called William O’Brien,
who, among other things, suggested:
“The scriptures have served as propagandistic fodder for slavery, subjugation of women, even ethnic cleansing. Yet many of us believe the Bible is profoundly life-giving, offering a vision of justice, salvation, peace, and human dignity....”

Well, I am sure you have, over the years,
        heard many similar presentations of a similar argument 
        from many different ministers. 

So maybe this comment is not as radical for you as it first sounds.

But I’m not finished yet. O’Brien’s comments went on:
“the Word... must be liberated from dangerous distortions, untruths, and half-truths.  To open our lives to the guiding truth of the biblical revelation, we may need to unlearn much of what we've been taught about the Bible.” (William O’Brien. Web site -The Other Side).

Now that is certainly saying something different.
So, being one who uses words and biblical stories regularly
        I thought I had better sit up and take notice.

And as this article was talking about something which I engage in, regularly,
I thought I had better check me out!

So let me spend some time exploring what I reckon is some of the thinking in and around all this.
        And as it may sound a bit heavy in places,
        or a bit longer than usual,
        I invite you to listen carefully.

oo0oo

Several biblical scholars have said we need to rescue the Bible from a narrow world view,
or from literalism,
or from fundamentalism.

To hear that sort of stuff is not new, is it!
O’Brien’s article is certainly suggesting some of that.

But from a closer reading of his article, I reckon he is also saying something more.
Especially to people like you and me
        who hear the Bible read in small chunks each week
        from the Lectionary, when we come to church.

While we may profess to love the stories of the Bible, such as the stories of
the so-called good Samaritan,
or Nicodemus,
or the one about the widow and the coins - the one we heard this morning -
let us be careful to hear them in the broader context
suggested by the storyteller.

Well, a telling example for O’Brien of this process
is the traditional interpretation of Mark’s story of
        the widow and the coins.

oo0oo

On its own, which is usually how we hear it,
the story lends itself easily to moralising about
        the heroic sacrifice of this poor widow, who gave of all she had.

Sermons have been preached on it.
Stewardship services have been build around its theme.
Offering plates have been sent around for a second time.

And parallel stories such as the one where God gives a man 10 apples:
three for food,
three to trade for shelter,
three to trade for clothing,
and one to give back to God in gratitude... 

But this apple looked particularly delicious.
So he ate it and gave back to God the core.

All these have been regularly told.
And I am sure they have been great sermons and services and stories.
        And I want to include myself somewhere in all of that as well.

But William O’Brien is suggesting to you and to me:
what is the broader story Mark is trying to tell us here?

And that broader story seems to be about naming
a system which abuses poor people,
and religious leaders who wield unilateral power
in violation of God's will.

Powerful people who financially exploit vulnerable widows at one end.
And an announcement that says you can’t do that 
        and think you can get away with it, at the other end. 

        And in the middle: this story of the widow and the coins.

Put all these together... and what we hear is
Mark, the storyteller, weaving together
        echoes of the Hebrew scripture's constant concern
        for widows and other outcasts.

As well as the voices of Hebrew prophets like Isaiah and Amos,
who condemned the religious establishment
for exploiting the vulnerable.

 So... is the widow and the coins,
a story about boundless generosity and self-sacrifice?

Or is it more pointed evidence undergirding Jesus' judgement
against an exploiting religion of his day?

Preached once every three years and told and heard as a single story,
this widow story is offered as a model of stewardship
        to encourage giving to the church.

And because we at (NN) have agreed to undertake a modest building program,
perhaps I should stop now.  And just ask you to give!
        Because we genuinely need the added financial support.

Yet when the stories are stitched together it suggests a very different reading:
        nothing short of a radical protest against the use of religion
        and politics and power to victimise those
        who are powerless and vulnerable.

And that’s different!

oo0oo

Now... I remember saying once that
the Bible is both a dangerous book and an adults-only book.
        I have since been challenged on both grounds.

But what I was suggesting was something like this...
When we tell, or listen to, or quote from, biblical stories
        we need to be careful how we use these stories
        because our tendency is to over-spiritualise them.

And when we do, the ‘hard’ and ‘challenging’ issues of adult living:
power, 
possessions,
poverty and hunger, 
justice, 
violence and oppression,

are softened, often marginalised, rendered invisible,
or lost to a ‘religion-is-a-private-matter’ reasoning.

To hear beyond the domestication of these stories
will often mean we will have to
        unlearn much of what we have been taught.

And for some that can be really challenging.

But as you know and I know,
that’s what many contemporary scholars
        are calling for in this the early years of the 21st century.

William O’Brien suggests we can go on that journey
by listening to the broader context of the individual stories.
        I think I am agreeing... but with a hesitant y-e-s.

Hearing the stories in the wider context is helpful.
But we also need to hear them with a healthy dose of suspicion as well.

Because when the stories of the storytellers 
we call Mark and Matthew and Luke and John are broaden out,
        that is when we are also more likely 
        to get the spiritualisation of the story.

‘Blessed are the poor’.... for example
often becomes ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit!’
        And that is very different!

A system which keeps people in poverty is evil. Period.
But to that one person, their poverty and their hunger is just that.
        Very real hunger and poverty, every day.

And that’s the ‘hard’ saying, and its tension shouldn’t be ‘softened’.

oo0oo

Unlearning much of what we've been taught about the Bible
is an exciting and challenging experience.

Sharing in that experience
with a group of equally open-minded people
is a positive and empowering and liberating experience.

As challenging as it can be, we have much to gain when we approach
even the most familiar biblical stories
        as if we've never heard them.

We must probe for fresh aspects.
Listen for new voices, including the silent voices.
Let ourselves be surprised.

That’s the new journey I reckon the Spongs and the Borgs and the Winks
are calling us to share in.
        To take a lead in.
        To empower people to shape a new spirituality for a new world.

And if any congregation can do that,
this congregation – (NN) - can!
        And continue to do it well!