Proper 27 Year B Nov 12, 2006

Every now and then, when looking at scripture, a word or a phrase captures your attention.

How about this one: Jesus said that the scribes "devour widows’ houses"?

When you heard it, did you get a mental image of several scribes pulling off parts of a house so that they could grill them for dinner in some kind of Hansel and Gretel gone bad scene?

Probably not.

But you probably did get a correct impression of powerful people abusing their power at the expense of widows.

In bible times, women without a male protector were economically threatened: sometimes religious leaders like the scribes would manage their affairs as an act of protection. Sometimes the religious leaders’ actions resulted only in their getting richer.

Before Jesus prophets like Malachi and Zechariah spoke out about how the religious leaders abused the poor, the orphans and the widows.

Isaiah asked "What will you do on the day of punishment? All you who...write oppressive statues, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey!"  (Paraphrase 10: 1-3)

From the earliest times, it was the religious obligation, the sacred duty, of the community to care for those who were weak and vulnerable.

Children. Widows. Strangers.

And much of this protection became codified so that the same people were not always getting stuck with the cost and effort of the care of the community’s needy.

This why some of the Book of Ruth seems convoluted when you read it as a short story with only 4 chapters.

It is the story of three widows– Naomi and her two daughters -n-law Orpah and Ruth who are both Moabites...

Orpah does not return to Bethlehem with Naomi.

Ruth does. Like the good Samaritan in the gospel of Luke, Ruth is an admirable character from an ethnic group which was despised and rejected in Israelite tradition.

God uses the faithfulness of Ruth to "redeem" Naomi– to restore her to her kin and God– through the birth of a child named Obed.

Obed is the father of Jesse.

Jesse is the father of David.

Jesus is born as a descendent in the house and lineage of King David.

Naomi acts to get Ruth and Boaz together. But in chapter 4 we see some of those convoluted..."lets protect the widows"...statues. Boaz is ready to marry Ruth but he has to go to the town gate, the city hall of his day, and barter with a kinsman who is in line before him...who has more direct responsibility for Naomi than Boaz.

And with some clever talk which reminds everyone present that Ruth is a despised Moabite, Boaz gets his way and seals the deal by taking off his sandal and giving it to his kinsman. That’s the way you "sealed the deal" in ancient times. Aside: maybe that’s where presidents get the idea of giving away pens as they sign laws.

So we have this wonderful story.

It reminds us that the family tree of Jesus of Nazareth contained racial outcasts.

It reminds us that widows and orphans are to be tended by the community of faith.

It reminds us that when someone is separated from the group that actions should be taken to restore them, to redeem them.

In that way, we are all like Naomi. We all are separated from each other, from the best in ourselves and from God. We all need redemption. Restoration. Healing.

And like the experience of Naomi, it will be granted us by God in Christ, not because of our behaviors or our faithfulness. Rather, it is ours because of God’s goodness and grace.

Widows.

Jesus remarks on the offering given by the widow in the Temple.

She puts in two small copper coins. If she had 62 more "pennies" it would be equal to one day’s wage– a living wage.

We tend to think that Jesus points to her giving as a good thing. She gives much more than the rich. She gave everything she had, all she had to live on.

Maybe there is more that Jesus wants us to see.

Perhaps, once more, Jesus is pointing to the misconduct of all those in authority...the Temple authorities...He is still denouncing those who have much. The widow had to have an offering. Now all she had to live on is gone.

The community has failed.

The community has failed to pay attention and to act for the good of all.

Special interests and vested interests are all.

Is that true today?

How are the strangers, orphans and widows among us doing today?

I’m not sure I know.

We have laws and statues and ordinances.

We have the immigration authorities.

We have child welfare agencies.

We have social security offices.

Last Tuesday, I voted. And for the first time, I was asked to do an "exit poll". I debated for a moment. Then filled out the form.

And there at the end of the form, at the very end of the form, just past the next to the last "fun" question

'Are you an Eagles fan or a Steelers fan?'' There is was.... Or rather, there it was not.

I had my choice to mark several boxes to describe myself...

Female. Okay.

Marital status. What a minute.... I could be single, I could be married or I could be divorced.

There was no place in indicate, if it had been my status,  that I was widowed.

Well, in all fairness... there was a line for "other".

Marital status "other"_________________.

Bigamous. Polygamous. Widowed. Other.

So how are the orphaned and widowed among us doing?

I don’t know.

I’ll tell you my fear.

For years we have in one way or another been filling out forms and letting ourselves be put in boxes. And putting each other in boxes.

When you move, you carefully label the packing boxes. Then you have a hope of the move going smoothly. You can tell the movers, "Put that box in the spare bedroom." You don’t have to deal with the individual items in the box. You just read the label.

Have we put each other in boxes and now just read the labels?

Have we put each other in boxes and lost the uniqueness? The gifts each individual brings?

Have we put each other in boxes because we want control, ease, security?

Let me remind you that is not how God acts.

God sees us individually as people of worth and value.

God loves each one of us.

Jesus sat down and looked at crowd put money into the treasury. He looked until he saw the widow.

Again Jesus sat down at a well on the edge of a town and spoke to the outcast woman no one else would address because she had had many husbands and men.

Jesus walked through Jericho in a crowd but he stopped to call Zacchaeus out of the sycamore tree.

Again Jesus walked in a crowd but he heard blind Bartimaeus call out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

I am suggesting that in the life of faith, we do not label each other or others. Liberals. Conservatives. Red. Blue. Eight o’clock. Chrieasters– that’s Christmas and Easter Christians.

We are to deal with each other as brothers and sisters, as people of worth, as the beloved of God, as those for whom Christ gave his life in witness to the saving love of God.

AMEN.