Scripture reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16.

Sermon Text: Mark 12:38-44.

Of all the ways for a general to catch an invading army, this one ranks among the unlikeliest.

By 2 May 1863, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest had chased Union invaders under Colonel Abel Streight across most of Alabama during the Civil War. The Union soldiers had crossed a rain-swollen creek close to Gadsden and then destroyed the bridge across the creek. General Forrest rode to a nearby house and asked the family there if they knew of another bridge across the creek.

The Sansom’s 15-year-old daughter, Emma, volunteered to point out another place where Forrest’s men could cross in spite of the flood. When her mother protested, Forrest promised Emma’s safe return. Emma climbed behind Forrest on his horse and rode with him to the creek. The Union soldiers serving as Streight’s rear guard began firing on the general until they saw Emma riding behind him. After they crossed the creek, the Confederates chased the Union army and caught the invaders the next day. On 3 May, Streight was forced to surrender his army to General Forrest. Emma Sansom became a local hero for her bravery under fire. You can travel to Gadsden today and see a monument to Emma Sansom Johnson.

Today’s lectionary passages also remind us of unlikely heroes. A widow in Zarephath received an unexpected visitor and responsibility on the day she had planned to fix her family’s final meal. Roughly 900 years later, another widow entered the Temple in Jerusalem and offered her final funds to the Temple. Both widows expected no help from anyone but God Himself. In both cases, the widows’ actions merited an honor accorded to precious few in history: They were recorded in Scripture. God still uses unlikely heroes to accomplish His plan to redeem our fallen world.

Both passages have a common thread: Widowhood.

Ancient societies lacked the social safety net we take for granted today. A family relied solely on the income of the husband. If a man died, his family faced the likelihood of slavery or even starvation unless someone else in the family provided for them. The book of Ruth describes the story of how Boaz acted as the kinsman redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. The Mosaic Law provided for the widows and orphans, but moral decay led to long periods where the provisions were mostly ignored.

In today’s Scripture reading, Elijah received word from God that his time at the brook of Cherith had ended; the brook had run dry because of the drought Elijah had prophesied earlier to King Ahab. God told Elijah, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

The widow in Elijah’s life lacked even the protection of the Mosaic Law. When God needed to provide for Elijah, he didn’t send him to any widow in Israel; He didn’t send Elijah to Judah, the country of the Temple in Jerusalem. Instead, God sent Elijah to Zarephath, in territory held by Sidon. Ahab had married Jezebel, a princess from Sidon. In one of history’s many ironies, God sent Elijah to Jezebel’s home territory. The widow God had “commanded” to aid Elijah didn’t worship Him!

This widow may have needed help, but she didn’t expect it. When Elijah asked her for a meal, her answer demonstrated the conditions widows faced in Sidon. “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”

Elijah didn’t make light of her predicament; instead, he gave her a prophecy of comfort. “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’ ”  How long did this situation last? We learn in the Gospel of St. Luke that the drought lasted 3 years. For this entire period, God provided for the widow because she obeyed His command to provide for Elijah.

We often forget that society changed extremely slowly in the ancient world. Although 900 years had passed between Elijah and Jesus, the same situation faced the widow in today’s sermon passage that widows in Elijah’s time often faced.

This widow, however, held a key advantage lacked by the Sidonian widow. The widow at the Temple during Jesus’ visit knew the true God, the God that her ancestor Abraham had called, “The LORD our Provider.”

Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem the previous day, entering the city as a triumphal king and then cleaning house in the Temple. On the day of the sermon passage, Jesus taught in the Temple, driving both the Pharisees and Sadducees crazy with His answers to their questions. For decades, the Sadducees had run the Temple as they wished, while the Pharisees had fiercely opposed their domination over the Temple complex. Jesus’ arrival united the adversaries as they fruitlessly tried to negate the people’s fascination with this teacher from Galilee.

As He sat in the Temple, Jesus watched the crowds as they entered the holiest place on earth. The distinctions within the Jews coming to worship would have fascinated anyone.

First, Jesus noticed the scribes and teachers. Scribes held a high position in many ancient societies, because few people knew how to read and write. Scribes in Judaism copied the Scriptures using meticulous, time-consuming methods that insured the accuracy of the copies. Scribes spent so much time within the Scriptures that they often became teachers themselves. However, the scribes in Judaism never taught on their own authority. Like students writing research papers, the scribes constantly cited references to more established authorities.

“How could Jesus determine a scribe or Temple teacher from the crowd?” The Mosaic Law commanded the people to wear blue tassels on the corners of their robes as a memorial of the Law (Numbers 15). By the time of Jesus, many of the scribes and teachers had begun wearing blue tassels more prominently than ordinary Jews, making them very easy to pick out from the teeming crowds in the Temple.

Jesus’ teaching regarding the scribes may have stunned His listeners: “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces

and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The scribes had long enjoyed their esteemed status in the Temple and synagogues. Although Jewish teachers could not charge for teaching, most had little to fear because the wealthy patronized the more famous teachers. The scribes could expect to sit in the seats closest to the “ark” in the synagogues where the Torah was kept. The scribes also  enjoyed numerous perks at social events. Jesus’ teachings hammered at all the privileges the scribes had come to expect.

This teaching reminds us that people have always treated their religious leaders with deference, but society has always had to endure those who abuse the privileges of leadership. In the case of first-century Judaism, the situation Jesus described reminds us of another issue. The scribes knew the Scriptures because of their familiarity with the texts, but they possessed no authority of their own to teach the Scriptures. The Church has often had to contend with people who claimed the privileges of leadership without the authority of a calling from God. Jesus often accepted hospitality from people (Jesus stayed with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus during His last Passover), and many women supported His ministry (cf. Mark 15:40-41).

Jesus then moved to the area called the “treasury.” As people entered the Temple, they dropped their offerings into trumpet-shaped coffers. Remember that all money in Jesus’ time consisted of coins, meaning everyone around would have heard the offerings as they hit the coins already in the coffers. The rich worshipers would have dropped lots of coins into the coffers, leading many to turn to see who had made such enormous offerings.

Then, a poor widow entered the Temple and made her offering. The coins she dropped into the coffer were the smallest coins minted in the Roman Empire. We often find mention of the “penny” (KJV), more accurately called a “denarius.” The denarius represented an ordinary worker’s daily wage. The copper coins the widow offered were only 1/128 of a denarius. You read correctly: one one hundred twenty-eighth of a daily wage. At today’s minimum wage ($7.25 an hour, 2009) and assuming an 8-hour work day, the widow’s offering totaled only 46 cents.

We don’t know if Jesus knew this woman, although He seemed to know something of her circumstances. Unlike the scribes, who knew only what they read, the Master Teacher saw a lesson in the making.

Jesus called His disciples over to Him and said, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

How could Jesus say this? How could the widow’s meager offering — one that would have barely made even a tinkling sound in the coffer — outdo the offerings of the wealthy?

Jesus saw a comparison with other widows in Scripture. The widow in Elijah’s time gave everything she had to Elijah; her obedience led to great blessings as God provided for her, her son, and Elijah. The widow in His presence had almost nothing, yet she gave it all to the Temple. The widow demonstrated great faith in giving everything to God. She expected God to meet her needs in the time to come.

I see great lessons for us today in these passages.

For one thing, we need to understand God’s economics vis-a-vis the world’s economics. Both widows gave everything they had, but they gave it in faith. The actions of these widows demonstrated their faith in “The LORD who Provides.” God still provides for His people when we give as He expects.

I’m not talking about money here. We Americans jump quickly to the subject of money whenever we hear the word “giving.” I’m talking about the lesson of the widows: God wants everything. God wants your allegiance; He wants you to confess Jesus, His only-begotten Son, as Lord of your life, believing in the resurrection of His Son. When you confess Jesus as Lord, you swear to give Him everything you have: Your finances, your mind, your job, your very life. Most people will make this confession and find that God can use them where they are. Some find that God calls them to other jobs; to other areas of the world; or even to service in His Church as ministers or missionaries. The lesson applies. God expects us to surrender everything to Him and trust Him to provide for us.

We also need to understand God’s concept of “heroes.” In Western civilization, we tend to think of big, muscular specimens when we think of a hero; people like Hercules in ancient times or big action movie stars today. God doesn’t look at a person’s physical attributes like strength or beauty when He chooses people for heroic actions. God looks at a person’s heart. Many people would have seemed more qualified to care for Elijah than a widow planning her last meal; many people would have seemed more worthy of Jesus’ attention than a widow dropping less than a half-dollar in the offering. God calls people who will obey Him because those who obey will accomplish what He needs done.

What about you? Will you confess Jesus as Lord, promising Him everything you have? Will you obey God’s call on your life, whatever that call may entail? God still calls unlikely heroes to accomplish the redemption of fallen humanity. This week, you may be the hero someone needs to show them the gospel of everlasting life through our Lord Jesus Christ.