The Power of the Presence of God

Sermon from March 22, 2020

Mark 12:41-44, Mark 14:3-9

         Well, here we are in the fourth week of Lent and I have to say that people are really getting in to the whole fasting thing this year. I mean, I drive by movie theaters and a lot of people have given up seeing the latest flicks for Lent this year. Not only that but you know I have also noticed that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of people frequenting the bars this Lent either so I say to all those who have chosen to give up going out for a drink, way to go. If that were not great enough it also seems that people are getting serious about the sin of gluttony because man, I see a lot of restaurant parking lots with hardly any cars in them. That is some serious fasting going on this Lent.

         Well, yes, I am aware that what I am seeing is of course not a serious focus on fasting during this Lenten season but rather a fierce attempt at all of us doing our part at social distancing so that we can as they say “flatten the curve” during this corona virus pandemic.The reason for this social distancing is the fact that the corona virus is so contagious. Just the other day I came across a great illustration that demonstrated in a powerful way why the disease control people are so concerned about this virus. What disease control wants to know is for every person who develops the disease how many will they give the disease to before they are no longer infectious? Well, for the corona virus the answer to that question is that number is three; one person get it and they can infect three other people before they are no longer able to infect anyone else. Now, that doesn’t sound so bad until you do the math. So, the first step is three, the second step is nine and the third step is twenty seven and so on. Well, if you keep working out the math in just fifteen steps there is a potential of fifteen million people who end up being infected. Just let that sink in for a moment. Now, as I pondered how profound this little thought experiment was, I couldn’t help but think of how we as Christians are to be contagious in another way. I thought of how Jesus tells us in the thirteenth chapter of Matthews gospel that we are to be like a little bit of yeast mixed in a large measure of flour and how that little bit of yeast soon is found throughout that large measure of flour. That little bit of yeast is no longer just that small amount but now is multiplying and growing and spreading until it fills all of that large measure of flour. So what was Jesus trying to tell us in this story of a little yeast growing in a large measure of flour? The point is that that little bit of yeast had to give itself completely, to lose itself in that measure of flour. Only by dying to what it was could that yeast become something more. This pouring out of oneself for the kingdom of God so that not only the kingdom but ourselves become something greater, this is what Jesus is leading us to do. This is truth found in our scripture for today.

        Our two scripture verses for today have much in common. In each we have a woman, who is giving extravagantly. Each is commended by Jesus for their willingness to give excessively. The difference between these two scenarios which may not be apparent is that each woman is giving to a different Temple. The widow, whose story is found at the end of the twelfth chapter of Mark is giving all she had to live on at the treasury of the Temple, the Temple made of stone, wood and gold which was the house of worship for all the people of Israel. Yet as permanent as this structure must have felt to all who worshipped there, Jesus warned them that the end of this Temple was near.When Jesus cleansed the Temple causing the daily sacrifices to come to a screeching halt, this was a prophetic demonstration that one day there would be no more sacrifices, no more worship within the walls of this Temple. The reason for this is subtly given in the account of the widows giving where we are told that Jesus sat down opposite the Temple treasury to watch people put their money into the giving box. Many rich people came and put in large sums of money. This sounds commendable but was it really? Or was their giving a means to make themselves look more honorable in the eyes of those who watched and listened as their large sums of coins clattered into the treasury box? Yes, it was apparent that they cared more about lifting up their own name instead of lifting up and bearing the name of God, and because the people of the Temple no longer were willing to bear the name of the Lord then the Temple itself could no longer be said to be the place where the name of God dwelt.

Yet, in stark contrast to those who were so obsessed with their own honor, there was a very poor widow who instead desired to honor God. She honored God by giving her very last cent. This honored God because it witnessed to her faith that she knew God as the one who had given her life and this God would keep her life safe. In her giving she gave out of this faith, lifting up the name of God, the name of steadfast love and faithfulness. Through her giving she knew God as a God whose love never fails; a God who remains faithful, from whom come all good gifts.

         Now, what may not be apparent, is that the woman with the alabaster flask was also giving her treasures to the Temple, the new Temple whose name is Jesus. This is what Mark wants us to understand as we read of this account of yet another extravagant giving by a woman. Mark wants us to comprehend just why it was that the Temple had to be destroyed and why Jesus the Son of Man was going to be raised from the dead to take its place. What is interesting is that when we discover the reason behind the Temples destruction we also discover the reason for this women’s extravagant giving.

         You see, what is very confusing when we think about the Temple authorities is that they appeared on the surface to be pretty good people. They were not people who were listening to the voice of their inner desires, that first temptation we learn Eve yielded to in the Garden after being tempted by Satan. No, these Temple authorities were people who knew the scriptures. They meditated on God’s word day and night. They seemed to understand the wisdom found in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 

         Not only did they appear to be people who were listening to the word of God but they also had the appearance of being people who lived by Biblical wisdom. This wisdom found in the second and third chapters of the book of Proverbs is that we are to be people who practice justice, righteousness and fairness when dealing with each other. In the third chapter of Proverbs we further discover that this way of dealing with others has its roots in the foundational actions of steadfast love and faithfulness. Throughout the Bible, steadfast love and faithfulness is the very name of God, his very essence, the unchanging character of the Almighty. So, when we treat each other with justice, righteousness and fairness what we are  in essence doing is bearing the name of God out into the world. We are acting toward each other as God has always acted toward us. This is is what the Bible defines as wisdom. This wisdom affects the course of our future because as we discover in the twelfth chapter of Daniel, it is those who are wise who will rise to everlasting life. Those who have chosen to not live by this wisdom will unfortunately rise to everlasting shame.

         This Biblical wisdom stands in contrast to the worldly wisdom found in the third temptation that Eve yielded to in the Garden when she looked upon the forbidden fruit and she desired it in order to make herself wise. This is the wisdom of the animal kingdom where they desire to have their food to take and hide it away to secure their future. We see this as squirrels hiding acorns and nuts and dogs burying their bones. It is wise to them because at some day in the future they will have food if something hasn’t found it in the mean time.  This worldly wisdom stands in stark contrast to the wisdom of God who teaches us to take our resources and instead of squirreling them away, use these resources to practice steadfast love and faithfulness, to act toward each other as God has first acted toward us. This is true wisdom because only those willing to act this way in the here and now will get to experience the everlasting life of the there and then. Jesus called this laying our treasures up in heaven instead of earth.

                  Now, we know that Temple authorities at least in practice did believe that were people of justice, righteousness and fairness because they followed the Law to the letter. In fact, they even did more than the Law demanded just to be on the safe side. The Law as we discovered spelled out how the people of Israel were to bear the name of God in their community. They were to every year, take the first fruits of their produce and eat before the Lord with their family and friends in acknowledgment that God is the life give and the life keeper; they were secure with him as their king. They were to every third year give generously to the poor and in needy around them. God spelled it all out for them so that there was no question as to how they were to bear his name out into the world. The Temple authorities, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the High Priest all of them would have insisted if asked, that they had done all that the Law had called for and not only that they went further and did more just to err on the side of caution.

         So, if they were people who listened only to the word of God and if they in their observance of the Law practiced justice, righteousness and fairness in their dealings with each other, then why had they lost their faith in God to be their life giver? Why were they so possessed to make for themselves a life of their own choosing instead of receiving with gratitude the life God desired to give to them? Why was it that these people who should have been the closest people to God turned out to be the people who were plotting to kill his Son?

         The answer to this puzzle lies, I believe, in the third temptation that Eve yielded to in the Garden of Eden when tempted by Satan. When she saw the Forbidden fruit we are told that it was a delight to her eyes. What is being implied here is that Eve saw the fruit and she desired it, a desire the Bible calls lust, a strong, violent, impure longing.It is the kind of desire that is consuming, demanding, unsettled until satisfaction is achieved.It is this temptation that is so devastating to people who seem so close to God, those who appear to be listening only to the Word of God. It is this temptation that makes a hypocrisy of those who are following His wisdom of treating others with justice, righteousness and fairness. The reason why this is so is  the aspect of our motivation. What all of us must answer is this: Why am I doing all of this? What is my motivation for heeding the word of God, for treating others with the same love and faithfulness God has shown to me? Just what is it that we desire to receive for our obedience? If we yield to the temptation of lusting after what catches hold of our eyes then the reason for our obedience to God will be that, in exchange for our obedience, God will be for us the power we need to obtain the object for which we are lusting after. If this temptation of the lust of the eyes is left unchecked then God will be seen to us as a source of power that we can use to get what we long for instead of being the presence we desire more than any other.

         We see an example of how one can try and manipulate God to be the power to satisfy ones lustful longings in the story of Cain and Abel.  In the fourth chapter of Genesis we read of the story of Cain and Abel who bring offerings before the Lord. Cain, a grain farmer brought an offering from his crops. It is important to see what is not said in this description, most important aptly that what Cain brought was but just a mere sampling of what he had harvested. This helps us realize that what Cain has brought is an offering of just enough. When one is in a relationship with someone else for what they can do for you then the relationship will be marked by behavior that is “just enough”, just enough to get the other person in the relationship to do what you desire. This is what Cain was doing, offering just enough so that God would use his power to give Cain an abundant harvest. So, when we understand this then we also see that God was not being cruel when he rejected Cain’s offering but rather jolting Cain to an awareness that he was in fact attempting to manipulate God, to use him instead of love him.

         What a contrast was the offering of Abel. Abel we are told brought the firstborn of his flock and its fat portions; in other words, Abel brought his very best before the Lord. It is obvious that Abel desired a relationship of drawing close to God’s presence. In his sacrifice Abel was telling God that he knew God as his good shepherd who cared for Abel just as Abel had cared for this sheep upon the altar. Just as Abel had given life to this sheep he now asked for that life back to give glory to God.  In the same way, Abel understood that God had given him life and if at some point God would ask for that life to be returned for his glory then Abel was willing to make that sacrifice for God. Do you understand why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice? Do you see how vastly different Abels offering was from Cains offering just because their motivations for offering were so vastly different?

         Well, when you are consumed with lust for an object, whether that is an abundant grain harvest or a kingdom of your own making, when your hopes that the power of God will be behind your efforts are found to be mere delusions, the result is always anger at the realization that your lust will not be satisfied. God saw that Cain was angry and God came to Cain and pleaded with Cain “Why are you angry Cain? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Sin’s desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” You see lustful desire gives birth to sin, sin that also has a desire, a desire to take our very life. What Cain wanted from God was his power but what God gave to Cain was his presence, his pleading and hope that Cain could indeed overcome the lust that was consuming him. God knew Cain had the power already with him to rule over this desire that afflicted him. Yet God’s words were to avail because out of his anger toward God, unable of course to kill God, Cain killed the one closest to God. Abel’s blood cried out from the ground; Earth’s first sin. This helps understand why Abel is referenced in our Lenten verse from the twelfth chapter of Hebrews where we are given a great vision of the hope which lies beyond the cross of this age,  that of the heavenly city of Mount Zion, the city of the living God, to innumerable angels gathered at the festival, to the assembly of the first born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all  and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than Abel.” Abel, the first one declared righteous by God is  one who by faith still speaks to us calling us to be righteous. Jesus the righteous who by his sacrifice, his blood sprinkled upon us, seals our new covenant with, forgiving our sin, empowering us to be the righteous people we are called to be.

 The righteousness of Abel was that he desired God’s presence over God’s power. Fallen humanities idea of power is freedom without restraint. It is to be free to do what one wants, to have what one desires, to take hold of all that one’s eyes can see. This kind of power is nothing less than an infants willfulness demanding that the world reach the things just beyond its grasp. In an infant this demanding attitude is understandable. In an adult, this demanding attitude is not only foolish it is also dangerous.

God’s power though while free is constrained by his steadfast love. This is a love freely given and we experience the power of this love when God in his freedom chooses to be present with us. God chooses to not remain in the confines of heaven safe from the pain, suffering and hurting of this world. In love, God enters into our world to be present with us; this is his power.  In the sixty sixth chapter of Isaiah, we are told that the ones God is searching for are the humble, those whose longing and desire is for God to be present in a desperate way. When we are broken and longing for nothing more than God to be close to us this is most assuredly when God is present with us.

This idea of a God whose power is to be present with us is the heart of Aaron’s blessing, found in the sixth chapter of Numbers,. We have looked at several times on our Lenten journey, focusing on the fact thatGod is the one who blesses us and keeps us, the one who is gracious unto us and the one who gives us peace. What we have missed when this is all we have focused on is how God is present with us when we receive these blessings. The first act of being present with us is this act of blessing. The Hebrew word of blessing has its roots in the Hebrew word for knee, because to bless someone is to bend one’s knee, to kneel in order to present a gift. So, the image we are given is that the great king who reigns above comes to us with his knees in the dirt of our life bearing gifts for us. Yet, it is more than just giving a gift, it is a pouring out of oneself before another. This act of blessing is done for only one reason and that is to establish a relationship with another.This is what God is desiring we understand when He tells us that he blesses us.

The second thing we read is that God makes his face to shine upon us. God’s face shines with the light of his glory. Yet, we are left wondering just what is God’s glory? How can we define God’s glory? We get a clue from the book of James where we read in the first chapter, the seventeenth verse, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Here James is teaching similar ideas to what we have just learned, that God blesses us, giving us every good gift from above. His face shines because he is the Father of light, meaning that in him there is no darkness, no turning; God is always true to his word. This same sense is found in the twenty third chapter of Numbers, the nineteenth verse, where we read “God is not man that he should lie, or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” God’s honor, his glory is that he is always true to his word; God always keeps his promises. This is is why his name is faithfulness, always faithful to the word he speaks. It is in the light of God’s integrity that we understand our fall from glory because we are people who are unable to keep our promises we make. We know the good that we should do; we can promise to love but that promise is quickly broken. There, face to face with God we are confronted with our own poverty of spirit feeling the pain and weight of our dishonor. Yet all is not lost because we read how God lifts his countenance upon us. This is an old Hebrew saying which means “to show favor.” God favors us! This means that God delights in us. The full expression of God’s favor is captured in a verse from the third chapter of the prophet Zephaniah where we read that God rejoices over us with gladness; he quiets us by his love. He exults over us with loud singing!” So, despite our lack of faith, God still delights in us, believes in us and promises to be present with us. His perfect love will drive out our fear so that our ability to trust will be restored so that we can become God and others can trust. This is the power of God’s presence. 

The Temple authorities desired God’s power because they desired to destroy those who caused them to suffer yet what they failed to realize is that by doing so all they would do is become just like the ones they longed to destroy, people who caused others to suffer. God offers his presence so that we become faithful people whose fear has been cast out by God’s perfect love. Then we will be people who can take on the suffering of the world, loving others so their fears are dispelled and they too can become faithful people who love and who no longer cause others to suffer. This is the way of Jesus. 

What we see in the woman who anointed Jesus was someone who copied the God who was present with her. She blessed Jesus, kneeling before him, pouring herself out before Jesus. She saw in his face the faithfulness of God and understood her own lack of faith. Yet in that same face she saw someone who loved her and accepted her and delighted in her. In Luke’s version of this same story, when others asked why she had given so lavishly, Jesus answered that those who had been forgiven much love much. This is the power of the presence of God. Others know when we have been in the presence of God; it is when we become like God, kneeling, pouring out, being faithful yet delighting in the wonder of the other. This is the way of Jesus. This is the way of the cross. May our lives show that this is the way we are traveling this Lenten season. Amen!