During my time in seminary, I was known around the seminary for two reasons: if you needed technical help, or if you needed the organ played for something. Two very respected activities, yet that wasn’t what really surprised other guys in the seminary. Usually what surprised them was the fact that I came from a farm in southern Missouri, I drove a truck, I worked the farm when I was at home, and yet, I could do these two activities that would seem that they wouldn’t have interested a kid that grew up on a humble little farm in rural Missouri. Yet, it would seem that God has a sense of humor, and so I was known as being beyond appearances and assumptions. That age old saying- don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
As you think about it, we’ve all likely heard that particular age-old axiom. From the time we were very small this very simple phrase was repeated to us many, many times, and it’s something so true. While our minds like to build and to extract information from our surroundings, the people we encounter, and even our environments or locations, sometimes we make very quick jump assumptions, or we can even see things inaccurately. We’ve been right, but many times we’ve also been wrong in our assumptions or even our priorities in life. Maybe even situations that seemed that they were flawless, and somehow they failed, or situations that seemed hopeless, and somehow miracles happened. When it comes to our relationship with God and even with one another as a Church, do we also fall prey to our own assessments and assumptions about one another, or even about God Himself?
To begin to answer this question, we start with the first book of Kings, where we find Elijah the prophet, who is working around the city of Zarephath. When he arrives at the city from his journey, he is famished from the trip, and is looking for food. So, he calls to a widow who is gathering sticks. Elijah asks for a cup of water, and then also, as she is leaving to fetch that cup of water, he also beckons for a bit of bread. This is where the widow’s dilemma comes into play. She replies that she barely has anything left at all, and that she was just preparing to make the last bit of bread that she could for her and her son, and then she was prepared to die. Elijah, when he hears of this woman’s plight, he asks for a little cake, and then for her to prepare the bread that she was going to prepare for herself and her son.
Yet, Elijah isn’t simply leaving them to fend for themselves, but in that moment he gives them a promise from the Lord- that there isn’t going to be starvation after this bit of bread. As bad as their plight might seem, Elijah shows, as his ministry continually shows, that the Lord is in control. Whether it is in the midst of the drought that had occurred, or even in the midst of much smaller matters, the Lord shows that He is in control of even this moment in their life.
The second reading is a continuation of our string of readings from the letter to the Hebrews. It is a simple reminder, again, of Christ as high priest, and what He accomplished through His own priesthood, which He still uses to this day. We were reminded last week that He was the high priest that offers a sacrifice once and for all, and does not have to resort to continually offering sacrifice after sacrifice, and He also does not have to deal with the fact that high priests do eventually die. This week, the letter to the Hebrews focuses in more on the power of the sacrifice, and also what the sacrifice does. We know that the sacrifices of old offered by the high priests were always focused on removing the sin of the people and giving thanks to God for His blessings. The new sacrifice, offered through Jesus Christ, does that very same thing. It saves us from a plight that we could not take care of ourselves, and gives us occasion to offer thanks for this profound gift that He allows us to partake in. What’s more, he also opens the gates of heaven to us by the power of this sacrifice- it isn’t just about entering into a building made with hands- but one that is made by God Himself. This truly is a great gift, and one that is also a gift that we constantly find ourselves offering thanks to God for.
Finally, we arrive at the Gospel, which has two major focal points. First, Jesus starts off by warning the people against the appearances of the scribes. The scribes, as they were known at that time, loved positions of authority. They liked looking good- and so they would go for whatever would give them that appearance of power. They recite these lengthy, hollow prayers, they look for honor, they take from the poor and the outcast. All of these things sound really terrible in the way that Jesus frames them. In a realistic view, yes, these things are all diabolical- they don’t really mesh up with that idea of what we would think as a faithful or religious person. Yet, if you think about it, they are going on appearance- they want to look good, even at the expense of actually being a good person. They want to do whatever it takes to have that appearance.
This is sharply contrasted by the poor widow who was approaching the temple treasury. She puts in two very small coins, two amounts not worth much at all. Yet, Jesus, as unimpressed as He was by the previous show of the scribes, stops with this widow, and is genuinely impressed by what she does. He knows that she is in dire straights, and that she isn’t exactly wealthy in worldly terms… so why does she look at this poor widow and decide that, even in those two meager coins that she puts in- why is that worth so much more?
It’s because Jesus doesn’t look at the external appearance.
Jesus isn’t assessing everything in a superficial way. He isn’t just looking around and assessing everything externally, but He is looking for what really matters- where a person has room for God in their hearts. Do they have room at all? Or, is it all in the name of self-interest? That is what Jesus is caring about. Whether a farm kid looks like an organist and an IT support tech, that isn’t what matters. It is what is on the inside.
That is really what the challenge is looking for where God is, and not where He isn’t. There are three points that I want to draw out from the readings: first, we shouldn’t worry about external appearances. When it boils down to it, Jesus can see right past any sort of showy façade or any sort of broken and humble appearance we have. It is a challenge to be true to who we are, and not who we aren’t. We should be comfortable in accepting who and what God designed us to be. Sometimes that is a figure that appears to have great importance. Sometimes it is a humble appearance. Yet, even in those humble appearances, is God not able to do some great things?
The second focal point- any sort of façade or show that we put on cannot get us to heaven alone. Even if we look like we have it all put together, or in reality, we feel like we are falling apart- the letter to the Hebrews reminds us- there is only one who saves, one who sacrifices all, and one who is going to bring us to the kingdom of heaven- that is Jesus Christ Himself. Nothing else will truly matter, no appearance, no wealth, no possession, not even the friends or the social networking we have. The final point is this- God truly wants to be with us, especially in the brokenness. When we feel like we have nothing. When the situation feels hopeless. When someone we love has turned away from the faith, and we feel like we only have a little flour and oil left in the bottom of the jug. Even if we feel like we have nothing- we should turn to Jesus in a spirit of trust- just like that widow and her son did. Even in their poor appearance, the Lord provided for them, and not in a meager way, but in a way that never dried up and never ran out.
That, really, is the challenge for all of us- we shouldn’t settle for appearances from ourselves, from God, or even appearances from our neighbor, especially if it lends us to judgement. Rather, let’s set ourselves on the appearances that truly matter, as people of faith, who give God all we have, and receive everything God desires for us to have in return.
