Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Much has been made in many sermons about this widow who gave all she had to the church. Rightly so. The fear of living without money is prevalent for many of us, and our material possessions sometimes own us as a result. The widow was among the lowest in the ancient world, and she did not mind making herself lower still by giving away her possessions. Such would also be the case with Jesus, as he lowered himself to death on the cross.

Jesus has a view of God's future that is difficult to explain to those who refuse to see things any way but their own. The Sadducees deny the resurrection, and the Pharisees and Herodians are so mired in legalism that they want to define Jesus based on his interpretation of the law. It's a shame. If they had taken a moment to step away from that entrenched point of view, they might -- like the teacher in the last part of the passage -- have gotten closer to the Kingdom.

Jesus is unloading some pretty heavy truth on the religious leaders. Just like the vineyard tenants, they were give charge over what was God's. Also like the tenants, they have abused their power. The keys to the Kingdom are being taken away from them and being handled by the "vineyard owner" directly, in the form of his Son. Of course, Jesus did have one more chapter to that story, but let's not get ahead of ourselves!

Jesus is doing many symbolic things that point to the kind of Kingdom he’s building in this passage. He starts by riding on a donkey colt as he enters Jerusalem, which is both funny and ironic. Most victors, coming home from war, would have rode in on the biggest war horse they could find to show their triumph. Jesus seems to be both poking fun at that establishment and turning it on its head. And of course, the withering of the fig tree seems kind of random, but it’s not. He came to condemn those who use religion as a cudgel to beat others with, making them poor fruit bearers like the tree.

Suffering is part of being a disciple, but it is not without meaning. Jesus suffered, and James and John would as well. Suffering is a lesson we learn to both understand the heart of God, but also to share in the sufferings of others.

It's tempting to think that Jesus was condemning the rich man for being rich, but that's not the case. There were wealthy people throughout the early church, and many of them played important roles. Jesus points out with this man what the difficulty is: the man's wealth is the most important to him, or he might lay it down as Jesus asked. The apostles did this, and did so immediately. The wealthy man drew his identity from he money and not from who he could be with Jesus.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and prophets, so it is symbolic that he appeared with Moses and Elijah and then was left to himself. God ordained the Law and the prophets as a starting point, but it was inadequate. Jesus gave meaning to God's play by showing what it looked like when it came to life.

The disciples seem still to want to be in charge, to control the Kingdom that Jesus came to establish. Of course, they have it wrong. It is not a Kingdom to be controlled and regulated, or that would just be legalism all over again. Instead, the Kingdom of Jesus is made to be shared and expanded. This is why Jesus was so eager to include those who work in his name: he is the key, and that remains true.

Peter rebuking Jesus was quite a gutsy move. Not only was Jesus the Son of God, but he was also Peter's teacher. Jesus responds by rebuking him in return, but of course that's not the end of Peter's story. He will make many more mistakes, but then he will be the leader of the new Church. Maybe brashness has a place in the Kingdom after all.

Jesus certainly honors those who approach and ask for what they need. The Gentile woman he appears to insult sees her child healed, and the mute man who is brought directly to him is made whole. Perhaps that willingness to come to Jesus shows that those who wish to be healed have bypassed all other options and come to Jesus, who does not leave them in the cold.