Mark12,41-44. 8. Trinity

Mark 12,41-44 4022

8. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 54 

Afra, Martyr at Augsburg, Bavaria 304 

7. August 2022

1. ℣ We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God:   

℟ In the midst of Thy temple. (Psalm 48,9). 

O Yahweh, let us behold Your Glory in this time and give us strength to prectice good chivalry/stewardship.  Amen. (Sonne der Gerechtigkeit elkg 297,6 2021 Christian David 1741). 

2. »And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And He called His disciples to Him and said to them: „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.“« 

3. In today’s Gospel pericope, Jesus contrasts the rich to a poor widow. This teaching occurred during Holy Week in the temple courtyard where the Jewish women would gather to pray. The treasury consisted of 13 chests to receive alms and these funds would purchase  the incidentals needed for the altar of burnt offering, particularly the wood and other items.

4. Mark is relating to us the freewill offering given before the Passover. This offering was in addition to the annual temple tax that was usually paid at Passover, Pentecost or Tabernacles. This tax was not a large sum of money; it was a half-shekel that was equivalent to 2 days wages. The freewill offering, however, allowed the rich to give more and the poor less according to their means. 

5. Sinful humans tend to give out if their abundance whereby it is no consequence to them because they have more. This is regardless of income; both the rich and poor can give out of their means and keep some back. Rare is the individual who gives everything and relies on God to sustain them. The widow in Mark 12 is one such example: all she had that day in her possession was a penny, and it was what she gave. There is proper worship under the old covenant, and the poor widow has displayed it (Voelz 940). 

6. We see in this widow a type of the nature of God. Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb for the forgiveness of our sins: He is the antitype, the fulfillment, of the widow, for put in more than all at the temple, for He put in everything He had. Paul says it this way in his Epistle to the Philippians: »Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross« (Philippians 2,5-8). Jesus told His disciples this 3 times in Mark’s Gospel: »Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him, spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. And after three days He will rise« (Mark 10,33-34). 

7. Christ gives all of Himself to us for our sins and to deliver us from this fallen, sinful world. This is the gospel and it is given to us in full in the Word and Sacraments. What comes from this is the Church and individual congregations in towns and nations throughout the world. The gospel dispenses grace, and with grace comes peace. By grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith expresses that all our righteousness is to be sought outside of us and all men’s merit, work, virtue and worthiness (Pieper Vol. II,630). All this is freely given to us by Christ. 

8. O Lamb of God, my faithful, loving Savior,

You I embrace in faith and holy love;

Grant me the strength to show by my behavior

A life now hidden in Your reign above,

A life now hidden in Your reign above. (O Gracious Lord, I Firmly Am Believing, Spanish or Latin American, 20th cent.; tr. Stephen P. Starke 1955 lsb 635,4) 

This is most certainly true. 

9. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, who createst holy desire, good counsel and right works: Give to Thy servants peace which the world cannot give so that our hearts may cling to Thy commandments, and that by Thy protection we may live our days quietly and secure from our enemies.  Amen. (Martin Luther; AE 53,138)

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol.53. Ulrich S. Leupold, Ed. Copyright © 1965 Fortress Press.

Pieper, Franz. Christliche Dogmatik, Bd. II. Copyright © 1917 Concordia Publishing House. 

Stratman, Paul C. Prayers for the Evangelical-Lutheran Heritage. Copyright © 2017. 

Voelz, James W. Mark 8:27–16:8. Copyright © 2019 Concordia Publishing House.