I
went online the other day and searched for the origins of the phrase “my two
cents worth.” No one really knew. They pointed here to Mark’s Gospel (and
Luke’s) as the earliest reference to the phrase, but not likely. Mark uses the widow’s “two cents worth” quite
differently than what the phrase means to us.
A person’s “two cents worth” for us is usually their opinion. We also use this phrase as a way to tone down
our comments with a little humility or politeness. For example, it is better for me to say to
Dana, “if you want my two cents worth, that dress doesn’t bring out your best
features” than saying “If you’re going to wear that dress, you best not stand
next to any couches because people will mistake your rump for an end table.” Another more rare use we have for the phrase
is for indicating too much information.
I say to you “a penny for your thoughts” and you in turn give me “two
cents worth”. There are some who think the
phrase dates back to the early days of the British postal system when postage
was two cents. If you wanted to send your
thoughts to someone, you wrote a letter and put a two cent stamp on it valuing
the worth of your thoughts at two cents.
My
two cents worth on the matter is that we shouldn’t point to the actions of this
widow as the source of the phrase. If we
did, we would find that her “two cents worth” isn’t just an opinion. It’s a powerful inditement of how we have
institutionalized the practise of our faith in much the same way as the scribes
had done in Jesus’ day. Her faithfulness
cost her everything. Her two cents worth
was literally all she had to live on and here she was giving it to the
establishment because that’s what faithful people did when they came to the
temple. In comparison, her gift was much greater than that of all the rich
people who came and made a public display of their huge donations to make
themselves appear to be exceptionally faithful.
Yet, their gifts really cost them nothing.
And look at where the money
went. The long robes the scribes were
wearing while they stood there giving long, meaningless, bereft of faith
prayers on behalf of their wealthy patrons to honour them. The temple itself looked great due to these
ostentatious donations. Even Jesus’
disciples are impressed. A well-kept temple
and a well dressed priesthood made Israel and Israel’s God look good before all
the other god’s of the nations so they believed. But, what a waste of this widow’s last two
cents.
Jesus pointedly notes that
this widow and her two cents exposes the hypocrisy of the whole affair. The scribes in all their empty impressiveness were
nothing more than devourers of widow’s household means. That offering box or treasury was there in
keeping with Moses command that the other eleven tribes of Israel support the tribe
of Levi who were not given an allotment of land when the Israelites first
conquered the Promised Land and would therefore be unable to support themselves. The Levites were to be the priests for the
other tribes. Yet on the other hand, the
Israelites were supposed to be supporting the widows and orphans in their midst
as well. This widow really shouldn’t
have been giving anything to the Scribes.
They should have been taking from the offering box and providing for
her. Her two cents worth only went to
make them look better. What a waste of
her two cents worth!
Yet, here this widow was giving everything she
had probably hoping that God would notice and in turn bless her. TV preachers and scam ministries are good at
manipulating this desperation in people.
Well, God did notice her. Jesus
noticed her. Her two cents worth would
stand as the condemnation of that whole twisted system and be the reason for
its destruction. Not a stone would be
left on top another. That judgement came
to pass in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the Temple.
And...whatever became of this
nameless widow? We don’t know. We only know that she is just one of the
insignificant folks who show up only once in the Gospels to reveal what true
faithfulness is. It is to give the
totality of one’s life in faithfulness even if it appears to be a waste by this
world’s standards. The widow gave her
last two cents worth to God (unfortunately it went to support a sham). She gave her whole life, her last little bit
of security. She put it all into what
she believed to be the hands of God.
Just like Jesus did with his life when he took it to the cross. Faithfulness has to do with what we do with
the “two cents worth” of the totality of our lives. The rich, like everyone of us, gave from
their abundance and it really didn’t cost them anything. This impoverished widow gave everything she
had…and it was wasted on a sham. Or was
it? We know the outcome of Jesus wasting
his life for us. His death is the defeat
of sin and death. God raised him. The Holy Spirit is present with us now. We will share his resurrection and his
inheritance when he returns. The Kingdom
of God is in our midst. Jesus trusts his
ministry of reconciliation to us now, but will we, like this widow, devote our
two cents worth, our lives in totality, to him or will we like the rich patrons
in that day just give what really has no cost to us and convince ourselves
we’re faithful?
I have to admit that I hear
this widow’s “two cents worth” with fear and trembling. Quite frankly, being a minister I’m one the
Scribes. How many people give generously
for me to live the crap example of faithfulness that I do? I like you try to be faithful, but I pail in
comparison to this widow. Oh, there was
a time many years ago when I was a student that I put my last fifty dollars in
the plate to help pay for my church’s parking lot and a few years ago when the
year end credit card balance equalled what Dana and I had contributed to my employer,
the church, that year because “ministers are supposed to set an example in
giving for their congregations”. That
debt was in the thousands and it took a few years to get out from under it and
my employer’s bottom line began its downward spiral because we had to stop
contributing. I feel rather strongly
that minister’s should not give financially to the congregations they
serve. It’s a “company town” way of
doing things. We give to PWS&D,
World Vision, and other local needs.
This Remembrance Day we
should all be feeling like Scribes knowing that there are those who have given
their lives or been maimed in body and spirit for us to have basic human
freedoms. Do we honour the sacrifices
they and their families have made? I
look at our materialism and consumerism and the narcissism that plagues our
culture and I don’t think that’s what my grandfather suffered for in France and
Germany in World War II, what so many of his friends died for. We pay a lot of attention to remember those
who served in WWI and WWII, but let us not forget the Korean Conflict, the
Balkans, Afghanistan, and all the Peacekeeping missions. Let us not forget the psychological injury
our soldiers endure – the PTSD, the moral injury. Let us not forget the families who have lost
and who struggle to love someone who’s come home quite different because of war
and its waste of life.
Let us not forgot and let us
remember that Remembrance isn’t just a mental exercise. Remembering means getting involved, making
some changes that give continuing worth to the lives that have been lost due to
war. How can we live our lives
differently in ways that are truly faithful and not just in appearance? This widow was the prime example of what it
looks like to love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind
and all your strength and it truly showed in what she did with what little
means of security she had. Can we find ways
to do the same and love our neighbours as we love ourselves? I personally think we need to start thinking and
moving this way or not a stone will be left on top another. We need to truly start looking to the needs
of our very neighbours. We need to start
thinking “we” rather than “me”. We need
to take to heart that just because we want something doesn’t mean we need it
and its certainly not worth going into debt for. Let’s not be afraid to waste our “two cents
worth” on Jesus and his Kingdom because what we have in Christ is an invaluable
“two cents worth” this world needs to hear.
Amen.
