The Trap Is Set

25th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 27)                                                 LSB #’s 400, 781, 712
Text – Mark 12:44
 
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.  
 
THE TRAP IS SET
 
 
Our cat has made for numerous sermon illustrations.  This begins last spring when on four different occasions he came home from his nightly excursion smelling of skunk.  The 5th time he must have taken a direct hit.  I googled the internet, “How to live trap a skunk.”   It may seem like a crazy thing to do.   If you catch one, how can you avoid getting sprayed yourself? 
I watched several YouTube videos &, based on their advice, decided on a peanut butter & jelly sandwich as the bait.   We borrowed a live trap &, at sundown, the trap was set.    We waited for the fun to begin.   The first night we caught nothing.   The 2nd night we caught a squirrel.   The 3rd night we caught a raccoon. 
One YouTube video had recommended wrapping the trap in a tarp.  That way, if you catch a skunk you can sneak up on the critter without being seen, or sprayed directly.    The raccoon did not like that tarp.   By morning it was shredded into a thousand pieces, & had been pulled entirely into the trap.   I took that as a sign to quit before I got into trouble. 
The trap had been set, but we did not catch what we were looking for.    In the Gospel reading, Jesus has figuratively set a trap!   Have you fallen for the bait?   As you recall, the Gospel reading was about the widow’s mite.  What does that have to do with setting a trap?  We’ll put that off until later in the sermon. 
In Mark 12:38, Jesus begins, “Beware of the scribes…”  Then He closes by saying, “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.”  (Mark 12:44 ESV)    Now, listen to the very next verse, “And as [Jesus] came out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones & what wonderful buildings!’”  (Matthew 13:1 ESV)   Did you catch the error in his thinking?   The disciple was impressed by the magnificent temple of Jerusalem, yet Jesus had just warned that wealth & abundance were not the true measures of faith in God. 
Rather, of the widow who gave “two small copper coins, which make a penny,”  Jesus commented, “Truly, I say to you,   this poor widow   has put in more  than all those who are contributing to the offering box.”   It’s easy to get sucked in by wealth & fortune.  I admit that I enjoy touring mansions & luxurious homes because it is amazing what money can buy.  
It’s amazing what expert crafts men & women can design & build.  I enjoyed that part of being an electrical contractor – working on beautiful homes.      Working for slum landlords – not nearly as appealing.   In fact, it could be downright disgusting.   It was difficult not   to judge someone by the amount of money they were willing to spend. 
It’s easy to fall into that trap,   & it’s one that Jesus’ disciples had definitely fallen into.   However, that is not the trap Jesus has set for you & me with this Gospel reading.   A trap that is too obvious is also not very effective.  One goal of a live trap is not to destroy the creature, but to teach it a lesson.   Jesus set the trap in the hope that you & I would learn from it. 
We began the month of October with three sermons on stewardship.   The text for this sermon would make a very challenging one indeed: “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.”  (Mark 12:44 ESV)      What is in your offering this morning?     Have you even brought one? 
How do those questions strike your heart?    Are you recognizing the trap door now, as it slams shut on you?    Guilt & shame,   or defiance & anger, each of them are likely responses to a heavy handed approach to stewardship.   The poor widow gave everything she had to live on.   What are you giving?      You can almost feel Satan’s tongue tickling inside your ear!   But it’s not Lucifer who set the trap.   It’s Jesus,   & if emotions like defiance & anger, or guilt & shame have been welling up in your heart, then you have fallen into the trap.      The key is what you do once you find yourself there. 
Remember – Jesus set the trap so that you & I would learn a lesson.   Being sinful creatures, it is not easy to learn the lessons of God.   The Holy Spirit must often use trying circumstances in order to cut through our sinful desires.   His aim is to bring home the truth in a way that we will neither reject nor ignore. 
Pastors are tempted to use guilt & shame to herd the members into giving more money.  At times, all of us have given offerings or gifts with that motivation.   Falling into the trap of giving out of shame or guilt is effortless.  If you’ve seen commercials asking you to help feed the starving dogs, you know what I mean. 
At other times, we respond to that feeling of being trapped, not with giving, but with defiance & anger.  Church members are at times tempted to respond with those feelings when the needs of God’s kingdom are made clear to them.  Then, we end up giving nothing at all. 
Jesus wants us to confront both inferior motives, shame or anger, in order to see a much more beautiful picture.  You’ve had someone point out to you a beautiful sunset.  It may have been a picture, or maybe you’re with them in person & they say, “You have to come & see this.”  In the Gospel reading, Jesus shows a more beautiful type of receiving & giving.   
It’s three days before Jesus will be crucified.  He & His disciples are at the temple in Jerusalem when they pause to notice the beauty of their surroundings.  But they will differ in terms of what they see as beautiful.  The disciples notice the beauty of the temple building, but also how it’s filled with beautiful people.  As the Gospel reading begins, people are coming to worship, but they are also coming to see & to be seen.  The scribes are here in all of their glory.  They wear long white robes & delight in long greetings.  They take places of honor at the feasts & they enjoy the best seats in the synagogue.  They’re equivalent to Hollywood stars of our day.  To the common person, including Jesus’ disciples, they are beautiful & larger than life. 
Jesus, on the other hand, observes their false sense of beauty.   A beautiful temple filled with beautiful people can blind us to true beauty in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus asks His disciples to look at a poor widow.  She has nothing that would draw attention to her.  She has no long robes, receives no long greetings, claims no best seat, has no place of honor.  
Her contribution is virtually nothing compared to the giving of others.   Yet, that is what Jesus notices.   Early in Gospel reading, Jesus told His disciples that the scribes “devour widows’ houses.” (V. 40)   Here we see a widow effectively giving her house to those who devour it.  She gives all that she has, & she gives all she has for a church which is corrupt. 
In this poor widow, Jesus sees a faint picture of Himself.  He is about to give all He has for a world that is corrupt.  He will give His life as an offering for our sins.   He dies for those who build beautiful churches & for those who never set foot in one.  He dies for the prideful & the humble, for the powerful & the weak.  
In order for us to see this, there are times when we need to fall into the trap Jesus has set for us.  He pointed His disciples to the poor widow who gave every last penny she had, so that you & I could explore the impossibility of that in our own lives.  No matter how faithful you are to God, you will never bring an offering to Church that is adequate. 
That is why we celebrate the birth of Jesus, because He came to do what you & I can never accomplish.  Jesus did give everything He had & it was absolutely adequate to erase the shame we feel for each of our failures.  More than that, Jesus came to recreate our very being from something that is sinful & corrupt to one that is holy & infallible.   Our Savior asks us to see something more beautiful than a temple.  He asks you to see the priceless love which flows from His cross into the lives of His people.   That love also flows into your life, but it’s not as obvious as it should be.   Our sinful nature is blind to God’s love. 
Christ’s love not only forgives our sin but transforms our lives.  We become temples of the Holy Spirit, beautiful in the Kingdom because we overflow with God’s sacrificial love.  As we gather for worship, let us turn our eyes to Jesus, the author & perfector of our faith, who fills our lives with His love, that the world might see the true beauty of the Kingdom of God. 
That is what Jesus sees at work in the poor widow as she gives every last cent that she has.  He sees that His Word does not return to Him empty.  He sees that this widow has already been transformed into someone who will experience eternity with Him in a world that has no sorrow & no tears.  And in heaven, there will never be another trap to fall into.  Amen. 
 
 
 
We give Thee but Thine own,   whatever the gift may be; all that we have is Thine alone,   a trust, O Lord, from Thee.     Oh, hearts are bruised & dead, & homes are bare & cold, & lambs for whom the Shepherd bled are straying from the fold.    To comfort & to bless, to find a balm for woe, to tend the lone & fatherless is angels’ work below.     And we believe Thy Word, though dim our faith may be:  Whatever for Thine we do, O Lord, we do it unto Thee.  Amen.  LSB 781:1, 3-4, 6.