Bless Her Heart

You may know the story of the widow with only two coins.  Listen to what is behind the story. 
Read Mark 12: 38-44

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Transcript

Sermons from Mission Hills UCC

San Diego, California

Rev. Dr. David Bahr

david.bahr@missionhillsucc.org

November 17, 2024

“Bless Her Heart”

Mark 12: 38-44 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

41 He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Bless her heart.  A pastor friend from North Carolina once told me that, in the South, you can say almost anything about someone if first you simply add, “Bless their heart.”  And that’s about all you could say about Hattie Simmons Waggoner.

Most people would say she was wealthy, but bless her heart, Hattie would do everything she could to convince you she was actually quite poor.  And bless her heart, was she ever stingy.  Hattie would defend, “I’m frugal.”  But even the Girl Scouts knew to keep it moving when they walked past her big yellow house.  She complained bitterly about being cold at church, but when anyone suggested she help pay for a new boiler, she said that was a luxury and people needed to learn how to get by.  Bless her heart.

Hattie was lonely.  She had no children and her husband had died years ago.  He made sure she would be taken care of comfortably and that big yellow house was hers free and clear, inherited from his side of the family.  But perhaps her biggest problem was that she had achieved so few of her dreams and was jealous of those who seemed to have all they wanted.  She had said, “By the time I’m 60 I’m going to see a Broadway play, travel to Europe, and dance with Baryshnikov.  The first two she totally could have done, but it wouldn’t have played into her carefully defined “frugal” identity so she just stayed home and grew more bitter, and bless her heart, more unpleasant to be around.

While she sat home all alone, she stewed about what to do with her big yellow house when she died.  She kept putting off making a decision until one day she was in a car accident.  She recovered but was hit by the harsh reality that she wouldn’t live forever.  She forced herself to sit down and finally begin to write her will.

“I, Hattie Simmons Waggoner, being of sound mind, instruct my lawyer, Harold Claiborne, to draw my last will and testament upon the following terms.”  She lifted her pencil from the page and wavered, thinking about all the things she had and who in her life “deserved” them, especially as she watched others get what she wanted… why is it never me…

She turned back to her will and continued:  “I, Hattie Simmons Waggoner, upon the following terms, leave this property, land, house, garden, water rights, all of it to me, Hattie Simmons Waggoner.” 

In her hour of decision, all she could imagine was leaving everything to herself.  Bless her heart.  Bless her wounded, hurting heart.

And in the story Jesus told of the widow with only two coins, she couldn’t imagine doing anything other than giving everything she had to God.  Bless her heart.  Bless her generous, sacrificial heart.  She is to be praised and is worthy of praise, even though I’m not sure that was exactly what Jesus intended.

You see, the story of the widow begins, “As Jesus taught, he looked around and said, Beware of the scribes who love to walk around in long robes.”  As Eugene Peterson colorfully described the scribes, “preening in the radiance of public flattery, basking in prominent positions, demanding to sit at the head table at every function.”  Beware of them.  They devour widows’ houses and, for the sake of appearance, say long prayers.  “The longer the prayer, the worse it gets, all the while, exploiting the weak and helpless.”  And then Jesus offered an example. 

Whenever Jesus told parables or offered wise sayings, it was often because he saw something.  See over there?  See that guy planting wheat?  Or, see that man lying beside the road begging… Well, he’d say, let me tell you a story.

And so, in this story, Jesus saw a concrete example of his warning.  See that widow over there putting coins into the temple treasury.  What was I telling you?  She’s one of those widows whose house was devoured but bless her heart, out of nothing, out of absolutely nothing, while some people gave something, she just gave everything.  

Jesus made this observation as one of many in a long litany of hypocrisies he observed among various religious authorities.  It was only the day before the widow that Jesus famously drove the moneychangers out of the temple and turned over the tables of those selling doves.  That was Monday.  This was Tuesday, which puts the widow’s story in a very clear context.

It wasn’t that Jesus disapproved of buying and selling in the courtyard of the temple.  It was necessary for those traveling to Jerusalem from everywhere around.  His disgust was pointed directly at those who tried to make an unreasonable profit.  That’s why Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah saying, “Isn’t my house supposed to be a place of prayer for all people?”  

That’s why they sold doves.  It was so all people, including the poor, could afford to make an “acceptable” sacrifice, as opposed to more expensive fatted calves and lambs and so forth.  But the sellers had grossly inflated the cost.  Imagine a dove cost a penny but they sold it for 99 cents, pocketing the excess proceeds.  

Jesus then answered his own question by quoting the prophet Jeremiah.  “You have turned my house into a den of robbers, a hideout for crooks, a hangout for thieves.”  And then he pointed and said, like those guys over there who like to walk around in long robes, demanding respect.  Instead of the noble work of providing a service that people could afford so that the Temple could be in fact a place of prayer for all people.  Jesus protested by overturning the tables and running out the moneychangers because they were exploiting the vulnerability of the poor.  

Again, that was Monday.  It was Tuesday that he looked over and saw the widow putting two coins into the temple treasury.  A few days later, they concluded they had to kill this agitator or Jesus would ruin their business.  Wow.  And we thought the story of the widow and her coins was just a perfect example of stewardship!

It is that and it’s much more.  It’s also the stewardship of our privilege.  Using what we have to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable among us, including our voice.  For widows whose house was devoured, how do we serve the most vulnerable among us today?  

Jesus always tries to help us imagine a different way.  That’s what Jesus was trying to teach all along about the Kingdom of God.  Imagine the animating power of loving our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.  Imagine liberating the oppressed, setting the captives free, caring for all the widows, orphans, immigrants, families and everyone else because, to quote from the Book of James, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this:  to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  Unstained?  Taken in by greed and lust for power over what serves the common good.

Imagine if Hattie Simmons Waggoner, bless her heart, gave her house to an organization, for example, that helped prisoners re-enter society, a place to live while they got their affairs in order, preparing them to live successfully.  Or she could give her house to an organization that provides a place for young people when the foster care system tells 18-year olds they’re old enough to now navigate the world on their own.  Perhaps giving it to a church who could use it to provide affordable housing for low-income seniors.  The ideas and possibilities are endless when we look beyond ourselves.  

Foster youth came to mind as I was writing this because on Thursday night we once again hosted the annual Thanksgiving party for participants in the organization Just in Time for Foster Youth.  We’ve heard some of their stories about horrific experiences in foster care.  Just in Time is there when they turn 18 until they are 27 to help turn those stories into strength and endurance and success.  And their testimonials are beyond inspiring.  On Thursday, before a feast of ham and turkey, they invited me to a say a prayer.  I told the tables of amazing young people that it was such an honor to be asked to give them a blessing but that they didn’t need my blessing.  They are already blessed.  Their power is already in them and they just need to use it.  You have so much to give.  Imagine what you can unleash upon the world.  As I watched them, at first they were curious, a little confused, but they got it and nodded their heads, ultimately actually feeling blessed.  What happened to them shouldn’t have happened.  But that’s not their end.

And the widow shouldn’t have been left with only two coins.  But she didn’t see that as the end either.  She didn’t see them as too little to do anything.  She saw all the power that comes from giving.  

And I don’t know what Hattie Simmons Waggoner ultimately decided to do with her big yellow house.  I just pray that at some point she didn’t just see all the dreams she didn’t fulfill, but all the power she had to contribute to a world where someone didn’t feel as alone as she did.  And in the best sense of the word, bless her heart.  

Right now, many of us right now are feeling pretty helpless and small.  What we can do to protect widows and others?  We may feel insignificant, like all we have are two small coins, but in the immediacy of this moment, we can still make change, particularly in each other’s lives.  In a world with too many people sitting home feeling bitter and alone, look around and see the abundance and recognize the extraordinary privilege we have in this place and in this room right now.  You have a place to belong and a place, in fact, to literally serve widows and orphans and immigrants and neighbors in need.  Invite others who feel like you do to come along.  Listen to them and invite them here because imagine when we put all of that power together.  That’s when we’re church.  Who do you know to invite?