Remembrance Sunday & Jesus and the widow

Mark 12: 38-44 

I’m sure we all come with our own collection of memories, feelings, regrets, and concerns this Remembrance Sunday. Even though very few people are left alive who fought in the second world war, there is always family history, the memories passed down, and there have been other conflicts – just as there are conflicts today. 

 

I am always struck by the power of the two minutes’ silence.

People are always having to remember those they have lost; remember lives blighted by injury; remember how fragile justice can be; remember how precious peace is…

 

In the face of current global conflicts or personal disaster or the weight of history we might just feel too small to matter. We want to speak up for peace, act for peace, pray for peace…but we are just one insignificant person.

 

If we feel too small to be significant, what Jesus teaches in the temple, in the story we heard from Mark’s gospel, has something to say to us.

 

Jesus watches a poor widow drop two tiny copper coins into the collection at the treasury. The two together are only worth a penny.. they are the sort of coin some people wouldn’t even bother to pick up if they dropped them in the street. But Jesus says that what she gives is worth more than the huge contributions of rich people, because she is giving all she has. It’s small, but it’s all that she can give.

 

If we act for peace we might think our tiny voice can’t do anything – but Jesus says, if it’s all you’ve got it’s a huge contribution. If Remembrance Sunday leads to one voice being raised in prayer for peace, it is not insignificant.

 

I was reminded this week of the ‘Universal Prayer for Peace’.

Each day at noon people of all faiths and none use these words to form a wave of prayer and hope rippling each day around the globe.

The words are simple and lovely:

 

Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth;
lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust;
lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe.

 

One simple prayer said by even one person can make a difference, just as Jesus said to the widow with almost nothing to give.

That’s a lovely lesson for Remembrance Sunday – you matter.

 

But more than that, Jesus uses his voice to speak out against injustice.

 

“Beware of the scribes..”  - these are people with power in the temple and the synagogues, but Jesus says beware them if they demand respect, and the best seat in the synagogue, and the finest seat at the largest feasts.

Jesus warns “they devour widows’ houses”. This is strong language – Jesus is describing them like monsters. Their job is to teach the law of God – and the law of God says this in the book of Exodus:

 

Exodus 22: 21-24

You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.

 

Widows are to be protected and cared for, not exploited. ‘Resident aliens’ – foreigners – are to be treated with respect, and allowed a space in the temple where they, too, can pray.

Jesus is highly critical of the temple ‘system’ and the burdens placed on the poor. He uses his voice to speak out for what is right, to challenge those with power in his world.

 

Jesus criticises the egos and misuse of power of the scribes, but we might be able to think of our own examples of where in our world the egos of leaders are preventing peace.

This Remembrance Sunday we do not just pray for peace, we ask ourselves where we should be speaking out against the structures of power that are wrong.

 

But even speaking out combined with prayer is not enough. We know that war leads to the sacrifice of combatants, families, whole peoples…

 

Jesus teaches about sacrifice – that it is wrong if it is demanded of people like the widow in the temple ; yet ‘doing all you can’ is commendable… and sometimes the right thing to do is to sacrifice yourself.

 

In John’s gospel Jesus says 

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

 

Those words are so powerful that they are often found on memorials.

But Jesus didn’t just say the words, we remember, today, how he lived them out. Jesus sacrificed his own life to show us that good will always, in the end, defeat evil – that his life was greater than death, that no force for evil could overpower him. When we remember this, we are strengthened by it.

 

So this Sunday we pause to remember.. and in remembering we give thanks for all those who, in love, give their lives for others. Inspired by them, we commit ourselves to be those who pray and work for peace.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.