Word for Today

From Mark 12,

 ⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.

Do you have a solar powered calculator? Probably. Maybe you received one in the mail as a thank you from your realtor some time ago.. exactly how long ago you can now calculate! We have a handful of them around the home. What an awesome technology. The calculator is able to sip enough energy to keep on going even when the lights have gotten quite dim.

Jesus has a Son-powered calculator. One would think he would want to upgrade someday, get one of those fancy graphing calculators perhaps, or an adding machine. With such contraptions he could even figure out derivatives and amortization schedules. No, his Son-powered one is all he wants. It comes up with crazy calculations, but he likes it that way.

He said in this Sunday's Gospel reading, as he was watching the donations come into the temple treasury, that this widow's little gift was worth more than the large sums of money from the "major donors." That Son-powered calculator was operating like it always has, finding value where the world would find.. well.. nothing.

What is the value in the widow's gift? With her very scarce donation, she gave her self. Jesus noticed it right away. No one else did. He had to point it out to others. She almost got trampled, jostled about and ignored by the movers and shakers. She was not ignored by the Messiah. Jesus recognizes immediately when the self is given, because it's what he does. There's an affinity coming out loud and clear in this episode. According to Jesus' calculations, he's looking through a window to the New Creation. In the New Creation nothing is "amortized."

Thank you to James C. Christensen for this provoking artwork. I find myself leaning in toward this widow's face, wanting to accept her gift with celebration while at the same time wanting to shrink away in humility. There is power in that little gift of two coins that equal one penny. Standing in front of her, I am on holy ground.

Pastor James Aalgaard