Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our
Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Let’s say you want to save for the future, to make sure
that you will be provided for when you are no longer working, whether in the
event of a planned retirement or for an unforeseen illness or accident. You currently have plenty of options before
you that you could invest in: insurance policies, pensions, 401(k)s, the equity
on your home, and different kinds of savings accounts, not to mention social
security and Medicare. The idea is one or many of these options can help in the
event of “a rainy day.”
During the time of Jesus, none of these options
existed. For people, especially women, looking to invest in their future, most
had only one choice: to have children, especially male children. I’ve heard
people make quips like “be nice to your kids, because someday they will choose
your nursing home!” In those days, your children WERE your nursing home,
because there was no other option.
Imagine for a moment that you are the woman in this
story. Though your husband has died and can no longer provide for you, you were
fortunate enough to have had a son who survived to adulthood. After your
husband’s death, it would have been his job to take you in and support you. You
would have been safe living under his roof while he had the opportunity to earn
a living. While you lived with him, he would have taken a wife and had children
of his own, and you would have helped care for them. You might have had the
satisfaction of seeing your son have a son of his own, and you would have died
happy, knowing that he and your daughter-in-law would be provided for when the
time came.
Now imagine you are instead standing next to the casket
of your only son, knowing also that any chance at future security died with
him. Your rainy day has arrived, and you are filled with grief for your son and
fear for your future.
And just then, Jesus showed up on the scene.
We’ll get back to Jesus and the widow in just a moment,
but first I want to tell you about something I heard while at the New Jersey
Synod Assembly this weekend. During the Bishop’s report, we heard about how
different organizations are responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. One
pastor shared about how one particular shelter and soup kitchen in Union City
was able to feed and house people because of their generator on the cold nights
after the storm. They were nearly full when suddenly over 90 homeless people
were dropped off by bus on their doorstep from another part of the city. These
people had been removed from another shelter and were expected to be able to
fend for themselves on a cold and snowy night in a city that was already
lacking power and shelter. Someone had even given them the name, “the homeless
homeless.”
The people at THIS shelter were appalled. And though
they were already nearly full, they were able to squeeze over one hundred
people in a heated dining hall that was built to seat seventy five.
The homeless people didn’t have equity or 401ks, but
that night it wouldn’t have mattered even if they had. That night, everyone who
was cold was given a warm place to stay. Everyone who was hungry was fed a hot
meal. That night everyone was
homeless, and everyone was provided
for.
Jesus showed up on the scene that night, working
through people who cared for those who are the most vulnerable. They gave
shelter to those who had been cast aside by others. They had compassion for
people who had no one to speak for them and nowhere to go.
When Jesus saw the widow’s grief, he had compassion for
her. His heart went out to this woman who had lost everything, the complete
opposite in every way to the centurion Jesus helped last week. Man, woman. Powerful,
powerless. Member of the occupying army, part of the population being
oppressed. And yet, Jesus helps both. Jesus healed the centurion’s servant, and
in the next town over, interrupted a young man’s funeral in order to make it
unnecessary.
And Jesus is just getting started. Because wherever
Jesus shows up, things happen. Storms are calmed. Demons are cast out, people
are healed. The hungry are fed. The blind receive sight. Children are blessed. Health
is restored. Mourning is turned to joy. A dying criminal next to Jesus is given
hope. A tomb is now empty, and the stone is rolled away.
The widow in this particular story experienced Jesus
intruding into her most intimate grief and she was never the same again. She
didn’t ask for Jesus help; she might not even known who he was. But she was
experiencing a great loss, and Jesus restored to her what had been taken
away.
She could easily have spoken the words of today’s psalm
after her son was given back to her. Yes, it was her son that was restored to her from the grave, but not having
anyone to care for her must have felt like a fate worse than death. She must
have been filled with fear.
But because of what Jesus did, her wailing in sorrow
was turned into dancing for joy. She was no longer shrouded in clothes of
mourning, but instead was overcome by happiness. Last night she wept, but today joy is here to
stay.
But also those “homeless homeless” could have had this
psalm on their lips as well, when they were rescued from a night as cold as death
out on the Sandy damaged streets. Because the body of Christ, the hands and
feet of Jesus, reached out to show kindness and mercy to the least of these. Because
when Jesus shows up in our midst, amazing things happen.
What about in your own life? How has Jesus shown up and
surprised you? …
When in your own life has Psalm 30 been the song of
your heart? …
When were the times when you DIDN’T want Jesus to show
up, because if he did, your comfortable, secure life would never be the same?
You should know, though, that nothing can deter Jesus,
nothing can get in his way – not lack of space or resources, not enemies or
fear, not security or comfort. And not even death can get in the way of the
love and mercy of God. Amen.
