B, Post-Pentecost 24 Proper 27 - Mark 12:41-44 & 1 Kings 17:10-13 “This is what you need!”

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How am I supposed to survive now? [L] Perhaps this would be the regular response of one of us having just begrudgingly given away our last possession! How, are we supposed to live now?!!!

It's a good question. How are we supposed to live—as Christians—in drought, with debt, with financial responsibilities, with congregational giving down and a church constantly facing crisis?

We hear two words from Scripture, which show us how we 'should' live. The first tells us about Elijah living in a drought. A drought allowed by God, because King Ahab, and his wife Jezebel, led Israel into Baal worship; and also because the forbidden rebuilding of Jericho took place by Hiel of Bethel.

[Elijah] arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

And she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die." And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. (1 Kings 17:10–13 ESV)

And the second word from Scripture is from the Gospel of Mark. As the people make their offering to God Jesus observes how we humans live.

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." (Mark 12:41-44)

Having heard these two words from Scripture, it's hard for any person in Australia, or for that matter, anywhere in the western world, to imagine such poverty or lack of culinary choice.

One handful of flour and a little oil in a jug; you can't even make satisfactory pancakes with just flour and oil. Even if all you had in your house was flour, eggs, milk, and a little honey, it would still be more than this woman and her son had to eat. All of us have access to much more food than that!

Two very small copper coins, put on the plate; our treasury doesn't even make copper coins anymore. We live with such wealth that even the silver in our wallets and purses is overlooked in favour of gold coins. But these two bits of copper are the widow's last two coins, after that she had absolutely nothing! Yet even as many of us cry poor, our possessions and bank accounts would add up to greater amounts than what the rich people offered as Jesus stood by and watched!

We have no comprehension, even with recent droughts, what life would be like with poverty and scarcity like that! The fundamental necessities of food, water, clothing, and shelter have been a given for most of the west in recent times. God has allowed us technical advances so that we might more easily collect and store food and water, and that we might efficiently make materials for clothing and shelter. These advances over the last one hundred years have accelerated to a frightening pace and along with these materialistic advances so has our faith and trust in them.

The fundamentals of food, water, clothing, and shelter, which God promises to provide us, have now been revised by us. We need oil, coal, and electricity too. We need oil for fuel, to make our cars, and run our cars. We need oil, coal, and other minerals, to build the plastic and synthetic products we desperately need around us to apparently survive these days! And we need electricity too! Lots and lots of power to give life to the inanimate objects that give our lives true meaning, like televisions, toasters, toys, computers, cameras, email, mobile phones and music making machines of various kinds. And with all these possessions and the electrical power needed to give them life, we invest big in military power to protect the materialistic mountains we build to Babel proportions.

So quickly we place our trust in products and possessions that have rapidly evolved in recent years. As we all know, things that come about quickly, generally tend to disappear just as quick too. Will our teetering tottering tower of technology be sustainable in the future? Probably not, I suspect!

So where will your faith be, in what state will it be, "when" the economy explodes, technology tumbles, the lights go out, our plastic and metal gods stop serving us, and darkness descends over the materialistic western world?

Some might say, "But we need these things! How are we supposed to live without them?" We might need these things, but others live without them! However, we need God more, we can't live without him.

We might need material things; but we need Jesus Christ more! We might need TVs, phones, emails and computers to communicate; but we need God's word more! We might need electricity and oil, and coal; but we need the renewing power of the Holy Spirit more! We need time for enjoyment and entertainment; but we need rest and peace and the joy of eternity more! We need to eat, a cup of water, warm clothes, and a roof over our heads; but we need faith in God who gives us these things—more. Even if we have the whole world, without him we have absolutely nothing!

We all have much to confess because of our unfaithfulness and lack of trust in God's ability to be God. God is not just gracious when the going is good. He loves us and looks after us even when the barns are empty; the sheep are weak, and when the pantry and deep freezer aren't full. Why should we doubt and lose faith when we see the silos and shelves are bare? Just as the woman gave her last meal to Elijah in faith and the old woman put her last two coins into the temple treasury, we need to trust in God even more when times are tough. We need to give to God in faith who faithfully gives us everything! When the going gets tough, the faithful keep believing!

After all, we are called to believe, or have faith, in God the Father "Almighty", Maker of heaven and earth. We are called to believe that God has created me and all that exists. That he has given me and still preserves my body and soul with all their powers. That he provides you and me with food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all you and I need from day to day, whether we give our last two bob, our only moment of free time, our last bit of energy, or the leftovers of our God given excesses. God gives out of his divine goodness and mercy, even though we do not deserve it.

But our greatest need is this: To trust in Jesus Christ, Son of God sent by the Father to save us, who watches us make many faithless mistakes, yet still wills us to boldly come to him, confess our sin, and live under the forgiveness he has won on the cross. This is what you need!

If God would go to such lengths letting his only Son die, so we might drink from the river of life, and be nourished by the eternal fruit on the tree of life, he will surely sustain us with food and water, clothing and shelter in this life.

How are we supposed to live now!? We live as "forgiven" sinners, mercifully carried along by God's grace and mercy. Amen.