Thursday October 30, 2014

Mark 13:3-13 

The Titus Arch in Rome that celebrates the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE by Roman troops under Titus .

Mark's gospel tells of the Jesus' growing conflict with the authorities.  Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to the cheers of Hosanna! (Save now!  Save, we beseech thee!) and then drives the buyers and sellers out of the temple.  Jesus then leaves the city and when he returns his authority is questioned through a series of pointed and loaded questions which he ably stickhandles.  

Jesus returns to the temple, again challenges an exploitative temple system, and (provocatively?) sits opposite the treasury and watches many rich people put in large sums of money.  When Jesus sees a poor widow put in two small coins he says to the disciples,"Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.  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."  

This the context of today's reading.  As Jesus comes out of the temple, a temple built by King Herod, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”   Jesus seems unimpressed, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”  And indeed they were in 70 CE.

We humans continue to be impressed by what we have built - physical buildings, economic and political systems, mighty militaries, careers . . . but time and again Jesus calls us to remember the temporality of our creations perhaps especially those created to impress or oppress.  Jesus draws our eyes to "the least of these"; those who live on the margins or the borderlands, those whose contributions to humanity seem small or even invisible, but who give out of their weakness and poverty. 

How do you hear this good news?

Marilyn Malton