Coins
Lent in Plain Sight • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Do you know what is so interesting about these two stories? Neither of them is actually about money. Both of them involve money, but neither of them are really about money. Perhaps we often think of these stories as about money because, money is an essential part of how we live in our everyday lives. So when we see the story of the lady who loses one of her 10 coins we immediately start to think about the hardship she might undergo if she doesn’t have the 10th coin. Perhaps she had her spending all laid out and she had to have the 10 silver coins until the family was paid again. Then we look at the lady with the two copper coins, which we find out is all she had. She’s far worse off than the woman with 10 silver coins. She had only two copper coins, and now has none. It’s natural to be concerned about their welfare and there is nothing wrong with that.
At the same time we need to think about these stories beyond their monetary value. What these stories share above and beyond their connection in coins is really their connection in Jesus teaching us that this world is about people. It is people that these stories really focus on and it is people that is at the heart of the gospel story.
You see, the lost coin that rejoins the 10 coins involves a celebration of inviting people to join with her in her joy. She could have taken that lost coin and all the other 9 and locked it up in a safe place inside a ceramic jar so that it did not fall down in the dirt and become lost again. In other words she could have become paranoid in her need to keep her money safe. But it wasn’t about the money it was about the rejoicing with others. As the story ends it also reminds us that it is about welcoming people who are lost as well and that that rejoicing should be done with celebration.
Which is why the story of the widow is so important. This widow is quite possibly one of those lost coins we just talked about. Now this woman is probably not the kind of sinner that Jesus was talking about with the lost coin, but the story of the lost coin was about finding something that had been neglected and in that neglect lost. That’s exactly who this woman is at the temple. She has been neglected and lost. No one notices her except Jesus. Let me say that again. No one notices her except Jesus. Why? Because of her unimpressive giving to the temple. Yet some of that very money being given to the temple was meant to be given to protect that very woman. Why wasn’t that woman getting the money, the protection, and most importantly why wasn’t anyone noticing her?
These stories aren’t about coins, these are stories about the importance of life and the people that are around us each and every day…and are we noticing them? Do we know what is going on in their lives? Do we know they just gave away or spent their last two copper coins? Do we know that they’ve lost something and need care and comfort? Jesus invites us to notices people, just as he noticed us. We are all here because Jesus noticed us and someone knows Jesus noticed us. Don’t look at the coins, look at the people of this world and notice them so that we can say to them that they have not just us but a God who notices and when we notice we celebrate with them at the joy of being noticed and found and loved. Amen.