Senior Sermon: Anthony Windau

Anthony Windau

Sunday November 11^th, 2018

University Lutheran Church

Giving Your All

Mark 12:38-44

Grace and peace to you all from God, and welcome to University Lutheran Church, we are glad that you are here.

I appreciate being given the opportunity to preach today while Pr. Lori is on vacation, but I want to warn you all that this sermon is a little heavy, so stick with me through it, and I promise it’ll get better.

We’re going to take time to reflect and think about ourselves, so lets pray together for a moment:

Dear God, we thank you for the ways that you bless us in our lives, thank you for your son Jesus Christ, and the love you pour out on us. Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may have open hearts, and reflective minds. Be with us now and always, in Jesus name, Amen.

The amazing thing about the Bible and the passages we read each week, is that every time you read them, or sit in these chairs to hear a sermon, different themes and messages come to light. The Bible is interpreted over time, which allows us to learn from it continually.

Because the lectionary we use is on a three year rotating basis, what you heard in the message today might be different than what you heard three years ago, and it will be different in the future. I think that’s incredible.

The pericope- a fancy word for passage- for this week seems to have a pretty clear message, which isn’t always the case, so lucky me!

The clear and present message is that of giving all that you have for the betterment of others, and I think there’s the added lesson of avoiding being judgmental towards others.

I’ll start with the second point. The scribes, or legal scholars as they’re called in other translations are leaders in their communities. They are widely respected and are the authority on the scripture. While we think a little differently today of our pastors, the same respect is still present.

And because of this respect, we expect our religious leaders to act a certain way- certainly not to be cheating widows out of their homes. Let’s agree that this behavior is not okay for anyone.

I wonder what these people were thinking as they went about their days, trumpeting their own greatness. I wonder if they realized how their actions hurt those around them, making the common people feel inferior.

It’s easy for us though to look at them and sneer, saying that they’re wrong, that they’re on a high horse, and boastful about themselves. This is true. But is it right for us to say?

We don’t gain anything from judging others, even if they are being ridiculous. We fall to their level if we turn to our neighbor and snicker about their behavior. And then the cycle continues of belittling each other.

This is unfortunate, because how often in our daily lives do we talk poorly about those around us?

As college students we’re incessantly being compared to those around us, putting our classmates down to make ourselves seem better.

We say, “I did poorly on that test, but at least I wasn’t as bad as Andrew.” Or we say, “at least I’m not a psychology major,” and a variety of other putdowns. They do nothing to lift people up, but rather give us a sort of sick satisfaction at the expense of our friends.

In our adult lives we compare the sizes of our houses, of our paychecks, of the nice things we have.

But, it all just seems kinda wrong doesn’t it? Now that I say all these out loud I’m sure we’re reflecting on things we’ve said about our neighbors.

 Now, imagine for me a time when you were on the receiving end of judgement.

I’ll give you a story that I remember vividly.

Once, when I was much younger and with my mom and a few of my siblings I joked with them, “you always point out the stupidest things.” Maybe we were watching TV or something, but then one of them started to point at me. And I asked, “what are you pointing at?” They replied, “the stupidest thing.” Imagine how that made me feel- clearly bad enough that I still remember it years later.

We forget the power of our words and the affect they can have on others.

So, what’s the difference about the religious leaders we’ve read about for today? Nothing. We can call out their actions as wrong, but when we start insulting people we fail to be Christians.

This sermon seems a bit dark, I know, but it’s going to go up from here.

We leave judgment of those to God, for its not our place to do so in God’s place. When we see a neighbor doing something we don’t like, have the hard conversations and discuss it, and when it comes to talking about them with others, let’s use kind words.

The poor widow who Jesus admires for giving faithfully is acting out the commandments that He has given just a few lines before in the Gospel of Mark.

Instead of holding onto all that she has left, she goes to the front and gives. I bet she felt silly walking up while the religious leaders were dropping in what would be equivalent of hundreds of dollars, boasting of their wealth.

You know what? I bet she was judged for doing so.

Yet nevertheless, the poor widow did so anyway. She decided that loving others as she loves herself involves giving generously to the church, so that they can reach out to those that have even less than themselves.

We have countless choices in our lives: we can choose to say nice words about our neighbors. We can choose to forgive those that have wronged us. We can choose to give generously.

And when I saw give generously, I hope you know I don’t mean only money. That’s how we easily interpret it, and if that’s all you’ve heard before, hear me when I say we can give our time, our talents, our presence, and our kindness generously.

Our youth, our college students and others may not have a lot of money to give. But as you saw them up here, not a single one was worried about that. No, instead we found each other’s strengths, found the ways they can give.

We counted that I have 84 cents in my pocket: I’ll put that all in the collection plate, and while it’s almost nothing compared to a church budget, I know that I can give in other ways.

And if we fall short in anything that we do, we know that we can still stand tall, even if our tail is between our legs, knowing that Jesus Christ, who lived, died on the Cross, and was Resurrected for every single one of us, has poured out abundant grace.

Poured out grace that can help us to make right choices in the future. Grace that allows us to live faithfully as Christians, and grace that is a safety net when we fail.

What we should take away from today, is that, if our neighbors are doing something we disagree with, we shouldn’t judge them, but rather talk with them. And when it comes to loving others as ourselves, we should give generously like the poor widow did. And above all, if we ever fall short in our lives, we know that God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit give freely and generously to us the grace that we so desperately need. Amen.

Anthony, from Kingo Lutheran in Milwaukee, will graduate in May with a BA in History and minors in Religious Studies and  Middle Eastern Studies. He plans to attend Wartburg Theological Seminary next fall, pursuing ordination in the ELCA.