The Widows Mite

Recently I have been shown a new way of seeing an old passage of the bible, and I thought it was worth sharing. The passage is Mark 12:41-44 (and Luke 21:1-4) a story where the rich offer large sums of money, something they could easily afford, whilst a widow offers all she has, a mere penny.  Jesus remarks ‘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’

The traditional view of this passage is that it’s not about how much you give, but it’s about how much you are willing to sacrifice. In a sense it switches the grade from physically how much you give to what percentage you give. Are you proud of your 10% or are you wiling to throw everything in, no matter what it costs you? I think this is very challenging and is a message which is relevant and hard to swallow.

But is there an alternative reading?

This alternative I have been shown and am exploring basically says that this passage is an indictment of the powers and systems at work, in this case the keepers of the law and the temple. It is another stab by Jesus straight into the Jewish culture of his day.

The point is that the temple is not what it should be, the scribes have gone too far and by implementing their rules and taxes they are destroying people’s livelihoods and stopping them truly coming to God.  They force people with nothing to give it to the temple rather than use it for the things they need to live, the basic things they need to keep them alive. It similar to a couple living in the slums of India, they struggle to feed their family but save money to buy a goat. This however isn’t to be eaten but is sacrificed to the gods, whilst the family starve. Jesus’ point: this is an injustice! The religious should be about helping the poor not taking all they have.

The key to understanding this view is to not read the verses as they have been separated in our bibles but to sandwich them with the surrounding texts. The pre-texting being a denouncing of the scribes and the post-text being about the destruction of the temple (this is true of both the Mark and Luke passages.)

In fact in the pre-text, as Jesus is hounding the scribes, he actually rebukes them for ‘devouring widow’s houses’. This then leads straight into the story about the widow. He continues to rebuke them when he says the widow has put in more. He rattles the cage. He then goes on to correct the disciples as they begin to admire the temple, again for the wrong reasons.

I am very intrigued by this alternative reading, it is another example where Jesus condemns the powers that be, the dogma and tradition which his God has become. Another interesting thought is, do we find ourselves in a similar position today? Is the church sapping all our time, efforts and money and are we neglecting the poor? Are our traditions and systems actually helping or hindering poor people? Have we built our buildings to tall and only invited the ‘right’ people in?

(this conversation has started after a campaign called the Widows Mite by Frontier Youth Trust, who work with young people at risk – excuse the plug but more info at www.fyt.org.uk/ )

The Bible: based on a true story…

            The Bible is possibly the most talked about and debated book in history. Many people claim that the Bible is the complete word of God, a historically accurate document that stands the test of time, while others neglected it completely, claiming it as ‘old wives tales’ and myth. Many, possibly most, on the other hand have given up caring.

 

But is it possible for the bible to be true, but not historical? Can it be relevant and not fact?

 

          I think the bible can only be understood properly (however never fully) when we have an appreciation for ancient culture and literacy genres. Yes, the bible is full of historical accounts – each with their apparent biases, like reading a newspaper – but the bible is also full of songs, poems, letters, records, stories, myths, metaphors and parodies. Appreciating this can make a world of difference – What does it mean when we read ‘Corinthians’ as a letter, or ‘Jonah’ as a Satire and ‘Job’ as an Opera? What effect does it have on the gospels if we see that they too are full of metaphor and parallels?

 

          The Hebrew Scriptures tells the unfolding of Israel’s past; it is Israel’s media – TV/magazines/newspapers/the lot, all rolled into one. These are the stories that Israelite children would have grown up hearing, the tales of their past woven together in a blur of history, metaphor, exaggeration and comedy. It’s like when you watch a Hollywood blockbuster ‘based on a true story’ – often the events actually happened but a storyline has been overlaid for entertainment (e.g. Titanic/Last King of Scotland) or the film raises real life issues but creates fictional events (e.g. blood diamond/Constant Gardner). I sometimes find that my idea of history is made up from the inaccuracies of period dramas and films.

 

The people of Israel told stories, not only for entertainment and to keep their inheritance alive, but because they knew the power behind the tales, just like when Jesus told parables. A story, especially one with a moral or meaning, can and will affect people. There is little doubt that the media uses similar ways to covey messages today, some of which have a significant influence on our worldviews. Take for example the front page of yesterdays Guardian:

Guardian Article – 14/2/09

I’ve also uploaded the current Listerine advert as I think it’s a great example of how exaggeration is used to make a point. The advert isn’t actually saying that tiny little water men will cause a massive explosion in your mouth (and log cabin) that will clean your mouth, but its using the power and comedy(?) of exaggeration to make a point of how good the product is. Will people in 1000 years time watch that advert and say ‘did they really think that happened?’ – this is probably fairly obvious to us, so shouldn’t we understand ancient media in a similar light?

          Media has a profound affect on us, and I think Israel understood this. The stories that we immerse ourselves in can easily become the stories we want to live. Israel was keen to live the story given to them by God, and so these stories became very important to them – they were central to Jesus, and hence His followers. Nowadays, I feel we rarely have an appreciation of the fact that we share in ‘God’s Story’, instead we live the stories in our media – Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Skins, South Park, these are the lives we aspire too. They aim to reflect an exaggerated culture but then culture reflects them back. The stories we’re rapped up in become ours, and I think secretly we like to have a life similar to those we hear about – even if it happens to others so we can gossip about it and say thinks like ‘ooo, you wouldn’t believe it, it was as if it was off TV’. Magazines and fashion culture are prime examples.

 

         

If the Bible were still being written then the entries into it wouldn’t just be the testimonies, songs and poems of the millions of God loving people from around the world. It would be full of some great fictions too, like Bruce Almighty, the story of the Hare and the Tortoise, or Soren Kierkegaard’s Geese Parables – plus some great stand up comics who all to often exaggerate the truth for laughs but convey a compelling message (was Jesus a stand up comic?) These would be narratives to help individuals to better understand God and/or become more like God intended – not just another advert telling you to be like everyone else.

           

In my own life I’m keen to not read the Bible at face value but to try and understand it as much as possible, taking into account history and theology, as well as testing it against my own experiences in life. I believe that the Bible is the ‘Word of God’ but not explicitly the ‘Word’s of God’ – and by that I mean I take the Bible seriously, but not, always, literally. For I’m learning to see that something can be true whether it’s historically accurate or not.

 

 

 

Testing God

I was in church the other day and it was an all age service where they usually do some token passage with some cheesy airy-fairy message that has nothing to do with anything. But at this particular service they were looking at 1 Kings 18 – which is a mental passage. Now it’ll be really good if you get hold of a bible and have a look at this, but because you probably won’t bother here is a brief summary.

To cut a long story short Elijah (who is supposed to be this wicked amazing prophet of the God of Israel) starts having a go at the worshipers of the god Baal, a storm god. He then sets up a little test between himself and Baal’s prophets. Each will get a bull, cut it into pieces, lay it on wood and then call upon their god’s to set fire to it. The prophets of Baal go first, and nothing much happens despite their various efforts – so Elijah pops in a couple of cheeky insults, what a nice guy… Elijah then has his turn, calls upon the God of Israel and the Lord sends his fire. In conclusion ‘the people’ fall on their faces and worship Elijah’s God, while Elijah has the prophets of Baal killed according to the Deuteronomic Law.

Now is anyone thinking what I thinking?

First off, why don’t I remember reading this insane story the first time?

Second, whats going on with doing this crazy kind of God test? I thought you shouldn’t ‘put the Lord your God to the test’ (Deut 6.16)? Would we ever do a similar kind of test today?

And thirdly – is it really necessary to have the prophets killed at the end?

My mind can barely begin to understand the gospels, never mind this. It often seems that the Hebrew Scriptures throw so much into question. What is the significance of stories such as these? Are these just stories? Are these stories with a point? Are these historical events? Has God changed, or did the law change? Does God work like this today?

How did Jesus understand these books, and what do they mean for us today?