I imagine years later upon
reading the Gospel of Mark the unnamed disciple was relieved he remained
anonymous. After all moments before he asked his question Jesus had elevated an
invisible widow and two small copper coins above offerings of excess from those
who, like large stone buildings, made themselves hard to ignore. Of course we
too are enamored by an impressive edifice of flesh or stone, more often than
not our own. But the temple was more than just an extraordinary piece of
architecture. In the mind of the people it was the only place where heaven and
earth met, where the Holy consecrated the profane, where the presence of God
hidden behind a curtain kept watch over Israel. The temple had become more
important to the faith than the One it was built to house and so Jesus directed
the disciple to look more closely. Do you see…? God does not dwell in a house
made by human hands but in the heart of a widow. It is a word for us who might
be impressed by stone structures of denominations or distressed at their current
decline. Do you see…? It applies to the beginnings of the birth pangs as well which
might indeed be cause for alarm but for the promise at the end of this chapter
“heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not.” Do you see…? It is a
question for all who are alarmed by personal conflicts within and without, by
divisions, by everyday disruptions that make one hunger for something stable
and trustworthy. Do you see…? It is in this different way of seeing that God is
found for when it appeared all was lost for Jesus all in fact was won. “My God,
my God why have you forsaken me?” is the prelude to “It is finished” as the
pangs of the old, as alarming as they may be, anticipate the birth of something
new. Do you see?
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