Psalm 107:33-43, 108; Isa. 66:1-6; 1 Tim. 6:6-21; Mark 12:35-44
Does God reject the sacrifices of His people, the sacrifices that He has commanded and ordained as appropriate? He does if they are offered wrongly, from a proud spirit rather than a humble and contrite one. If we offer Him our bounty in order to show Him how wonderful we are then such offerings do us no credit at all. When our confession is made without true contrition, we receive not the forgiveness on offer. In our liturgy the absolution after confession clearly states that God has offered forgiveness on two conditions, hearty repentance and true faith. If we make light work of sin and forgiveness we do not receive it fully. The promise of forgiveness is there for those who truly repent.
Humility of spirit is important in all that we do. The scribes handled the Word of God and its interpretation among the people and they did so with an ulterior motive, they liked the honor of the office and the benefits that attached to it. There is always a danger in having positions of honor and authority in the church that we will be tempted to pride and arrogance in those positions. Jesus always cautioned against it and in fact we see it in the disciples jockeying for position among themselves and coveting places of honor. We serve from humility understanding that any gift we have that outfits us for service is truly a gift. We offer to His service only those things we have received from Him, we are not our own creation. The widow understood better than the rest that all that she had and all she would hope to have comes from the hand of the One into whose hands she entrusts all things.
When Jesus teaches about the kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6 in particular) He tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all else we need in life will be added unto us. Paul breaks it down further for Timothy and, vicariously, us who are eavesdropping on this conversation, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” We are not to be about the pursuit of happiness outside of these things. We are to set our hearts on things above and therefore keep our lives fixed on those things which God would have us pursue. Our attitude towards the things of earth is to trust in Him to provide all that we need. There is a wonderful collect in our liturgy that expresses this and calls for serious contemplation:
O God, the Protector of all that trust in You, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us Your mercy that, You being our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.
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