Abundance and Scarcity

​Young at Heart Message
 
Several months ago, I tried to show a video from the movie Encanto. The video didn’t work, but I talked a bit about the premise of the movie.
 
I’m sure you all remember it in detail, but just in case you don’t, I’ll tell you about it again because it applies to today’s scripture passage.

Encanto is a Disney movie about a family that received a special gift which gives them heightened abilities.

---

​Everyone who was born into the family after “Abuela” – Grandma – was born with a special gift.
 
One of her daughters, for example, can heal people through food. If someone just eats something she made, they will be healed from at least minor ailments.

​The other daughter’s mood controls the weather. If she is in a bad mood, it might storm, but if she is in a good mood, the weather will be sunny and warm.

​Both of these women had children, and each of their children have gifts as well.
 
Dolores can hear things other people can’t, and Antonio can talk to animals.

​Isabela can make plants grow, and Luisa is super strong.

Isabela and Luisa have a sister named Mirabel. Mirabel, even though she was born into the family, doesn’t receive a special gift at all.

Mirabel is so proud to be part of her family that is so special, even though she is constantly overshadowed by her sisters and cousins who all have special gifts that are used to “help” the family.
 
But here is where things get interesting.
 
Mirabel works so hard to try to contribute to her family – to help them be successful in their community and in their home.
 
But because she doesn’t have any special abilities like the rest of her family, they all treat her as though she really can’t contribute anything of value to the family.
 
And, to some extent, she believes this herself, although she works really hard to define herself outside of the realm of special talents.
 
And yet, her family and the rest of the community believe she has nothing to offer because, compared to everyone else, her abilities are far less defined.
 
The other members of her family, therefore, believe that what they contribute to the family’s success is of far greater value than what Mirabel contributes.
 
And yet, as the movie goes on, we get to see that Mirabel is, in fact, the one person who can save her family from disaster.
 
Interestingly, in the process of saving her family from actual physical harm, she also shows her sisters that they are defined by so much more than their special abilities.
 
It is a story about family systems and the boxes we tend to put people in, but it is also a story about growth and community and sacrifice for those we love.
 
Based on how the family defined usefulness within their family system, Mirabel was the least “useful” of all. She has the least to offer, in their opinion.
 
And yet, she ended up giving the most of herself, and she showed everyone that they also had more to give than what they were offering.
 
If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend watching it.
 
But, in the meantime, you can settle for my brief description!
 
So what does this have to do with today’s scripture?
 
The Message
​
Well, today we heard the story of Jesus watching people place their gifts into the offering box in the temple.
 
What he witnesses was a lot of rich people giving a lot of money, which is not in itself a bad thing!
 
But then, he witnesses a poor widow put her offering into the box.
 
That widow, relative to everyone else who was putting in their gifts, gave almost nothing.
 
And yet, Jesus notices that she in fact gave more than any of the rich people because she gave everything she had.
 
She gave all that she had left, leaving her without any money to live on. She gave money she really needed.
 
On the other hand, the rich people, even though they gave higher amounts, all gave money they did not need.
 
Parallel to the story of Encanto where everyone with special gifts gave out of their abundance, Mirabel and the widow in our story gave out of their scarcity.
 
But, why does Jesus really draw attention to this poor widow?
 
Many people will argue that he draws attention to her to point out that we should all give everything we have.
 
But I don’t think this is actually what is happening here.
 
Jesus points out this widow because he wants to highlight the lack of justice in a society that would allow a widow to become so poor and destitute.
 
She clearly wants to prioritize her faith and her duty to the temple, but Jesus doesn’t ever tell the poor to give all they have and sacrifice all of themselves to the point where they could not afford to live.
 
And I don’t think that Jesus would sit next to each of us today and tell us to sell everything we own and live in poverty either.
 
But, in pointing out this woman’s poverty, he is calling attention to the fact that so many rich people gladly give to the temple, but completely ignore the poor people in need right in front of them.
 
Much like Mirabel’s family overlooking her very “average” talents because she didn’t receive a singular “special” gift like they all did.
 
Instead of asking themselves why Mirabel had to work so much harder to define herself within the family system, they really should have asked themselves why they didn’t use their gifts – not just their special gifts but all of their unique gifts – to help Mirabel discover what talents she had and how she could use them to help the family in her own way.
 
In other words, there was opportunity for them to change the system in which they lived, but it took Mirabel pushing the bounds of that system before any of them could see in a new way.
 
Likewise, it takes Jesus pointing out the injustice of this poor widow before any of the rich people would take notice of her at all.
 
The two small coins that she gave would have been unimportant and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
 
But the fact that their society was set up to be a very dangerous and insecure world for widows was important and significant, which is why Jesus points it out so directly.
 
He is asking people to notice her.
 
Certainly, notice the sacrifice she’s making in her giving. But more importantly, notice this person who is poor not through any fault of her own, but likely because her husband died, and she had no son who could care for her (as was customary at the time).
 
Notice the injustice of a world where a woman’s only safety net is being married and having sons, and unless she can quickly marry again, losing her husband could be a life sentence of poverty and heartache.
 
This passage is a call to action.
 
A call to notice the injustices of the world.
 
A call to change those injustices if we can.
 
And, as we sang earlier, a call to let our hearts be broken for a world in need.
 
To allow ourselves to love others in such a way that we can see how they might not benefit from the same systems we benefit from.
 
If we open ourselves up to loving people in this way, we have no choice but to notice when the system isn’t set up to care for them.
 
We have no choice but to notice. We sang earlier:
 
“Blessed to be a blessing,
privileged to care,
challenged by the need
apparent ev’rywhere.”
 
“Let your heart be tender
and your vision clear –
rouse yourself to action,
serve God far and near.
Let your heart be broken
by another’s pain,
share your rich resources – 
give and give again.”
 
Our hymns, in case you have not noticed before, are often Biblically based.
 
So, may we let our hearts be broken for a world in need.
 
May we hear Jesus as he tries to help us notice the injustice of the world and the systems that perpetuate poverty.
 
And, may we hear the call to do something about it – or at the very least to acknowledge the ways in which we benefit from the system so that we can notice when there are others who do not.
 
That is what Jesus is asking of the rich people in our passage today.
 
Notice the ways in which the system allows you to be able to give out of your abundance.
 
And, notice when the system keeps someone oppressed so that when they give of themselves, they must give everything they have because that is their only choice.
 
It is a call for us to wake up to the realities of other people’s lives.
 
It is not a call for us to feel guilty about what we do have, but it is a call to be aware that our own realities are not necessarily the same as other people’s realities.
 
If we are to truly love our neighbours, then we must notice when they are affected by a system that keeps them from thriving.
 
So, may we do the hard work that Jesus calls us to do and allow our hearts to break for others – allow ourselves to notice and empathize with the struggle of our neighbours.
 
May we let our hearts be tender, and may we continue to serve God far and near.
 
Amen.
 
Let us pray: God of grace, thank you for sending your Son Jesus to teach us and help us better understand the complexities of human behaviour. Thank you for reminding us that loving others means recognizing injustices and working toward balancing the scales. Jesus demonstrated genuine love and concern for others, and calls us to follow his lead in all things. Amen.