“Mark 12:38-44 is not merely a condemnation of hoity-toity scribes and praise of a generous widow. In this passage of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus condemns a Temple system built to benefit the powerful and prey on the most vulnerable. The scribes of ancient Israel were educated officials, relied on to handle the community’s legal, financial and political issues. Eventually, they gained so much status and power that they became the interpreters of God’s Law. The “best seat” in the synagogue to which Jesus refers in Mark 12:39 is the position of authoritative interpretation. But the power to say, “This is what God’s law means. This is how God’s law is to be practiced,” is also the power to promote personal agendas and build political, economic, and religious systems that most benefit those sitting in the “best seats.”
“The widow in Mark 12:41-44 is pressed to contribute to the Temple treasury by a religious system that convinces her it is faithful to give “all that she had, all she had to live on” (12:44). The poor were encouraged to support the Temple (and the scribes seated within it) to the point of exhausting their resources, devouring even the meager inheritances they hoped to pass to their children. Jesus condemns this system and those who support it, saying it “devours widows’ houses” (v. 40).
“In The Word before the Powers, Charles L. Campbell writes about the act of preaching as a critical practice of nonviolent resistance, one that not only links the biblical text to today’s moral and ethical challenges but also shapes the life and practices of church communities. Campbell tells the story of André Trocmé, the pastor of the Reformed congregation in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, the small village in southern France that effectively sheltered over 5,000 Jews during World War II. As Campbell tells it, on the Sunday after France surrendered to Nazi Germany, Trocmé stepped into his church’s pulpit to proclaim: “The responsibility of Christians is to resist the violence that will be brought to bear on their consciences through the weapons of the spirit.” Through the “best seat” of authoritative interpretation to which he had been called, Trocmé preached, week after week, of Jesus’ nonviolent resistance against oppressive political powers and his care for the most vulnerable, keeping this vision alive during a politically treacherous time.
“ From our “best seats” we should remind the church of Jesus Christ that change begins with us, how we treat each other, how we work together to solve complex problems, how we treat the widow, the stranger, the orphan—the most vulnerable. Jesus, in teaching his small band of twelve disciples, started a groundswell of love and care for all God’s people — and particularly those oppressed by unjust systems.
“Yes, we have work to do. We also have a teacher we can trust and a path that leads to our own and others’ liberating salvation.”