​​Pentecost 25B/Proper 27 (Mark 12:38-44)

​Let’s visualize the following scene from today’s gospel lesson.

Jesus is with the disciples in the outer courts of the Temple in Jerusalem, carefully observing those passing by. On one hand, He sees the scribes walking by; on the other, people are gathered around the treasury box, which is used for offerings. It’s clear that the scribes don’t leave a good impression on him. Pretense surrounds them.

Jesus’s criticism reminds me of a line from the movie based on Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club:

“The things you used to own, now they own you.” 

This sounds like a typical symptom of addiction. The scribes are addicted to what Russ Roberts calls the “drug of celebrity.” We might wonder how things like long robes, fame, honor, and respect, which they once owned, now own them. What lies deep beneath this addiction to the drug of celebrity? In my reflection about a month ago on 10/13, I mentioned that what we cling to must be comprehended and scrutinized—not to destroy it, but to redirect it toward the presence of God within.

Adam Smith (yes, that Adam Smith, the pioneer of modern economics who introduced the concept of the “invisible hand” of the market) has something to add to Jesus’s teaching. Below is a quote from his lesser-known book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments: 

“To those who have been accustomed to the possession, or even to the hope of public admiration, all other pleasures sicken and decay. Of all the discarded statesmen who for their own ease have studied to get the better of ambition, and to despise those honours which they could no longer arrive at, how few have been able to succeed?...Are you in earnest resolved never to barter your liberty for the lordly servitude of a court, but to live free, fearless, and independent? There seems to be one way to continue in that virtuous resolution; and perhaps but one. Never enter the place from whence so few have been able to return; never come within the circle of ambition…” (Emphasis mine)

We redirect our sense of craving and striving through our spiritual practice of contemplation, in which we attentively and intentionally allow the presence of God within to be present in every aspect of our daily routine. This is what I would call inner conditioning. What Adam Smith is talking about is outer conditioning. We don’t want to surround ourselves with the circle of ambition or the drug of celebrity.
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Jesus sees the poor widow putting two copper coins into the treasury. Because of her outer conditioning of poverty and inner conditioning of knowing what to desire when all else falls short, Jesus honors her. “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury…” Once again, I’m reminded of another line from Fight Club: 

“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.”

What are we conditioning ourselves with? What are we surrounded by? How do these things help—or not help—us to live free, fearless, and independent in the presence of God?