Mark 12:41-44

You probably  remember I was a fan of the Dos Equis commercial about “the most interesting man in the world” because it was so far out and ridiculous. Here are some of the things the commercials said about him:” he once gave a pep talk so compelling, that both teams won; when he mispronounces your name, you have the urge to change it; when he pats people on the back, they put it on their resumes; he has inside jokes with complete strangers; sharks have a week dedicated especially to him;  when he flirts with danger, danger gets clingy; he lives vicariously through himself and he is the life of parties he has not attended.  So it is hard to disagree with one of his statements, namely:” when you are not good at something, don’t do that thing.” When you are not good at something, don’t do that thing.  Friends, todays’s text turns that on it s head.  Here is the poor woman who because she is poor cannot be good at being financially generous, but it is because she has this shortcoming that she becomes celebrated.  Now I realize this text is generally used to encourage people to be generous, almost to a fault. Our approach at Parkview is to leave your giving between you and God.

Where we wanted to go with this lectionary reading is encourage you to explore the areas of your shortcomings as a possible source of inspiration and contribution to the world around you.  Now if you are wondering:” Aart, you are not going to start singing solos in front of us, are you, because that is not acceptable nor will it be bearable.” No, don’t worry. I will not do that.  At least not without years of practice I am not willing to commit to. No but, having just talked about playing to our strengths,  I do want to explore mining our shortcomings.  You can do that.

The mistake you and I tend to make is to keep dwelling on our strengths and avoiding our shortcomings.

Moreover, we try to compensate for our shortcomings.  The poor widow could have gotten very good at distracting  the people watching her at the collection box or offered her help in cleaning the house of worship so that her generosity would have found other avenues.  Instead she shows her authenticity and generosity as well as her embarrassing poverty. It is all out there for her to see. She makes the act of doing the one thing she is least able to do: give financially.

I heard an interview with a New York born your man who loved to watch British programs on tv and from the age of 16 to 18 he spoke almost entirely in a British accent. He was almost convinced he was British so his mother took him to a psychiatrist.  It was there that he had to face reality. He wound up going to Cornell where his friends where all children of very accomplished people in American society.  When they asked him what his father did, he changed the subject and told his friends that their family were vegetarians, which in those days was a rather eccentric thing in a country with a burger joint on every corner.  The only problem was that he had no idea what vegetarians could eat and he really missed meat.  He had to sneak around and eat meat while no one was looking.   He compensated and failed to make the best of his shortcomings and tell them how much harder it was for him to get to the Cornell dorm. Now having highly successful parents at an ivy league will make people wonder about your intelligence.  “Connections,” you can hear people think.

But let’s face it, history tends to celebrate people who were not born with all the gifts, but were able to mine their shortcomings.   The famous of course is Helen Keller.  Another is Mother Teresa. There was Demosthenes, the orator who couldn’t speak well who is supposed to have put pebbles in his mouth at the beach so he could try speaking. There is the British queen’s father celebrated in the King’s Speech.

I have decided to go back to tutoring at the William Land School. But I want to do something different. I want to face my shortcomings. I always thought of myself as being bad at math, so I always said to the principal: no math please.  So I told her math is ok. Also Spanish is not one of my best languages, but I offered to work with Spanish speaking children. I decided I am going to live with my shortcomings and be prepared to be embarrassed. I tell the residents that the ministry is an embarrassing profession. There are so many ways to make a fool or ourselves. That’s it, isn’t friends. It’s the fear of embarrassment that keeps us from so many things where we could bring unique contribution. The widow wasn’t embarrassed. She gave from where she was most insecure and half the world knows her story.  Friends, don’t throw away you strengths, but don’t ignore your weaknesses either.  For God has use of them. May God bless our contributions.