Defender of the Defenceless

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17    Psalm 68:1-10    Hebrews 9:24-28    Mark 12:38-44

Before I begin this sermon, I need to make a confession. Bless me brethren, for I have sinned. I have never preached a sermon on widows before. Oh sure, I’ve preached and taught on Ruth before and many of the other relevant passages, but I have never made the care for widows and other defenceless members of our respective societies the single subject of study before…and it is high time that I rectify this neglect! After all, James tells us that “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

You see, widows and orphans are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. I say some of the most vulnerable because refugees, immigrants, minorities, mentally and physically challenged individuals, single parents, and a whole host of disenfranchised and marginalised people are equally in need of care and concern. And the question we have to ask ourselves is simply this: if we had to gauge our “religion” according to biblical criteria, where would we place ourselves on a scale of zero to ten as a church…as those who profess to be followers and imitators of Jesus?

We know the number Jesus assigned the 1^st century teachers of religious law…a big, fat, round zero! “Beware of these teachers of religious law!” He thundered. “For they like to parade themselves around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the market places. And how they love the seats of honour in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet…” are you listening? Here’s Jesus placing them on His scale of zero to ten. “Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be severely punished.”

Whoever came up with the rubbish that the Old Testament God is wrathful and the New Testament God is “gentle Jesus meek and mild” has never read this passage. Is Jesus angry? You bet He is…and rightly so…the Scriptures indicate that God is very much for the poor and the abused and the oppressed…mess with them and you’re messing with Him. Psalm 68 tells us that God is Father to the fatherless and defender of widows. Those who take advantage of widows and orphans will be more severely punished.

Then Jesus went on to give us a glimpse of how His measuring criterion works. He was sitting close to the collection box in the Temple watching as the crowds came to put in their money. Many rich people, Mark tells us, put in large amounts. These are the kind of folks you really want to suck up to because they pay for the roof to be fixed, right? But then along came a widow…you know the story…she dropped in two small coins. Jesus called His disciples to Him and taught them and through them He teaches us: “This poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions, for they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

Listen to what the Lord had to say through the prophet Isaiah. “When you come to worship Me, who asked you to parade through My courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing Me your meaningless gifts…I want no more of your pious meetings…they are a burden to Me. (If we had to apply this to our own churches today, I wonder how many would remain open.) I cannot stand them! When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen…” Pretty tough stuff here, huh? So what did the Lord want them to do? This is what He told them to do: “…learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.”

In fact He clearly stated in the Law that those who took advantage of widows and orphans would feel His anger…the prophet Malachi said that God would take action against those who oppressed widows and orphans. The Israelites had to make special provision for widows and orphans…as did the New Testament Church. We read of one such provision in our Old Testament lesson today from the book of Ruth.

Ruth, the Moabite widow, met her future husband Boaz while gathering leftover barley and wheat in his fields…according to the Law the Israelite farmers were not allowed to take their harvest all for themselves…they had to leave enough to be gleaned by the foreigners, orphans, and widows.

God is the defender of the defenceless…and as the people of God, we ought to imitate Him, that is, if our profession of faith in Him is to mean anything at all.

If the Church is to be true to the God Who has revealed His nature to us in and through the Scriptures, we must do more than talk about the plight of the defenceless.

Wars, HIV/AIDS, natural disasters, various epidemics, droughts, and famines have left us with many widows and orphans throughout Africa. Even with traditional African communal practices in place, the sheer numbers have overwhelmed the extended family structures. In many cases, women who all too often have not been granted the opportunity to educate themselves have found themselves alone with children to feed and school fees to pay, not to mention clothing and housing and water and electricity. What recourse do they have if we do not intervene on their behalf? They become objects of plunder and abuse or worse…they become objects of trade. The sex-trafficking trade is as big today as the slave trade was before the likes of William Wilberforce headed the British Parliamentary abolition campaign.

And what about the churches that have been and are involved in the abuse of children…the awful stories that have surfaced with regard to orphans in what were supposed to be church safe houses and schools? One is loathe to even speak about the things some clergy have done to young boys. And to think that the hierarchy of the church then seeks to keep this quiet! That is not the way of Jesus…it is a dark and demonic way. They will be more severely punished.

But the question for us is, who will speak for the speechless today? Who will defend the defenceless? Jesus gave up His life so that we might be set free from slavery to sin and to satan…are we willing to give up anything to help the helpless in His name?

Yes, of course husbands must take precautionary measures to ensure that their wives and their children are not left destitute in the event of their untimely decease…but often that is not possible for various reasons, like wars, unjust labour and wage laws, unbiblical cultural practices, and so on. And yes, widows also have a responsibility to do what they can to provide for themselves and their children. The fact that a woman has lost her husband doesn’t exempt her from normal day-to-day responsibilities. But if they are not able because of circumstances whatever they may be, we must be willing to step in and come up with some creative solutions that will allow them to maintain their dignity and productivity in society.

There are many ways to care for orphans and widows that do not reduce them to a life of humiliating dependency. But if they have not been taught skills or do not the have the wherewithal to start self-help projects, then we ought to be there in one way or another.

The Scriptures are clear on the subject. God expects us to be like Him…and one of the ways we can imitate Him is to defend the defenceless.

God is the Defender of the Defenceless…that is what the Eucharist tells us every time we partake of the symbols of His life given for our lives. We all were once lost…trapped in sin and darkness…imprisoned by the god of this world…unable to help or save ourselves…but at a time when we were still enemies of God, Jesus came and took upon His sinless self the penalty that was rightly ours…and He broke open the prison doors and set the captives free. The Defender of the Defenceless proved Himself…He has won the victory…that’s what the Eucharist teaches us…and He did it, not because we are great or wonderful…but because He loves us.

This is the God we are to imitate…this is the God in Whose steps we are to follow. And if we are to walk as Jesus walked, we too must become defenders of the defenceless.

Johannes W H van der Bijl © 2018-11-06