Beware

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

November 11, 2024

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

Mark 12:38–44 (ESV)

³⁸ And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁰ who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” ⁴¹ And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. ⁴³ And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Much has happened in the time I was last with you. Much has happened in our community, our nation, and within the scripture we missed due to my illness. The first thing I want to say this week is a thank you to you all, and to Tony and Stacy. The fact that I can be sick and not have to worry that things will continue as planned sets me at ease. That is the way things should be. A healthy community of faith should be able to step up and help at a moment’s notice. I sent one text message. And things were covered. And I know that if Tony was not available someone within this meeting would have stepped up.

That is what community really is. Each person within it has a place, and each member is willing to step up to assist when needed. We saw that last week, and we see it in the repairs around our meetinghouse. I do not spend a great deal of time on the church property directing activities. I do not need to, because someone has already taken ownership of the task before I can even mention to the various committees. John had the walls patched and ready to paint a week before our stewards meeting. The lights were rehung and the paint was ready. Then yesterday, enough of us showed up to paint that we did twice as much as I expected we would accomplish and I thank Eric, Taylor and Kristy for your help.

But that is just what we see. Charles has spend his entire adult life taking care of the little things, I would often pull into the parking lot and see him pulling weeds from the cracks or trimming the hedge rows. And as Charles has slowed down, Bob has stepped up into that roll, trimming the fence row and making sure our grounds are maintained. Kay has reorganized the library. And David. David has studied up on the various technologies so we can stream our services while also maintaining our normal worship experience, he has plumbing knowledge and was able to quickly fix a pipe before it became a problem where we would need to cut into our new ceiling. And he built the railing on our ramp.

Pastor Bilengana and his sons have helped tear out the ceiling and pull nails. They have hauled probably a ton of debris out of the meetinghouse, and helped clean. Nick helped wash down the walls to remove all the dust from the ceiling repair, and Kathleen’s family had most of the ceiling down before I even made it to help.

Without each of us do our part we would not have a meeting.

That is what community is about. We find a place and we help. We step up and fill the gaps when others are unable to. I do not often speak about membership to our church, but today I just want to make a brief mention. We do not require membership for you to attend, and worship. We do not require member for you to help in the various ministries. But membership is important. Membership is like a marriage. You hang out together, you enjoy each other’s company, and eventually you decide this is the person I would like to spend my life with, so you get married. That is what church membership is like. You worship, and enjoy communion and praise together, but eventually you should decide if this is the place you would like to minister with. You decide that if I am in this area I will serve God here.

When you get to that point, or if you are already there the process is easy enough. You simply ask for membership, and we will talk with you and then as a meeting we will welcome you into our ministry.

I do not know why I decided to go down that route today. Maybe it is because I am humbled by how we work together. But I think today’s passage speaks about this to some degree.

If we take a quick look back, the last time I spoke Jesus was making his way back to Jerusalem for what we now call holy week. A couple of weeks ago Jesus was in Jericho where a blind man cried out to Jesus for mercy and Jesus asked that man the same question he asked his disciples when they made a request. “What do you want me to do for you.” There was a different tone in the question, even though the words were the same. The disciples were wanting something for their own selfish gain, they wanted power and authority. They wanted the first and second position in Jesus’s royal court. The blind man also wanted something for himself. He wanted to see. He wanted to be able to participate in the community once again, he wanted to be restored so that he could contribute.

And Jesus used those questions to teach us something. The kingdoms of the Gentiles or the kingdoms of men lord power over people, the use their positions to exploit gain for themselves while leaving those that gave them that power helpless and hopeless. “That is not so among you,” Jesus told his disciples. The ways of God are not in what I can gain from others, instead it is service or ministry. Our focus is to be on how I can position my life so I can be a blessing to those around me.

This brings us to today’s passage, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Beware.

This one menacing word is the only commanding verb in today’s passage. This word means to look or see. The sense is to not take things at face value but to instead look deeper, examine and investigate what might lay beneath and find the root cause or source of what is being displayed on the surface. Beware!

I have thought a great deal about this over the past few weeks. Being sick with the flu left me some time to reflect on a great deal, especially around election day. The command to beware is a call or invitation to a deeper conversation. Like the ten commandments are more than rules, they are teachings that should direct us in areas of life far beyond the mere words within the command. If we were to examine the commands, not to covet or bear false witness against our neighbor. There are more to those words than envy and telling the truth. It is a call to treat our neighbor and all that they have as an extension of our own self and our family. We should be quick to preserve the honor and dignity of those around us. When we hear words being spoken ill of them, we should come to their defense and challenge those speaking without knowledge.

Beware. This command is telling us that we should strive for greater knowledge, and we should be skeptical. That might make us a bit uneasy. We should not be skeptical is often what we are taught. We should not doubt, we should not ask questions, especially of those that are in positions of authority. We are not supposed to judge, even Jesus gave us that commandment, so why is he telling us to examine things?

As most of you know I did not intend to become a pastor when I became an adult. I did not begin my education learning about scripture, instead I was pursuing a degree in crop science, and my goal was to eventually apply for a job in the field of genetic engineering where I would assist in making crops grow in harsher conditions and hopefully provide greater nutrition. And I know there are some among us that would see that work as something evil, but there is much good coming from the research as well. There is genetically engineered yellow rice that has nutrients that are not naturally occurring in that plant. Rice is the primary source of nourishment for much of the world’s population, and many of those people are malnourished because their food does not have all the necessary vitamins and minerals needed for health. I wanted to help make plants more nutritious.

My background encourages examination. We are to look at things rationally, test theories trying to prove them right or wrong, and then publish the results. I was trained to not take things at face value. But I did not continue in that field of study. I went to Ukraine one summer, and suddenly my life was turned upside down. God redirected everything within my life. I have forgotten almost all the knowledge I once had about crop science. Now God has encouraged me to use that training I received to presenting the Gospel.

Beware, Jesus commands us. Look deeper, dig below the surface to see what is at the roots. Many of my colleagues say things like the plain reading of scripture says… and I often ask them if that is true. They get annoyed with me and rightfully so. Each time I open scripture I learn more, I see things just a bit differently. And God is constantly teaching and encouraging me to change my understanding and my actions. Look deeper. And then look deeper again.

Jesus tells his disciples, “Beware of the Scribes.” Beware of the preachers. I want you to take this to heart. You might think highly of me as a pastor, or some other pastor, but we need to be watched and examined. I mentioned a conversation I had with my grandmother a couple of weeks ago. This is the root of her questions. When she asked me why I wanted to be a pastor, this is why she was asking those questions. But like most things it goes beyond the surface. Not only should we examine our pastors, but any leader. Are they being honest. If a CEO says they respect their employees, are they? What are the business practices they are implementing and do they benefit their employees first or themselves? We should do this for candidates for office, for pretty much every public servant, and for ourselves. Do our actions reflect the words that we speak?

“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes,” This statement is a bit of a mystery. There are basically a couple of schools of thought surrounding this. The first is that the person is wealthy and used to a life of ease and luxury so they have a long robe because they are not moving through a great deal of dirt in their daily life. In a world where pavement was not common a long robe dragging on the ground would be nasty by the end of the day, so only those who did not work would have long robes. Everyone else would have robes that were shorter, so they would not tack mud everywhere they went. The second though surrounding the long robes is that Jesus is speaking of the tassels that the books of the law required men to have on their clothing. These men may have had distinctive tassels to indicate their righteousness to those around them. Either argument makes sense but I think the most important thing is that these people that Jesus urges us to beware of are more interested in their appearance than their actions in daily life. They want to be seen, respected, held in high regard. They want to walk into a room and have everyone present swarm to them.

This continues when Jesus says, “and have the best seats in the synagogues.” In William Barclay’s New Daily Study Bible Commentary, he says that they liked the front seats of the synagogues, near the ark that held the sacred scriptures were kept. They sat in these areas because everyone’s attention was directed to those scrolls, and by sitting in those seats everyone would see them. Jesus continues, “and places of honor at feasts.” The place of honor is at the right and left of the host. The ones that were closest to the host were the most honored of the guests. So these scribes were in their long robes were wanting to sit at the front of the sanctuary where everyone could see them and they wanted to sit a the head table where everyone would look at them. These men were seeking attention. Demanding respect and honor.

And Jesus concludes, “who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers.”

Barclay again says in his commentary, “these legal experts had managed to convey to people that there was no higher duty and privilege than to support a Rabbi in comfort; that, in fact, such support would undoubtedly entitle him or her who gave it to a high place in the heavenly academy. It is a sad fact that religious charlatans have always preyed upon vulnerable people, and it would seem that these scribes and Pharisees imposed on people who could ill afford to support them.”

Beware.

Are the people we are giving respect and honor to, worthy of that respect? Have they exhibited the qualities Jesus teaches or are they exhibiting virtues honored only within the kingdoms of men?

As a pastor that receives a salary, and as a Friend’s pastor, a religious society who has a long history of unpaid ministry this causes me to pause. Why am I here? Am I living a lie? Is Jesus telling us that we should have unpaid clergy?

The answer, like the command itself, urges us to look deeper. We should be mindful of our focus, and our actions. Are the leaders working to make the community better or themselves? Scripture teaches that laborers deserve wages, so paying clergy is acceptable, but are those that serve focused only on their wage or are they making sure the ministry continues first.

No one person is more important than the community of faith. It is more important that we continue as a meeting than any one person. It is important to the Kingdom of God that the Friends Church continues to share the message and hope of the Friends Testimony in this community. It is important because we have a different voice than other traditions, we see things from a different perspective, we focus on different aspects of life. Without our voice something is missing, in the wider Christian community.

“Beware,” Jesus says, look below the surface, examine and weigh things in the balance. Are we doing things for recognition or are we doing things because we believe they are right. Are we compromising with the hopes of gain, or are we adapting to continue speaking truth in our changing community? Why are we doing what we are doing, and are we enabling and releasing people to continue the ministry we as a community find valuable?

Beware.

I have been here at Willow Creek for nearly fifteen years. I have seen us grow and dwindle. We have had people come and try to change things with the hopes of growth, and to be honest I have resisted many things. Why would I resist? The same question, are we changing to gain greater recognition or are we adapting to better teach the truth? Just this week a friend of mine said to me that he wished I would have a larger platform to share because he has found that I have been a great help to him over the years. And I told him, I am content with whatever God provides. We should not change to gain more attendance instead we need to remain true to ourselves and our community. I have also had conversations with others that have said they will never go to church because they are full of hypocrites. And I told them yes I agree. Churches are filled with hypocrites and so is every other organization. There are countless groups that say one thing and do the opposite. And we should be opposed to that. That is one of the greatest reasons for the decline in church attendance, it is not that people are uninterested in the Gospel. People love Jesus, they want to know more about his teachings and will sit for hours in conversation with you if you speak honestly. They desire authentic faith, they want a faith that feels real to them.

For nearly fifteen years we have been living on the verge. And some have wanted to make changes with the hopes that it would be more attractive to others. And I resist, maybe it is pride, but I do not feel it is. I resist because I want to be true, and authentic. I want us to live our faith in our actions and not just our words. I want us to be honest with ourselves and our community. I am willing to say I doubt and do not have the answers because I do not have all the answers, and I invite you to join in finding them together. Beware, Jesus says, examine and look deeper. Do we want attention? Do we want to devour and exploit those around us for gain, or do we want to encourage deeper faith in God?

After Jesus gave these teachings to his disciples, they sat together observing the people within the temple. They watched as people gave offerings to the treasury, some gave great sums while others only a little. And the word, beware, still hung in their ears. “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had.”

We might say that this is a teaching on how we should give to the ministry of the church. And it is that but it is more. What is important to you? What has the most value? What is worth preserving and what can we live without? This is a teaching on faith, on participation and on ministry. It is a teaching on living what you believe. It is Jesus showing us what it means to be a member of a religious society and community. Are we giving our time, our energy, our lives so that the message of this community remains? Are we willing to sacrifice so that others can understand what it means to not only be a servant of Christ, but a Friend? Are we willing to Love God, embrace the Holy Spirit and live the love of Christ with others?

It is not about having a meetinghouse full of people. It is not about having money in the bank. Its about life. Will we live our faith? Or are we just looking for attention?

Previous Messages:

Living Stones

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…

by jwquaker May 3, 2026May 3, 2026

Endure

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…

by jwquaker April 26, 2026April 26, 2026

Ransomed to Love

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…

by jwquaker April 19, 2026April 18, 2026

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