I stand before you as a former Bank Manager, well aware that some types of ‘Banker’ are not especially popular at the moment; but I think it is the banker in me calculating that in the last 7 years I have probably preached less than 1% of my sermons on the subject of money. A very poor return - roughly equivalent to the less than 1% interest rate that many savings accounts currently pay!
I have not preached enough about money. Jesus referred to money often. Our question today is, “What did Jesus do about money?” And I’m also going to ask, “What did Jesus say about money?”
But what did Jesus himself do for money? He had no paid employment during his 3 year preaching, teaching and healing ministry. As a young man he was a carpenter. (Mark 6:3), “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son” …and they took offence at him.
The carpenter, turned wise teacher and healer was not popular in his home town.
After leaving his carpentry and, later, his home town, what did Jesus do for money? Where did his money come from? The gospel writer Luke (Luke 8: 1-3) tells us: Jesus went from town to town, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God; and in addition to ‘The Twelve’ male disciples there was a group of women who had been healed, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna. Luke writes that “these women were helping to support them out of their own means” (8:3). So those who had money were financially helping the ministry to take place.
Now you know and I know that our Youth Outreach Worker Liz Fisher is not Jesus! Even more so, we all know that I am not Jesus! And yet there is a similar principle at work. Liz left her job at Chelmsford County Council; and we as a Church pay for her to minister.
Nine years ago I left my job in banking, and we as a Church pay a large sum of money every month to the Diocese of Chelmsford. I physically receive less than half the sum we pay to the Diocese, but it also pays for the two years full-time training I had, pays for the pensions of previous vicars here, provides for my housing, and helps other parishes in poorer areas who cannot afford to pay for a Vicar by themselves. Literally, and I wonder how you will hear this, we as a Church are paying for me and my family being here! As a Church we more than broke even last year as a result of a large legacy left to us in the will of a worshipper. However, our regular monthly income was less than our regular monthly expenditure.
Those who had money financially helped the ministry of Jesus to take place, reflecting the Old Testament ‘tithe’ where every member of the community gave a tenth of their harvest to the Levites (Num 18: 21,24) in return for their service …in the Tent of meeting.
It’s a principle I have been able to keep up since I first started work at Lloyds Bank in 1986. My salary of £300 went into my bank account and a day later 10% of that went to the Church to support the work. If you can give regularly I have Gift Aid forms with me today.
St. Paul made tents in order to provide finance for his ministry, so that as far as possible he would not be a burden on churches as he travelled from town to town, but Jesus and his disciples were supported financially. The ministry of this Church needs to be supported financially in the future as it has been in the past, but we don’t give money because the Vicar stands up asking for money, especially since the Vicar ends up receiving some of it. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:11). We give our money and our time as a response to the actions of God who took on flesh and gave Himself to us. What a gift! He gave his time and his very life to us; so when we give it is a response of love to God who first loved us.
Every pound and every penny counts. One Sunday morning a very well meaning boy walked up to the Vicar after the service and handed him his £1 pocket money. The boy said, “I want you to have my pocket money Vicar. I think you must need it more than me, because my Dad says you’re the poorest preacher this Church has ever known”!
Joking aside, today’s Bible reading gives us one of many examples of Jesus talking about money. It’s an event in the life of Jesus as he and the disciples are in the Temple courts, and Jesus focuses upon a poor widow placing “two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny” (Mark 12:42) into the temple treasury; and because Jesus is omniscient, because he knows our thoughts, our motives, our attitudes, he is able to comment upon the woman’s tiny gift in comparison to large gifts which were being made by many rich people (12:41). Jesus saw into their hearts and He sees into our hearts too.
So, on this occasion what did Jesus have to say about money? What was the lesson for the disciples then, and what is The Lord saying to us today?
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury” (12:41).
William Barclay says that there were thirteen collecting boxes called ‘The Trumpets’ because of their shape. The money was collected for the expenses of the Temple and the Gospel writer Mark tells us (12:41) that “many rich people threw in large amounts.”
The Temple accountant, if there was one, must have been delighted! I confess that as a former Woolwich Branch manager my eyes lit up whenever a customer had several thousand pounds to invest. That could help towards my daily target and our Branch bonus.
Whereas someone with £1 wanting to open an account with a card for the cash machine was, on the face of it, not quite such an attractive prospect. It was very tempting to give most time and attention to the one with loads of money; and I sense there was something of this going on in the temple courts as many rich people threw in large amounts; “but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a fraction of a penny” (12:42).
Jesus notices and picks out an anonymous, hard-up woman - a widow – and after she has put in her ‘tiny’ contribution to the ministry of the temple, he calls his disciples to him. Jesus often picked out real examples, real people, stories and illustrations to make a point and to call for a response; and here he does it again. Having previously used little children as an example of faith and trust (10:15), Jesus uses this particular poor widow as an example of sacrificial generosity, and it would have shocked some people.
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on” (12: 43-44). The rich gave away large amounts and still had large amounts left to live on, so they remained comfortable. Jesus didn’t directly criticise the rich for that, but he pointed very directly to the faith, the generosity and the trust of the poor widow as an example to his disciples then and to us today: Complete trust in God.
The poor widow recognised that everything she had came from God. Out of her poverty she gave everything – all she had to live on. It came from God and she used it all for God. But what did she do for food if she had spent all she had to live on? She would have received food from the temple in the regular distributions for the hungry, but Jesus holds her two small copper coins to be of more value than the riches put in by others.
Why? Her giving was sacrificial. It cost her something. The size of the gift was not the important factor. It was what it cost the giver, because she was prepared to go without in order to be generous; and as I say that I feel ashamed because I know that I have at times been giving and hoarding at the same time, so that the giving has only been partial. My approach is too often prudent, careful, and conservative.
The woman could have kept one little coin back for herself, yet she flung everything in. How often do we keep back some area of our lives from Jesus? “Yes, God can have a couple of hours on a Sunday and I’ll give a percentage of my income, but God’s not having control of that relationship, or that bank account, or that plan for the future, or that investment, or that talent that I have.” The poor widow put it all in.
Everything I have comes from him. What are we keeping back from God? What are we holding on to?
What did Jesus do about money? He spoke about it often. He needed it! Those with financial resources supported his ministry. He warned that the love of money is the root of all evil – not money itself, but the love of money. He applauded the sacrificial giving of the poor widow, and on another occasion Jesus had a conversation with a rich man – a would-be disciple (Mark 10: 17-23). “Good teacher. What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The man had led a good life, keeping the commandments, and we read that Jesus looked at him and loved him.
In all of our struggles with money, generosity, sacrificial giving, forgiveness, relationships, etc Jesus looks at us and loves us, and speaks to us. Whatever we want to hold back is exactly what Jesus wants us to dedicate to him. The rich man loved his money more than he loved God. He couldn’t dedicate his money to God and as a result he went away sad. How about us? Can we commit everything to Him?
Yesterday I read this on a Church web-site: At the centre of the ministry of this Church is an emphasis on explaining what the Bible has to say to us. We believe that by teaching from the Bible, God will gather a people who follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and who live in a way that pleases Him. Listening to what the Word of God says always challenges us to change, but we are sure this is God’s purpose for us all and He will bless us as we do this.
Sometimes Jesus’ teaching is hard; but He always has compassion for the weak, the poor, the hungry, and those who mourn. If you’re struggling with debts please feel free to chat with me; I might be able to point you in a new direction. Commission free!
What is God saying to you this morning? In this moment, and the next, what is God inspiring you to learn? I’m reading a book by a French Jesuit Priest Jean-Pierre De Caussade written in the 1740’s.
It’s called ‘The Sacrament of the Present Moment’, and encourages us to consider that each moment of our life God inspires us to learn something – something that in the next moment will uphold us, and will be to the advantage of ourselves and others. My take on this is that God uses the lessons we learn like toppling dominoes! God inspired the poor widow to give sacrificially. Jesus saw her; and He was inspired to teach a spiritual lesson to his disciples. In the next moment the disciples were inspired to learn. (See the dominoes toppling, and the effect that woman’s obedience is having on many others?) After the resurrection of Jesus, God inspired Peter to preach and teach about the woman’s tiny, yet sacrificially massive gift, and Mark was inspired to write down Peter’s sermons – we’ve studied Mark’s work today.
What is God inspiring in you this moment? As we respond generously with all we have and all we are, each moment, countless dominoes begin to fall!
