I read an alarming statistic. Annually, Americans spend more on dog food than on church contributions. We may want to review some priorities.
I also read, “It’s not how much of my money will I give to God, but how much of God’s money will I keep for myself.”
The foundation of our faith is in giving. If we strive to be just like Christ, we must put the needs of others before our own wants and desires. When Jesus walked this earth He always put others first. It didn’t matter who they were, the weak, the strong, the poor, the non-religious, the heavy-burdened, Jesus was willing to give all He had to help. He always made time to listen and to pray with people. Think of all the people He touched in His short ministry on earth. He spent most of His time with the downcast. He healed multitudes and never used medicine. Whether He was with only one person or thousands, every encounter was a teaching moment. All of these people were hungry to seek the truth. They wanted to learn more about God and more about Jesus. Many were highly intelligent thinkers, but they wanted to know all they could about Jesus. He spent very little time with the Pharisees and Sadducees, the pious religious rulers of the day. Why do you think He didn’t spend more time with them? Because they knew it all already! They knew the law and they knew how to use it. They didn’t need Jesus and a band of fishermen to teach them anything. How could they? But deep down inside they knew there was something very different about Him, but their religion wouldn’t allow them to get close, with the exception of a small handful. Jesus was willing to give all He had to help, and I must ask, do we do the same?
The following words of Jesus are found in what is known as His ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ As I have mentioned before, we went to the site of this famous sermon when we were in Israel. The location is spectacular. From there you overlook the beautiful Sea of Galilee. You can look in the distance and see Magdalena and Nazareth to the south and you can find Capernaum to the north, the center of Jesus’ ministry around the Sea of Galilee. It is a beautiful hillside. But Jesus didn’t actually preach from the top of the hill, the mount if you will. He preached from the bottom, at sea level, preaching to the thousands sitting up on the hillside. There were no microphones or sound equipment in those days, but the wind carried His voice up so all could hear His message. So this sermon should actually be called ‘The Sermon on the Plain to the People on the Mount.’
This sermon is a masterpiece. He is teaching the exact opposite of what the Pharisees taught. He is preaching against the religious legalistic laws, and giving the people words of faith, hope and salvation. I am reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 1-4: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in Heaven.
So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Yes, the hypocrites have their reward, the praise of men and women who stand in awe before their very words, hanging on to each one as truth. But the hypocrites shut God out and seek adulation for themselves. They take the Glory away from God. But God honors those who do not boast of their helping of others. Quietly they seek to honor God and the teachings of Jesus. Quietly, without notice, without wanting recognition, without seeking personal Glory, we give of our time and of our money to help others.
This reminds me of another story found in both the Gospel of Mark and Luke. It is only a few verses in both Gospels, but the message is powerful. The ‘Widow’s Mite’ story has captivated audiences for centuries. Who was she, and what drove her to the temple that day?
The setting is on the temple mount opposite the treasury. This was during the final week of Jesus’ life, just a day or two before He was betrayed by Judas. He had made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem; He had already declared His Authority as the Son of God, had taught more from His parables and gave us the greatest commandments. And at this point Jesus is questioning and condemning the religious leaders. Listen to what He says at this point; “In His teaching He was saying; Beware of scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”
In ancient Israel, the Lord had made provisions for widows. If they had no adult children to care for them, they were to marry one of their husband’s kinsmen or be taken in by their husbands’ families. But if that did not happen, widows could face a life of loneliness and poverty. Worse, widows who were also childless became desperately miserable. They ranked amongst the lowest members of society. If no one took pity on them, they could live the remainder of their lives without hope or love. Jesus had warned his disciples of the scribes’ abusive actions towards widows when he gazed into the courtyard and observed a “poor widow” depositing two mites into the treasury. Here is where we pick up the story of the widow’s mite.
Reading from Mark chapter 12 verses 41-44: “And Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums of money. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him He said to them; Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors of the treasury, for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
A mite was the smallest coin in value and in size. The treasury was located in the Court of Women of the temple, where stood thirteen receptacles for collecting obligatory temple tithes and voluntary charitable offerings. Each receptacle was trumpet-shaped; narrow at the mouth and wide at the bottom. Affixed labels on each receptacle identified the type of donation. Although sacred donations are supposed to be between the giver and the Lord, the metallic receptacles were situated in a public place so that every contribution was accompanied by a loud clanking sound. Every person in the courtyard could hear the giver dropping in his coins, and often eyes would turn toward the sound. This environment provided fertile ground for praise seekers. Donors who sought public acclaim did so by making a substantial contribution of heavy coinage. It was simply good for business and good for the image for a person to be seen as a generous and a devout temple-goer. Perhaps that hypocrisy had drawn Jesus’ rebuke as we read earlier in Matthew.
Not so with the widow. She had come so quietly that Jesus had to point her out to his disciples. Her two tiny mites would have landed in the treasury like feathers on cotton. Coming up to the temple was no small task. If you were going to attend the temple, you would plan on spending a fair portion of your day. Prayer and sacrifice would be your aim. Beyond worship, you might appeal to God for assistance for solutions that lay beyond your own strength. In every age, the poor, desperate, and miserable have sought refuge in the temple, the nearest place to God on earth. There, they have hoped to be seen and heard by God, and receive his help.
We expect that such was the case of this poor widow. Because of her obvious impoverished condition, she was likely childless and probably her husband’s family had abandoned her. With little doubt, she was alone in the world without support, protection or companionship. Her husband had left her nothing, or if he had, it was gone by now. I wonder if this widow also considered her sacrifice as the last she could give before she lay down and died. We cannot read the story of the widow’s mite without coming to the conclusion that when she offered her tiny but enormous sacrifice, she was utterly isolated by her humility and her poverty.
Seemingly, on this most important day of her life no one had paid any attention to her or her plight. But Jesus noticed. He saw her. The very person whom she had prayed would help her noticed her! The God of heaven was in His holy temple, just as she had prayed He would be, and He saw her there in His house. Jesus was present as an observer and a Savior. He was there to give her hope, I’m sure.
It is interesting that when Jesus pointed out this widow and her mite to the disciples, he seemed to know everything about her. For example, he knew that she was a widow. How did he know that? Certainly not by her clothing. She was, after all, very poor and probably was wearing the only garment she owned. Also, Jesus knew that she had dropped two mites into the treasury. How could He have known the denomination or number of coins when at a distance they would have been too small to see or hear? For that matter, how did He know that the two mites were “all her living?” Clearly, Jesus knew her intimately. They had never met, and yet he knew everything about her.
Although we don’t know the rest of the story of the widows’ mite but we can surmise. In the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi, based on giving, said; “I will open for you the windows of Heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.” The widow’s mite was her sacrifice. Another law of Heaven, back to the Sermon on the Plain to the People on the Mount, states that; “We must ask to receive, and we must knock for the Lord to open unto us. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks will find, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Finally, we are taught that temple (or church) service summons some of the most powerful blessings available to God’s children. The widow’s mite given in the temple would certainly have qualified her to claim such blessings.
With confidence, we believe that life changed for this widow. Perhaps the hearts of her husband’s family softened towards her. Maybe someone took pity on her, or money began to show up unexpectedly. Could it be that another man came into her life and rescued her from an existence of loneliness and poverty? Any number of things could have happened, and we have every reason to believe that they did. Why? Because we know who saw her.
We can take a lesson from the widow’s mite. When we find ourselves lonely, lacking, desperate, and in some way impoverished, we can likewise summon faith and approach the Lord with the purpose of giving Him all that we have left to give. That sacrifice is called the sacrifice of the heart. When we consider our offerings we wonder, Is it enough? We might even ask ourselves, will he see me? Will my two tiny mites attract the attention of the God of heaven? Will he hear my prayer? Does he know me? Does he know what I’m going through? Will he help me?
And the answer is yes. More than anything else, God wants our hearts.
I once read about a Pastor who was talking to his farmer friend and he asked the farmer, “If you had one hundred horses, would you give away fifty?” The farmer said “Certainly.” The Pastor asked, “If you had one hundred cows, would you give away fifty?” The famer said, “Yes.” Then the Pastor asked, “If you had two pigs, would you donate one?” The farmer said, “Now cut that out Pastor, you know I have two pigs!”
We hear these words from a Ray Boltz song; “What if I give all I have? What will that gift do? My child a gift like that can change the world, it could feed a multitude. What if I give all I have? What will that gift do?” Amen.
