THE POOR WIDOW’S OFFERING (Mark 12:41-44)
Today we’ll learn a significant lesson from a seemingly insignificant person. If not for Jesus pointing her out, the act of the poor widow would’ve escaped everyone’s notice and the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson would’ve been lost. Let’s see what we can learn from the poor widow’s offering.
1) Jesus is watching (41-42). The treasury receptacles were made of metal and shaped like a trumpet. They didn’t have paper money then; just coins. Bigger coins meant a bigger denomination. Coins would make noise when they were thrown into the receptacle. Bigger, heavier coins made more noise than smaller, lighter ones. And obviously the more coins thrown in the more noise they will make. So the rich would make sure the noise was heard and the people (especially the priests who would be supervising) would notice and be impressed.
Other translations word it as Jesus watched how others were putting into the treasury. NASB: “And he 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.” I don’t believe Jesus was impressed with the amounts that people gave-he was more interested in the manner in which people gave.
How do we give-do we go out of our way to make it obvious? Do we make sure people know about it when we give or do we give without caring who sees? What’s the attitude of our heart when we give? Do we do it begrudgingly or only because we feel pressure to or do we give willingly and with a cheerful heart? Jesus is watching how we give.
The widow’s offering (vs. 42). This poor widow would’ve been exempt from having to give. Everything she had was worth only a fraction of a penny. How do you tithe off a penny? So, it looks like she wasn’t there because she had to be, she was there because she knew God wanted her to be. And when it became clear to her that God was prompting her to go to the treasury she could’ve tried to justify not giving by thinking, “I need this much more than they do. My measly amount won’t matter anyway; I’m keeping it.” Or, since she had two coins, how easy would it have been for her to say, “I’ll give one; but I’m not giving both.” And under normal circumstances no one would have disagreed with her. But, she knew what God wanted her to do. Although it wasn’t easy she was obedient. God will ask us to do some very uncomfortable things. Hopefully we will pass those tests.
2) The greater offering (43). Here we see the difference between giving out of your abundance vs. giving sacrificially. Many people make the mistake of thinking the larger the offering the larger the heart. Jesus reveals that although everyone else gave a larger amount monetarily, this poor widow gave the most proportionately.
Two people can give $1.00. Same amount but different hearts. The one who has made $10.00 has given 10% and is showing more love, devotion and trust than the other one who made $100.00 and thus has given only 1%. It’s the size of the heart that matters; not the size of the gift. 2nd Cor. 8:12, “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”
No offering is insignificant if it’s given willingly, lovingly, obediently. If your tithe is only a dollar then that’s okay. A little is a lot in the hands of God. The little boy brought a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish and Jesus turned into enough food to feed about 20,000 people.
Unfortunately, though, many people give what is comfortable; not what is challenging. They look and say they can’t afford to tithe-it doesn’t fit within their budget. Sometimes the reason why we say we can’t afford to is because when it comes to our finances we don’t start with God. We pay our bills and buy our stuff and we decide that if there’s anything left at the end then we’ll give. God should be first; not last. There’s a saying that goes, “give God what’s right; not what’s left”. But do we have the faith and trust to do that? The greater offering is one that might cause us to have to forsake some of our luxuries. The greater offering will challenge us to trust God to make all things work out. Can we make such an offering?
3) She gave everything (44). “All she had to live on”. She left herself with no means; which means she put herself in a position to have to completely rely on God. It’s one thing to be in this position when it happens beyond your control but to know that what you are about to do will put you in that position is something else entirely. You might even say she was out of her mind.
This woman took a great leap of faith. And, although we don’t know the rest of the story, I have no doubt that she was taken care of. Matt. 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” She chose not to worry about what she was going to eat or worry about what she was going to wear once the rags she was wearing wore out. She entrusted her needs to the Lord and I think it’s safe to say that she was in turn blessed spiritually and materially. Matthew Henry’s commentary: “Christ commended her willingness to part with what little she had for the glory of God, which proceeded from a belief of and dependence upon God's providence to take care of her. Jehovah-jireh--the Lord will provide.”
One might wonder, “Does this mean Jesus wants me to put everything I have in the offering plate each Sunday?” I don’t believe this is what Jesus is saying. I don’t believe the example of this poor widow is now the standard for all his followers; otherwise I think he would’ve said so.
With that said, though, I think a valid question is-what if Jesus asked us to do what she did? He asked the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions, give to the poor and then come and follow him. When he was illustrating the cost of being his disciple, Jesus said in Luke 14:33 that anyone who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. In context, this means that Jesus wants us to give up control of our lives for the sake of doing his will-in everything and with everything.
This isn’t easy to live out but this is what we signed up for when we became born-again. Jesus said we need to put him first; he said we need to take up our cross and follow him. We need to be willing to give up anything we have; we have to release our grip on our possessions in the event of Jesus having his way with us. If what we have is getting in the way of our devotion to him then Jesus will challenge us to part with it.
For the rich young ruler, his possessions were standing in the way of him following Jesus. Jesus challenged him to free himself from the thing that stood in the way. Unfortunately, he went away without being willing to do what Jesus asked.
Although this challenge wasn’t presented to the poor widow, I still believe it was a test. I don’t think she came up with the idea to give all that she had on her own. I believe the Holy Spirit put the thought in her mind and she had a choice whether she was going to act on it or not. She was obedient and Jesus recognized her for it.
Abraham and Isaac-you have not withheld from me your only son. God the Father didn’t withhold his one and only precious son from us. He offered him to us. Jesus offered his precious life to us for forgiveness-he didn’t hold back from us. Let’s not hold back on him.
The poor widow gave more than just all she had financially-she gave all of herself. The phrase, “all she had to live on” in the Greek is understood to mean “She gave her whole life.” That is the more important thing to consider. It’s not just have we given of our resources but have we given of ourselves? Rom. 12:1-2. Because of God’s mercy, because he gave me his all, because Jesus sacrificed his life for me I need to give my all for him. I now offer myself and my possessions for God’s holy purposes-whatever they may be. I choose to live by a new pattern; I choose to live in a new mindset.
A. W. Tozer, “Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it. No man gives at all until he has given all! No man gives anything acceptable to God until he has first given himself in love and sacrifice”. Have we given everything to Jesus?
4) The contrast (38-40, 3:1-2). Mark 12:38-40: Jesus is in essence giving a contrast here. He points to the elaborateness of the teachers of the law-they look prominent and appear righteous with their flowing robes and important seats in the synagogue but consider this-they take advantage of poor widows-like the one you see coming to the treasury now.
So in highlighting the sacrifice of the poor widow Jesus is also calling attention to the shortcoming of the religious leaders. The religious leaders are concerning with taking while the poor widow is focused on giving.
“Devour widow’s homes”. This is understood to mean not just a literal home but also all the items of value therein. Matthew Henry’s commentary: “They devour widows' houses, get their estates into their hands, and then by some trick or other make them their own, or they live upon them, and eat up what they have; and widows are an easy prey to them, because they are apt to be deluded by their specious pretences: for a show they make long prayers, perhaps long prayers with the widows when they are in sorrow, as if they had not only a piteous but a pious concern for them, and thus endeavor to ingratiate themselves with them, and get their money and effects into their hands.”
These religious officials were missing the true definition of what it meant to be religious-James 1:26-27. Instead of taking advantage of poor widows they should’ve been helping them. But that’s where greed can take you. You want more and more and you don’t care who you hurt to get it. Greed and the love of money desensitize us to the needs and hurts of others and our only concern is gratifying self. As long as I have what I want that’s all that matters. Compare that with the attitude and behavior of the poor widow and we see the stark contrast.
Mark 13:1-2: Jesus is providing for us another contrast: the widow comes before the people probably dressed nowhere near as ornately as the temple yet her beautiful act of devotion will be remembered forever; unlike the temple-the beauty of which would last but for a few more years. Jesus draws attention to the widow while the disciples brought attention to the temple. No one would’ve considered the widow to be worth noticing but the temple would’ve been something everyone ooohed and awwwed over.
Sometimes our focus is on the wrong thing. Someone might not look like much on the outside but on the inside they have a heart of gold. A church might be the most aesthetically pleasing thing you’ve ever laid eyes on but that doesn’t mean the people who go there are pleasing to God. We may be more focused on how we look on the outside without giving much attention to our spiritual condition. What are we focused on? Is there a contrast between the outside and the inside?
Hopefully we all learned something from the poor widow’s offering today. Her pure and sincere devotion is an example to us all.
