“Living in the Presence of God”
Luke 21:1-4
What is the point of this story?
Jesus is sitting in the Temple opposite the place where people are putting their money in the Temple Treasury.
The Temple Treasury was located in what was called “The Court of Women,” and it had 13 trumpet-shaped containers for people to put their money in.
As Jesus was watching, many rich people threw in big amounts of money.
It’s the kind of generosity a lot of us can relate too—whether we are rich or poor—they put in some of what they had but kept most for themselves.
More than likely, Jesus and His disciples weren’t the only ones watching this parade.
We have to remember that the people of the 1st Century didn’t have television or even radio.
So, this was entertainment for them—watching, and oohing and awing as big donors tried to outdo one another for the crowd.
Then a poor widow gets in line.
And Jesus is fascinated by this person.
It was probably obvious she was poor just by the looks of her—shabby clothes, drab, ordinary.
No one else probably even noticed she was there.
And when she finally got to one of the receptacles, and dropped in her two very small copper coins it wasn’t much of a crowd pleaser.
If others had noticed her, they may have snickered or looked away in embarrassment.
But not Jesus.
Jesus got excited.
But why did this woman’s offering mean so much to Him?
I mean, what difference in the Temple budget is two very small copper coins going to make?
The root of the Greek word for “widow” means “forsaken” or “left without.”
Widows had it very tough in Jesus’ day.
The status of every wife in the community depended on the status of her husband.
The woman’s role was to help and support to her husband.
When her husband died all her status and security died with him.
In lots of cases the woman was cast out.
She was no longer useful.
Lots of people refused to even think of marrying a widow because she was originally someone else’s wife.
They thought of her as “second hand goods.”
The highways and byways of Israel were overflowing with widows and orphans trying to find a new life where they could live in safety and security.
And because of Jesus, lots of them eventually found acceptance, meaning, personhood and a secure home in the early Christian communities.
Throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament God has always had a special place in His heart for the widows and orphans, the last and the least, the marginalized, the vulnerable.
The Bible tells us that God Himself steps in to become the new husband to the recently widowed.
He fills the role of protector.
Psalm 68 says that God is “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows.”
In our world, those who are helpless are often taken advantage of by those who think they can get away with it.
Thankfully, the way of our world is not the way of God nor of God’s Kingdom.
And the widow in Luke Chapter 21 knew this.
She had found it to be true, and thus she didn’t give a thought to trusting in the material things of this world for her sustenance.
She didn’t depend on money, power, or reputation.
She wasn’t walking the highways and byways of Israel searching for meaning; for a home.
She had meaning; she had a home.
She had learned to trust in God and God alone for all her needs.
The reason Jesus got so excited upon seeing her is because she was a near perfect model of someone who is living in the presence of God.
Although, to the person who might glance at her and then look away without getting to know her—she was the epitome hopelessness and weakness.
In reality, she has a spiritual wealth most of us only dream about.
I mean, let’s face it.
All of us are incredibly vulnerable and helpless.
Most people are just a paycheck away from being homeless.
Few people have any real savings.
And we are all just a heartbeat away from the grave.
And so what do we do?
We take refuge in false security blankets.
We seek popularity and power.
We grasp for money.
We purchase the biggest and best houses we can afford.
We accumulate stuff for the sake of having stuff.
And in doing so, we become trapped by those things in which we seek to find security.
And our bank accounts, our careers, our style of clothing—you name it—defines who we are.
Without even knowing it, the guiding light for most people in our society is our financial well-being.
Money is our god.
But the widow who cause’s Jesus to jump to His feet—her identity isn’t defined by her financial means at all.
If it were, she never would have given away those two very small copper coins.
Instead, she would have held on to them for dear life, while searching desperately for more.
Her identity is defined not by money or things or even what life throws her way.
Her identity is defined by her relationship with God.
And because of this--in a true reversal of everything this world teaches us—she ends up being the least vulnerable person of all.
“And the last shall be first and the first shall be last”!
Let’s all ask ourselves this question this morning: “What defines you.”
Is your identity defined by how many friends you have or don’t have?
Is your identity defined by how successful you are, according to the world’s standards, in your job or career?
Do you find your identity in your looks, in the kind of car you drive, in whether or not you are feeling good or bad on a given day or in a given moment?
Is your identity wrapped up in how poor you are or how rich?
Do you obsess over how much or how little money you have in the bank?
Are you consumed with a desire to “keep up with the Jones’”?
If so, you will never find true happiness, peace, freedom, salvation…
…not in this world; not in this life.
And that is because we live in a lost and broken world.
We were created to be in relationship with our Creator.
Because of sin, that relationship has been severed.
But because of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross, that relationship can be restored.
And when it is restored so is the true meaning and reason for our existence.
When we fool ourselves into thinking we are less vulnerable in this life due to money, food, clothing, cars—whatever—we are in a precarious position.
And the reason for this is that the more we rely on what this lost and broken world has to offer, the more we fall for the delusion that we are invulnerable due to what we own or what we look like and the less we will rely on God.
And so, our false sense of invulnerability becomes a terrible obstacle to our faith in Christ.
But when we become fully aware of just how vulnerable we are in this world—no matter whether we are rich, poor or somewhere in-between…
…the more apt we are to turn to God for our ultimate security, identity, power and strength.
As the Apostle Paul famously said: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Over and over again, studies have shown that the biggest givers, those who write the biggest checks for the offering are often not necessarily the folks in the church who have the most money.
Instead, they tend to be the folks who have the most faith in God.
They tend to be the folks who are the most unshackled from the world’s grip.
They tend to be the folks who are the most secure—not because of the amount of money they have in the bank, not because of the kind of car they drive or the size of their paycheck—but because of their relationship with God.
The poor widow was, in all reality, the richest person in the Temple Treasury that day when Jesus and His disciples sat watching folks put their large sums of money into the offering boxes.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Have we given Jesus all that we have to live on?
Do we trust Him with all that we are and all that we need?
Is our identity shaped by our walk with Jesus?
Is He our all in all?
Do we find our strength and our freedom, not in anything this world has to offer, but in God and God alone?
Are we free from the shackles of this world?
Is our wealth found in our relationship with God and other people?
It’s been said that “For Jesus, this poor widow is an example of someone who is spending her life well—every minute of it.”
Could it be that this poor widow is giving to the Temple treasury because she thinks somebody else might need her two very small copper coins more than she does?
If so, she is truly free.
Amen.
