The Woman Who Gave The Most When She Gave The Least

THE WOMAN WHO GAVE THE MOST WHEN SHE GAVE THE LEAST

TEXT - Mark 12: 41 - 44

INTRO. - The woman in our text is never named in the Bible.

There are only two accounts of her act given in the New

Testament. She is mentioned here and in Luke 21 and both

chapters give her story in only four verses. The scene is at

the Temple where Jesus made it his custom to go. He went and

even though the services were quite cold and dead, he never

took the position many take today that he could worship God

outside the church just as well as he could inside the

church. Jesus went to God’s house in spite of the failures of

its leadership and the people who attended. Many today blame

their lack of attendance on hypocrites and backsliders in the

church. I have always felt that if you are going to

successfully hide behind something, you have got to be

smaller than thing which you hide behind. Anyway, Jesus went

to the Temple to worship and since he is the same yesterday,

today, and forever, he has the same attitude about worship at

God’s house now as then. Jesus is interested in people who

attend God’s house. He is also interested in their giving. He

was interested then and he is interested now.

LET US LOOK FOR A FEW MINUTES AT THIS PASSAGE AND NOTICE

SEVERAL THINGS. FIRST, ABOUT GOD, SECOND, ABOUT THE

ATTENDERS, AND THIRD, ABOUT THE WOMAN.

I. NOTICE A FEW THINGS ABOUT GOD - vs. 41 - 44

1. God is interested in our giving. He is very

interested. God has given us so much in time, talents, and

money and he wants to see what we do with what he has given

us. He is interested in our giving because when it is done

right, it is an act of worship. It also shows the extent of

our generosity or our selfishness.

2. God is also interested in our failure to give. The

law of the harvest, the law of sowing and reaping is seen in

our giving and in our failure to give. We are looking in our

text primarily at giving money but this text also has

application to giving our time and talents too. He realizes

that there is eternal reward and eternal loss connected to

our giving as well as other areas of our lives.

3. God is more interested in the attitudes and motives

than he is in the gift itself. You really cannot give God

anything because he owns it all but we can give in the sense

of returning to God what he has given to us.

God is interested in our sacrifice to him. Vs. 43-44

says this woman gave two mites. A mite was the smallest of

the Jewish coins and worth about 1/5 of a cent in our money

today. Two mites was equal in worth to a farthing, the

smallest of the Roman coins and worth about 2/5 of a cent in

our money today. This woman gave 2/5 of a cent and was

praised by the Lord for her gift over the others who came and

gave much more. Why? Because God saw in her gift something

that he did not see in the others gifts. He saw real

sacrifice and selflessness. God is not interested so much in

what we give as he is in what we keep back for ourselves. She

held back none. God is interested in our sacrifice to him.

Most of us know nothing of real sacrifice in giving. We give

God in a year about what we give to feed our pets and bad

habits.

Giving is not the only things we can sacrifice in. We

can sacrifice in prayer, time, attendance, and service. I

have known of some with cancer and arthritis who really

struggled in pain and effort to attend God’s house. One

person had to take over three hours just to get dressed to

come to church but she was there every service.

4. God does not expect all to give the same. God does

not expect the poor and the rich to give the same. The woman

in our text did not give as much as the others who came. God

never gave us an amount to give, only a percent. That way a

man who gives 10% of $100,000 and a man who gives 10% of a

$100 both give equally in the eyes of God though the man who

makes the $100 may be sacrificing more to do it.

5. God praised her for the generous offering - vs.43

He praised her to her back but not to her face. She went away

never knowing that the Savior had seen her deed, made the