The Widow’s Offering
Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Simply from a layman’s (me) perspective, through this passage, God is telling us to give everything we have to God.
Not a %, not a fixed amount, but give until it hurts.
See Verse 44. People giving out of their wealth meant that they HAD money to give, and most likely, since the pattern of the human heart doesn’t change through time, they gave but left enough to comfortably live on. To still have that blanket of security in their money, to have control over their lives.
Did you ever wonder what ever happened to that poor widow after she offered “all she had to live on?” Maybe she suffered. Maybe God provided. But regardless, God used her for His Kingdom and is still using her today. And undoubtedly, she is receiving her reward in heaven.
Let’s skip back a few chapters when Jesus encounters the rich young dude.
Mark 10:17-30
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.”
It’s still so difficult to give all our hearts and lives to God today as it was back then (money, relationships, family, comfort, ambition, success, idols, etc.). But it’s exactly what God commands us to do.
This has been on my heart lately because as I’m entering the medical profession, I need to make hard decisions that will directly impact my salary and my lifestyle. This involves hundreds of thousands of dollars. But after recently seeing Kyeon and thinking about p min and the jeeps, God is really convicting me to give everything, to stop living for my selfish motives, to lay it all out on the table, and to live in view of eternity.
I love this song because I think it captures the essence of this principle. May these lyrics not simply be shouts of emotional highs, but may they be declarations of concrete offerings to God.
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (Even when it’s difficult or seemingly impossible).
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