In the West, our idea of giving is no different than it was in the times of Despite the level of affluence and wealth the Lord has given us, we are wise to remember the words the Lord Jesus himself said in Acts 20:35: “It is more blessed to give than to receive”.
Today, I am going to show you what Jesus says about being cheap and about giving according to God’s Word and not our own. Let’s get started.
Not to long ago, I was teaching my son about givers and takers. Let’s turn to God’s word to focus on the positive, meaning the blessings we receive when we give.
In the Book of Mark, chapter 12, verses 41- 44, Jesus addresses the issue of giving with his disciples. In verses 41-43, we find Jesus and his disciples sitting down opposite the treasury, observing human behavior, watching the people putting money into the offering box at the Synagogue. Mark points out that they see many rich people putting in large sums of money into the offering pot, but that is not what Jesus focussed in on. Instead, Jesus points out the poor widow who made a donation which was vastly smaller than the rich givers.
This is what Mark wrote: “And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:42-44 ESV).
Before we jump in to these verses, let’s do a proper exegesis of the text by looking at the previous verses. This wil give us a proper context of what is being said and what is going on. Let’s note that verses 38-40 serve as a hinge whereby Jesus shifts from speaking about the scribes to warning about taking advantage of the poor widows who give all they have to live on.
In verse 38-40 Jesus speaks about the “scribes” of Jesus’ day who were teachers of the law and how they lived a self-endowed, pious life on the backs of others, including the poor widows, in the name of God.
SO WHO WERE THE SCRIBES? Scribes were like the attorneys of Jesus’ day who had knowledge of the law and could draft legal documents (contracts for marriage, divorce, loans, inheritance, mortgages, the sale of land, and the like). Every village had at least one scribe.
The scribes of Jesus’ day were also “teachers of the law” and where often dependent on people’s monetary gifts and property for their support; much like the church today. Some scribes however, overstepped the bounds of humanity, piety, and dignity by flaunting their position. They often expected if not demanded respect and the average person’s trust without earning it as servant leaders. In the end they sought the glory that belonged to God and even took advantage of widows who helped feed and support them to begin with.
In verse 39 Jesus addresses the pride of the Scribes who liked to walk around as important people and said in verse 40 that they: “…devour the widow’s houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive a greater condemnation” (vs. 40).
What Jesus meant by their “devouring widow’s houses” was they they exploited the poor widows in the name of God (meaning their giving all they had to the synagogue). In addition to taking advantage of the poor widows, the Scribes used their position as jurists to adjust claims against the wealthy widows as well to get them to bestow on them their estates.
To simply what is going on, the Scribes took action, seemingly legal action to take the wealth of those widows as legal property for themselves. As a result, Jesus makes clear “They (the Scribes) will receive the greater condemnation” (vs. 40). This sets the tone for our passage starting in verse 41 and 42.
In verse 42, by contrast, the widow (who were more often than not poor as they could not often even support themselves more often than not) worshipped God out of deep humility and a genuine devotion to God. Mark notes for his Roman readers that the poor widow who they observed putting in the two mites (which make a “quadrants”, a Roman monetary unit described in Matthew 5:26) as a unit or units of money only equaling a couple or few cents. This was not a lot to the average person, but was everything to a poor widow.
Jesus elaborates about the actions of this poor widow giving a few cents to teach his disciples a simple lesson in verses 43-44. Jesus does this in a parabolic type of story which, making a simple comparison-showing that the percentage contributed by the rich and the poor are not equal but relative in God’s eyes. It’s relative because two cents from the widow would be like $200 dollars or more to the wealthy of his day.
In our next entry, we will look at the fact that the poor widow gave "all she had" to live on as opposed to out of her riches and provide you with four points of application in light of being a generous giver and not a serial taker. Please read the verses provided and pray over how you fit into the GIVER-TAKER scale and how you might do better or help others to be more biblical in their understanding that it truly is more blessed to give than it is to recieve.
