The Widow’s Mite

Jesus is sitting here in the temple court. He's watching people make a contribution and he says nothing negative about that. What he mentions here is this widow because she's not making a contribution. She is making a total consecration. It's remarkable to me that she gave both coins. She'd keep one and give one.

There's not a financial planner on the planet who would advise her to do what she just did. I mean, she is throwing her future into the hands of God. Then Jesus observed a poor widow giving her last two small coins at the temple. He was moved by her faith and sacrifice. In Luke 21, Jesus highlights this widow, not for the amount she gave, but for the heart behind her giving. She trusted God with her future, giving all she had. This story challenges us to consider, are we giving out of our abundance or sacrificially from the heart? Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart. Stephen Davey is the president of Wisdom International and his message today is called The Widow's Might. Now back to the gospel by Luke. We're in chapter 20.

As you're turning, let me set the stage for you. When Luke was writing this gospel account in the first century, there was really no more difficult life to endure than that of a widow. In fact, in her first century world, she and her children would be allowed to live in the deceased husband's home, estate, so long as she could meet the expenses, which most often she could not. And unless there were adult sons, primarily, or friends to take her in, she would be destitute. Her children, if she had any, would be equally at risk. In fact, in the Roman world, the word orphanos, which gives us our word orphan, actually referred to children whose father had died even if their mother was living.

A few centuries later, the word would relate to those who lost both parents. For a widow living in the first century Rome, everything changed in her status. In fact, a change in her apparel was mandated. She was required to wear a head covering in public that was pulled up over her head and then folded halfway back. That was a signature statement of her widowhood. And part of it, really a lot of it in the Roman culture was to identify her as a widow because Caesar Augustus required that a Roman widow remarry within a year or be fined, taxed. Later, Caesars in the Roman Empire extended the time period from one year to two years, and then over the course of time, that policy was permanently discarded. The Jewish world was different.

There was no legal penalty for a widow. In fact, the Law of Moses required a special tithe collected every third year, an additional tenth added to the normal tenths of tithes. This one was a tenth of grain and produce in addition to others that was to be deposited in that individual's village or town where they lived so that widows and orphans and those without any inheritance could survive.

And the law required that this be then distributed over three years' time. Moses said in Deuteronomy 26 verse 12, so that they may eat within your towns and be satisfied. By the way, let me just pause and commend you as a congregation. I noticed in the annual report that was made available today that our latest bumper crop donation to the organization with love from Jesus was a record.

It provided 44 pallets of food and produce to them. We partner with this organization, and we do so primarily because they give away this food after individuals have received a Gospel presentation. Well, the Mosaic Law was created in this manner to sort of provide this compassionate community food pantry service. This was sort of with love from Jesus year-round.

Now, unfortunately, by the time of Jesus, there was a lack of sympathy even within the Jewish community and the leadership. The early church will emerge as the leading caregiver for widows. In fact, half of 1 Timothy chapter 5 is devoted to giving guidelines for how to care for widows. Paul will write to Pastor Timothy to honor widows who are truly widows. And that's a reference to those without adult sons, without care or family to take them in.

In fact, Paul writes in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 5, he sort of describes it. He says, she who is truly a widow, and then he says, here's what I mean. They've been left all alone. She has set her hope on God. She is continuing in supplication and prayers, that is, she has a walk with God. Let that widow be put on the roll if she is not less than 60 years of age. In other words, she's committed to God. She's without anyone to help her.

She's at least 60 years old, which means that more than likely she will not marry again. And she's to be put on the roll of the church. The implication of this is not only that there was a membership role for those who were part of the fellowship, but that these widows were put on the roll with some kind of notation that they were deserving, they were in need of financial or physical assistance. And we get a glimpse of the church's concern very early on, don't we, in Acts chapter 6, where you have one of the first official acts of the diaconate, which would be a ministry to meeting the needs of widows.

And again, it struck me that with his annual report, and I read it, how wonderful it is that our deacons and volunteers in what we call Acts 6 ministry now serve more than 120 widows in this congregation. I found it interesting in my study, by the way, as a testimony to the early church, that when Aristides was making this defense before the emperor Hadrian, this would be about 30 years after Paul wrote to Timothy, and he's telling the emperor why Christianity is a good thing in the empire, as he defends the church before the emperor. And he said this to the emperor, Christians love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem. In other words, we care about widows. That was so distinctive that that's one of the things he mentioned as a defense of why the empire ought to let Christianity flourish. And I think it's because of that distinction, and by the way, first century Rome is no different than 21st century America. It's counterculture.

Everybody's out for themselves. This is caring for people who cannot pay you back. And so this became a Christian distinctive. In fact, one letter written called the letter of Barnabas was written in the late second or early second century said this, that the one who does not treat widows justly is walking in the way of darkness.

Imagine that, how you treat a widow proves the authenticity of your faith. Now again, by the time of Christ's ministry, the religious leadership in Israel was just as calloused and unconcerned as Rome. Jesus just sort of exposes it all. He just brings it right out in the open out here in public, and he gives some of his strongest denunciations to religious leaders, members of the Sanhedrin, the high court of Israel, the party of the scribes, those who knew Deuteronomy by heart, those who knew better. And he's going to expose them here in Luke chapter 20. So I want us to listen in as he does this, and first he begins by describing what we could call their haughty character. Notice verse 45. And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, beware the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts. So they're sort of the VIPs.

They're the movers and shakers. The problem was being a scribe had gone straight to their head. In fact, one author writing on this text gives this warning that I wanted to repeat. He said this, you cannot encourage the impression that you are great and at the same time exalt a great God.

You can't do both. Well, Jesus exposes their haughty character, and now he's not finished. He exposes their heartless corruption.

You might notice verse 47. They devour widows' houses and for pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. In other words, they're in deep trouble with God. They're not closest to God.

They're the furthest away. Now, it's bad enough to rip people off, but to be a scam artist in the name of God is even more vile. And to rip off a widow, that's about as low as you can go. Jesus says, they will face a greater condemnation. They're in really deep trouble with God. Now we know, and it's helpful from history to know that people would often place their finances in the hands of the scribes. They were the legal counsel of the lawyers of their day. Again, this would be the law of Moses. So people would completely trust them to manage their affairs. A widow especially trusted the scribe with money that she would receive from her father's dowry. She would get that back at the death of her husband.

That would be all that she had left to live off. Scribes were not to charge for their legal counsel to those in the Jewish community, but instead of charging, they developed this practice of keeping some of the dowry for themselves. They would tell the widow they were going to give it to the temple, and then they would pocket it. And the other thing they did is they accepted money from widows, others, primarily widows, in exchange for praying for them, special prayers for them.

And Jesus is clearly referring to that here when he says that they are pretending to make long prayers for these widows while Jesus exposes the fact that they are devouring, they are literally consuming the widow's inheritance. They weren't praying for them, they were praying on them. Nobody would promise to pray for money, would they? Religious scam artists are everywhere today promising people everything if they just send in their money. Evidently, they have a hotline to God, and God will especially answer their prayers, send us money, we'll pray for you.

So if you'll make it up, he'll call you back. Well, see, just your reaction right there, do you hear the mumbling? Well, that's the crowd outside here in the temple when Jesus says the scribes are pretending to pray for you, but they're ripping you off.

Imagine being a scribe. Where do you hide? Well, Jesus, again, in these last days before his crucifixion is just pushing them to want to kill him even more because he plans to die. Well, after describing their character and their corruption, Mark's gospel tells us that Jesus got up and went over and sat down by the treasury. Luke picks it up at that point here at chapter 21, notice verse 1. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. Now, both Mark and Luke place these two events side by side with Jesus just exposed with the scribes and this widow showing up to give her gift. She's giving it in what was called the treasury.

This was the court of women. There were 13 bronze or brass trumpet-shaped receptacles attached to the wall of the temple. The receptacles were attached to the wall, and they were inscribed with designations for what the offerings could be for.

They might be marked young birds. That would be money given to purchase a sacrificial bird. They might be marked frankincense, again to buy that for the sacrifice. Several were designated temple dues or tax, but six of these receptacles were marked freewill offerings.

In other words, these gifts were not required by Mosaic law. These were to be given out of a heart of love and appreciation to God, and because of that, these receptacles became the place where you had the biggest show put on. I mean, you love God so much that you've just got to give more, and you want to give more than he requires, and so the more money you could clang down the opening of that brass trumpet, the more people might swivel their heads and wonder who you are. By the time of Jesus, this had become quite a staged production. In fact, Jesus will talk about this being a theater. He uses the word we get our word theater from, giving to be seen, and so here's what's happening.

Someone could drop in an aureus. That was a gold coin, one gold coin equal to one month's salary in those days, but why drop in one of those when you can exchange it for 25 denarii equaling the same amount, and you're going to make 25 times the noise. Think of it this way. In today's economy, you could slide a $100 bill down that trumpet, and nobody would even notice, or you could convert it to 400 quarters and just stand there, and people are going to start hearing that, and this has taken a long time.

I mean, the lines is being held up. Who is this person? Jesus no doubt had this in mind in Matthew 6 when he said, when you give, don't sound the trumpet.

We say it today, don't toot your horn. You don't have to make a lot of noise in order to be seen by God, and that's part of what Jesus is going to reveal here because someone has just shown up who's not going to make any noise at all. A widow arrives. Luke records that she slides in then two small copper coins. These coins were called, the word is lepta, which means shaving.

It means peeling. If you've ever seen one, you can buy one that goes all the way back to the days of Jesus for about $5. They're still not worth much. They're worth today about one-tenth of one penny. These tiny coins were the size of shirt buttons, the cheapest coin around, and it would not have rattled anything as it slid down the throat of that trumpet and dropped into the collection box.

But again, she's not giving to make noise. She's giving out of love for God. Keep in mind, Jesus does not condemn the rich for giving large amounts here.

Many of them might have been purely motivated to give, and their gifts certainly were significant. Some have suggested that Jesus is illustrating here that a widow is about to be robbed by the scribes He just exposed. You know, just like those scribes were defrauding the widows of their savings, well, here they go again. You've got this corrupt temple system. It's ripping off some poor, naïve widow of all she has, and she doesn't know any better.

Well, that isn't what's happening here. Jesus doesn't say to His disciples, look at that poor, gullible widow being ripped off by this temple. No, what He's going to do is make her a model of sacrificial giving. He's about to introduce some principles of what I like to call new math, new divine math. In fact, John Calvin, the reformer, wrote in his commentary on this passage that Jesus is both commending those who can't give much, and He's challenging those who have a lot left over. Notice what Jesus says now in verse 3. And He said, Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. He uses a quantitative adjective here.

She has given more, more. The disciples are probably sitting there scratching their heads over this new math, like I scratched my head over old math. I didn't get that either. He's evidently using a different calculator than the one we use. He's delivering an entirely different way of thinking than we do.

Very different. And what I want to do is just lay out a few principles of what we could call this new math. And here's the first one. Whatever you give, what's left over is what matters most. In other words, we're impressed by what we give. Jesus is impressed by what we've kept. So if that's true, our bank register is a revelation of our character, our true standing before God. In this new math, it isn't the size of the gift, it is the sacrifice of the giver that brings Jesus off His stool here in the temple. And what made this widow so remarkable that Jesus commends her has nothing to do with how much she gave, but how little she had left over.

Principle number two. Whenever you give, Jesus is interested in what it reveals. Now, that isn't a threat. It isn't like, here comes the offering plate, God's watching.

That isn't the point. It's actually just an observation that's almost too obvious to even mention. But we got to mention it. Jesus sees. Jesus knows. In fact, Jesus cares. Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus knew how much she had to her name? He tells the disciples, that's it.

Those were the last two coins. He can see now, just as He could see then, and there's no indication here that she's being robbed by the religious system. In fact, we know that she's giving a free will offering.

This is not required. We know that because the amount was too small to buy a bird. It was too small to buy frankincense.

It was too small to pay her temple tax. This is the overflow of her love for God. Jesus isn't pointing her out as someone who deserves to be pitied.

He's pointing her out because she deserves to be imitated. Whatever you give, what's left over is what matters most. Whenever you give, Jesus is interested in what it reveals.

Let me give you one more. Wherever you give, your heart must be motivated by love for Christ. Wherever, whenever, wherever, motive matters. The Apostle Paul would write it in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 7, don't give grudgingly, reluctantly, angrily. If you want to please God and give cheerfully, this is what God appreciates and respects. So it's attitude, not amount.

That's new math. God loves a cheerful giver. A cheerful giver is someone whose hand agrees with their heart and their heart with their hand. They're giving not because they have to, but because they get to. And to give two tenths of a penny to God with the heart of this widow, Jesus effectively says, now that's the way to give.

Whenever you give, whatever you give, wherever you give, you're also making a statement of faith in God's provision aren't you? It's remarkable to me that she gave both coins. She didn't keep one and give one. She gave both. There's not a financial planner on the planet who would advise her to do what she just did.

And they may not be advising you to do much more. Jesus is sitting here in the temple court, he's watching people make a contribution and he says nothing negative about that. What he mentions here is this widow because she's not making a contribution. She is making a total consecration. Here it is. I mean, she is throwing her future into the hands of God.

This is it. Reminded me of a woman by the name of Frances Havergal, who had come to a crossroads in her spiritual life. She'd been a believer for decades. She knew there were places in her heart that she didn't want God to control. She writes that one day she was convicted that she must give every corner of her life to the Lord. And she wrote this, and I quote her, I realize there must be full surrender before there could be full satisfaction. And she wrote a hymn, this is in 1874, what she called her hymn of consecration. And the church has been singing it ever since. Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord to thee. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite.

There you have it. Would I withhold. Take myself and I will be ever only all for thee. Sounds like a widow we're going to meet one day in heaven. Not because she gave her last two coins, by the way, but because she had come to worship God, whom she knew in spite of her loss, in spite of her difficulty, in spite of her poverty, God could be trusted with everything, including her future.

She was effectively saying, take myself and I will be ever only all for thee. That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Remember, Jesus values the heart behind our giving more than the amount. Like the widow who gave her last two coins, we're called to trust God fully with our resources and future. If you'd like additional resources to help you walk wisely through life, we can help you. Visit wisdomonline.org. That website is updated every day with content from Stephen's Bible Teaching Ministry. You'll find audio lessons, videos, message manuscripts, books, Bible studies, and other resources to help you. I encourage you to visit there often. Again, that website is wisdomonline.org. Thanks for joining us today. Come back next time to discover more Wisdom for the Hearts. I'll see you next time.