Who is the Greatest Giver?

There is an interesting story in Mark and Luke that reveals the value Jesus placed on money, or more importantly on giving. The story is that of a poor widow who walks up to the temple treasury and makes her financial offering. The story is found in Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4. Just to give you a little background I will explain some of the events of the day.

At the temple in Jerusalem there are a number of “courts” and “gates” where various activates take place. Jesus walks up to “The Treasury” and sits across from one of the thirteen receptacles where people were placing offerings (Tithes). The receptacles are there to collect the temple tax as well. Because the receptacles are in the open everyone can see who is giving and they can also get a good idea of how much each person is giving. In other words, there is a great opportunity here for this part of the temple to become a sideshow.

I will tell the story in my own words:

Jesus and his disciple chums walked up to the treasury and sat down across from where the people were giving so they could watch. This was during the Passover feast so the place was packed and a whole lot of rich guy types were walking up and making donations. Every time a person put money into the receptacle everyone could hear the coins slide down. When a super rich dude put in his stash the place echoed with the sound of the coins sliding down the receptacle.

The people standing around were sayin OOOOOOH and AAAAAAAAh whenever the coins made a lot of noise. After a super rich guy made his contribution an average middle class guy would walk up and only made a modest contribution. Since the coins did not make very much noise nobody would say anything. The whole thing was pretty embarrassing. Unless, of course, you were a super rich guy.

Then all of a sudden this old lady walks up and puts in two small copper coins and then walks away. One of the temple guards looks over at his partner standing beside him and they start chuckling. Some of the people standing nearby also start chuckling as well. Even some of the Lord’s disciples look at each other and make faces because they knew the contribution was worthless.

Then Jesus, seeing the time was right for a Sunday school lesson tells his chums to gather round. Jesus said to them, “Did you see what just happened?” One of the disciples said, “Yea nothing happened, nothing at all.” Some of the other disciples start laughing. Then Jesus says to them, “Tell me you who are so wise, who gave the most money today?”

Some of the wiser disciples sense a trap and keep their mouths shut. However, some are obtuse and begin thinking of a few of the rich people who came in an dropped a stash. One disciple said, “I think the guy dressed in purple, you remember he had a long robe. “Yea he gave the most. “I can still hear the coins hitting the bottom of the receptacle in my head. “Man that guy was loaded.” Some of the other disciples agreed.

Then Jesus said, “Wrongo reindeer, the one who gave the most was that poor widow.” The disciples look at each other in disbelief. One says, “Are you tryin to tell me that the old geyser lady gave more than the super rich guy? “This sounds like the new math kids are learnin in school these days and I’m not familiar with it so maybe you can help me out here.”

Jesus says, “Gladly.” “You see the rich guy is a gazillionare and gave about two percent of his earning for the year. “The poor woman is penniless and gave everything she had to live on. “Now she must trust God to provide her next meal. “In God’s eyes she gave the most of all the contributors today.” The disciples looked at each other and had to agree that the poor woman left the temple with nothing, but her faith. As a result she had to have given more than anyone else.

The moral of the story is not just that the woman gave all she had, it is that she was completely trusting God to provide for her immediate needs. The wording Mark uses in his description of the woman is far deeper than poor; it is destitute. The woman was probably homeless.

By temple law she had every right to keep one of the coins for herself. The fact that she was willing to donate everything to God shows her to be a committed Godly woman. When I look at myself I do not see a committed Godly man, certainly not in comparison to her.

The story reveals another aspect into the mind of God and how different His thinking is from our own.