Why did she do it? Why would this poor widow contribute everything she owned, everything she had to live on, to the Temple treasury? I would guess that, over the years, you have understood this woman and her gift as a commendable example. And perhaps you have felt, or you’ve been told, that you should give to the Church in a similar manner. Give until it hurts. Give it your all.
Jesus does speak along those lines on occasion. It was just a few chapters ago that we heard Him say to the rich young man, “Go and sell everything you have, give it all away, and follow Me.”
But Jesus does not speak to this poor woman (in this Holy Gospel), nor does she speak to Him in this case. He rather sits down to observe, not just what the people are doing, but how they do it. The rich people come and contribute a lot — out of their surplus. And this poor widow comes and gives everything she has — which was, ironically, the minimum permissible amount; that is, you weren’t allowed to put any smaller amount into the Temple treasury. But why does she do it?
Is she acting in faith or desperation? Is it like spending your last two bucks to buy a lottery ticket? Or what is going on? Is she being faithful or foolish? Is she giving in the fear, love, and trust of God, in order to support the Church and Ministry of His Word? Or does she herself even know?
Charity and the Eighth Commandment compel us to suppose that she is acting in faith, and I do not suggest otherwise. But the fact is that Jesus does not tell us, and St. Mark does not tell us, and we can no more read the heart of that poor woman than I can read your heart today.
But let us think about her gift and what it means for her. Is it commendable or tragic, or both? Would you do what she does here and give in this sort of way? Do you? Whether you have a mite or twopence or a billion dollars, do you put all that you have in the offering plate? Should you?
These are not questions to toy with or dismiss. The Words set before you today are from the holy apostolic Scriptures of your Lord Jesus Christ. So, what do they mean for your faith and life?
Outward appearances and circumstances are often deceptive. You cannot read your neighbor’s heart; nor do you know even your own heart apart from the Word and Spirit of God. How you look and act on the surface may cover up and hide — instead of revealing — what’s really going on inside of you. So, your looks and actions are not decisive before God. But they do still matter.
What you do matters. And how and why you do what you do matters. There is first and foremost a concern for your heart; that is what the Lord your God is always looking at. It is your heart that He calls first to discipleship, to fear, love, and trust in Him, to fix your hope and stake your life on Him alone above all others gods. And then He also calls you to live in love – from a heart of faith.
It does make a difference — in how you live and how you act — whether you fear, love, and trust in God above all things, or you fear, love, and trust in other things besides Him. It does matter.
So, Jesus gives you a warning in this Holy Gospel. “Beware of the scribes,” He says. He does not speak of all the scribes, but He warns you to beware of those who like certain things and do certain things for certain reasons. That is, beware of those scribes who are hungry for attention and always eager for praise and recognition. Beware of those scribes who long for honors and benefits.
But what exactly is the real point? It’s not just that you should be careful with your money and not let yourself get conned by charlatans and hucksters; although, of course, that is true enough.
But far more important and to the point at hand, beware of becoming like those attention-seeking scribes. Beware of the pride in your own heart. Beware of boasting over how you choose to dress, whether very simply or elegantly. Beware of enjoying the praises of men more than you fear God and obey His Word. Beware of arrogance in your circumstances. And beware of boasting over your behavior, whether you are formal or informal, casual and laid back or highly sophisticated.
You have no need to worry about the scribes who lived back then, as though they might cheat you or cause you any harm now. Of course you should act wisely with your money and whatever else the Lord has entrusted to your stewardship in this world. But the Lord here calls you to repentance for your sins, to be on guard against your own selfish heart. He warns you against being pious for a pretense or for appearances, while you meanwhile rob and devour and destroy your neighbors.
The Temple treasury served a number of different purposes. It covered the cost of the sacrifices, it supported the Levites and the sons of Aaron, and it provided alms for the poor and needy. And among the poor and needy, in particular, God had especially commanded the sons of Israel to care for the orphans and widows in their distress. Correspondingly, those who are “widows indeed” fix their hope on God; the poor orphans rely on the mercies of the Lord; and the Levites have no inheritance in the Land, as the other tribes do, because Yahweh Himself is their Inheritance.
It is, therefore, a tragic circumstance, that a poor widow should be giving her last cent as alms for the poor. Israel should have been caring for her. The Church should have been providing for her. It is no insult to her faith and her offering, if it is in the hope of God’s providential care and mercy that she makes her contribution. But it is a shame upon the rich and wealthy, who give so much out of their abundance, and yet still require that a widow give all she has. There is no Word of God that commands such a thing. There is, though, a Word of the Lord that commands the wealthy not to glean their fields down to the last bit, but rather to allow the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, the strangers and aliens, to come after them and receive from God’s bountiful hand what He thus provides. That is how His Church is to be ordered. That is how your life is to be ordered.
If you have much, the Lord has given it into your hand to care for your neighbor. And if you have little or nothing at all, the Lord God calls you to love and trust in Him, and so to live by His grace.
Beware of being like those scribes who love attention, honors, and appearances. But do be like a widow indeed, and fix your hope on God, and pray without ceasing night and day, and worship in His holy Temple, and bow your life before Him who is your God and Father in heaven, and before the Lord who is your Bridegroom, your Savior, and your Head.
You live by God’s grace, whether you are rich or poor, married, unmarried, or widowed, a parent, a child, or an orphan left alone. You depend upon the Lord your God to feed you and clothe you, to shelter and protect you. So, live like a widow indeed, and fix your hope on God who loves you, and pray to Him without ceasing, not for appearance’s sake, but because you really do need Him.
Pray to Him in faith and with thanksgiving. And as you give Him thanks for His providential care even to this day — as you pray that He would continue to provide for you tomorrow and the next day, until the drought shall end and He shall come and take you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven — have a special care and concern for the widows and orphans in their distress, and for the strangers and aliens in your midst, and for the Levite whose inheritance is God. Have such a care and concern for these and all your neighbors, as the Lord Himself cares for His Church.
By all rights, you ought to be a widow, yourself, for your true Husband has died. And yet, you are not left alone, for He has risen from the dead, and He is and remains your Head, who has promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you. So, then, care for those who are widows on earth.
You likewise ought to be an orphan, as well, as your fathers and mothers have died (or they will), every one of them, because all men have sinned. And you will die, too. But you are not an orphan, because God has become your true Father, and you are His true child in Christ Jesus. He has taken you to be His own, and He has named you with His Name. Not only that, but He has also given His Church, the Bride of Christ, to be your Mother, to feed you at her breast with His good gifts, with milk and honey indeed. So, care for those bereft of father and mother in this body and life.
Your hope is in God, as your hope is in Christ Jesus. For you know that He was rich, the very Son of God by whom all things are made, but for your sake He has made Himself poor, that you might inherit the riches of God in Him. He has been stripped naked and beaten, accused and condemned, and put to death upon the Cross. He has given up everything, His very Body and Life, in order to give you life in both body and soul. He daily and richly provides you with everything you need.
As your merciful and great High Priest, He has entered into the presence of God on your behalf. Not into the holy place of that old Jerusalem Temple — which was soon to be destroyed along with its treasury — but into the true Holy of Holies, eternal in the heavens. That is where He lives and abides forever as your Anchor behind the Veil; so that is where you also live and abide in Him.
But that is not a distant or faraway place. It is found right here, on earth as it is in heaven — in the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, in the Word and Flesh of this great High Priest, in His Body and His Blood, crucified and risen from the dead, given and poured out for you and for the many.
Right here and now, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and you live and abide within the Temple of God, which is the Body of Christ Jesus. For He speaks, and it is so: Take, eat, This Is My Body. Drink of it, all of you, This Is My Blood. And as you eat and drink at His Word, you are part of His Body, the Church. Believe it. And support His Church and Ministry, not only for your own sake, but for your neighbors’ sake, for widows and orphans, for the Levites, and for strangers and aliens.
Consider the example of that poor widow who fed and sheltered the Prophet Elijah, though she had been ready to eat a final meal with her son and then for both of them to die. The Prophet did not “devour” her house and home, but he did receive her hospitality and care; and they survived by the Word of the Lord, who promised, “The flour will not fail, and the oil will not run dry.” Thus, for many days that woman and her household ate. They did not live extravagantly, but they did live.
So sure and certain are the Words and promises of the Lord to you, as well. And so shall you live by His grace, by faith in all that He has said and done and given. Likewise, like that widow, when you support the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, you can be sure that the Lord will provide.
For as the Lord Jesus Christ has spoken, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” do not suppose that He will ever fail to provide the Bread and Wine by which He feeds the whole Church with Himself.
Likewise, wherever He has placed you in this world, wherever He has stationed you to serve in this life, whatever work He has given you to do, and whatever neighbors He has given you to care for, the Lord your God will provide all that is needed and required for you within that holy vocation. He has not promised to fund your grand self-chosen adventures; but if He has told you to feed your neighbor, feed your neighbor, and don’t worry that you and yours will starve to death by doing so. But even if you were to perish, Christ is risen indeed, and your true life cannot be taken from you.
Wherever God has placed you, that is where you serve — not with a part or a portion, not with a large or small percentage of your surplus, but with your whole life, with all that you are and have. As Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, your Savior and Redeemer, your Husband and Head, has given Himself entirely for you, so do you entrust yourself to God the Father entirely in Him — in doing your job faithfully and well, in caring for your neighbors, beginning with your own household and family, and in supporting the Church and Ministry of the Gospel with your gifts.
And the Lord your God continues to open wide His generous hand to provide for all your needs of body, soul, and spirit. So does He serve and care for you with the Bread that does not fail, with the Water that remains, with the Flour and the Oil, with all the Gifts of the Spirit. For, see here, He has left a Grain Offering and a Drink Offering, that you may receive His good Gifts and rejoice in His Salvation; for which we rightly offer to the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit the sacrifice of thanksgiving: As everything here is the Lord’s free and gracious gift to you, there is nothing for you to do or give in response, except to give thanks for His great and full salvation.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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