Too Little, Too Much?

“Sitting across from the temple treasury, He watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning His disciples, He said to them, “I assure you: This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she possessed — all she had to live on.”” (Mark 12:41-44 HCSB)

There are very few topics that you can write about or speak on that can elicit the volume of criticism like the topic of money and giving. Of course, that is because of the value we place on our money. Jesus said, “where your treasure is that’s where your heart will be (see Matt. 6:21).” Whatever we treasure in this life tends to take up residence in our hearts and, when it does, it crowds God out of His rightful place. There are also very few topics a pastor can speak on that get the scrutiny like this one does. Some folks feel you spend TOO much time on the topic and others feel like you don’t speak about it enough (because finances are down or we need a new building, for example).

I know through my own experience, trying to manage your finances in a way that honors God can stretch you and challenge you. To be honest, I think that’s exactly Jesus’ point. As a Christian father and husband, you want to provide well for your family’s needs, but you know that you are not supposed to be focused on that. We are to “seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness” and Jesus said that God would be faithful to provide what we need.

But God’s kingdom and His righteousness are seldom what’s on our minds as we trudge out the door to begin our workday. We are thinking about the text or email we received the night before or that came in overnight and all of the issues that go along with it. We are trying to figure out how to meet the demands placed upon us by our jobs and our culture while balancing our family and church responsibilities. How do you do everything your job demands of you, provide for and give your family the time and attention they need while keeping God at the center of everything?

As Jesus sits in the Temple, He’s watching the people as they come and go and interact with this holy place that should elicit worship from them. He seems to see very little of that, very little honest, open and deeply felt worship. That is until a widow comes in to present her offering. Let me set the stage for you. Jesus is sitting in the Court of the Women, which is the court just inside the Court of the Gentiles. This is the part of the Temple complex where the Temple treasury boxes or receptacles (sheqalim, shofar chests) are located. These boxes have a lid that has an opening shaped like a shofar, a ram’s horn or trumpet. It is into this opening that the coins would be dropped or placed while a priest scrutinized the gift.

As Jesus watched, many rich people were putting in large sums of money. In Matthew 6, Jesus notes that there are some who sound trumpets as they give alms to the poor. If that’s true of those giving alms to the poor, then I’m sure that the rich were probably drawing attention to themselves as they loudly “dropped” their gift into the shofar’s bronze opening. They wanted it noticed, not just by the priest standing nearby, but also by the crowd gathered there. But then Jesus notices a poor widow who comes and quietly drops in two tiny coins, leptas.

These two small copper coins are the smallest and lowest value coin that she could place in the box. Mark literally says, she placed “two leptas” in the box which are the same as one quadrans. A lepton is a Jewish coin and a quadran is a Roman coin. Mark is apparently writing for a Roman audience. Two leptas is the equivalent of 1/64th of a Jewish denarius or a working man’s daily wage. If somebody were working today for the current minimum wage, then this amount would equal about $.90 cents or 1/64th of his wages ($7.25×8/64).

Apparently, the disciples were not sitting with Him because Mark tells us that Jesus summoned them to teach them a lesson. Two tiny coins worth very little, but Jesus puts great emphasis on the lesson. Why? Why did Jesus speak about money more than any other topic? Because He knows what we tend to treasure and, thus, where our hearts get placed – with our money. He begins this lesson with His focus words, “I assure you…” He’s telling them, “Pay close attention to what I am about to teach you, it is extremely IMPORTANT!”

This poor woman has placed more in the Temple treasury than all of the others. They all gave out of their surplus but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she has. She gave all she possessed, all she had to live on. These two leptas would have bought a handful of flour, just enough for a single serving of bread. A very meager last meal. But why? Why would she give all she had left? Because of a deep and abiding love for God and complete trust in Him and His promises.

“Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds — His name is Yahweh — and rejoice before Him. God in His holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows.” (Psalms 68:4-5 HCSB)

But why does God care about how much we give!?!?

Ah, it isn’t about how much we give but about how much we hold back. You see, the comparison Jesus makes in this passage is not really about the amount she gave but the fact that she “gave all – her entire life” because it was all she had left to live on. The rich gave and gave huge sums, but they gave out of their surplus but not their life. This lesson is really all about all of the previous “conflicts” He had with the Chief Priest, Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, and scribes. They wanted the blessings and benefits of serving God but without the sacrifice of serving Him by putting Him first in their lives.

We want the benefit of sacrifice without actually making a sacrifice. We want to give Him as little as possible but act as though we made a huge sacrifice. We want God to love us and bless us while we completely ignore Him. We want to live our own lives, completely oblivious to and independent of God, until things go badly and then we run to Him for a miracle. If He doesn’t give us what we ask then we stand back, look incredulous and ask why He didn’t intervene and fix it.

You wouldn’t train your children that way, would you? If you gave them a list of five chores and told them they would get $1 for each one they completed correctly, would you reward them with the $5 if they halfway finished only one? I doubt it.

God’s purpose in money is not to finance His enterprise. He doesn’t need our influx of cash to keep the world running, the sun shining and everyone fed. What He does need is for us to learn the value of placing Him first in our lives, above all the other things we tend to value more. He needs us to learn how to have a proper relationship with money and with Him.

Let’s talk about tithing for a moment. Some of you might say, he’s stopped preaching now and gone to meddling. Keep your nose out of our business, preacher. Well, it might surprise you to learn that I think tithing is not what God wants or expects of us. What I do think God wants is responsible stewardship. Stewardship means that we own nothing, He owns it all. We are simply stewards of His things. In essence, everything I have is His and He has the right to use it in any way He sees fit. That’s what life is about and what it means to be a responsible steward before God.

This widow was willing to bring to God “everything she possessed – all she had to live on.” She was willing to place it in His hands and to take God at His word and trust Him to fulfill His promises. He promised to care for the widow when she praised Him in His house, His holy dwelling. That’s what her gift was, and expression of worship. It was the embodiment of her joy, love and trust in God and praise of God. The origin of the English word worship is “worth ship” or the worthiness of God to be honored, praised and trusted.

Does our worship reflect His worthiness? Too often, modern worship is more about us and our feelings than it is about God and His worthiness. This woman made her act of worship, her gift of all she possessed, about God’s worthiness as she placed her trust in Him and her reliance on Him. Her sacrifice is reminiscent of Abraham’s sacrifice on this very spot, the Temple Mount – giving his son because He trusted God to keep His promise.

By the way, worship is not just what you do on Sunday morning in church. Worship is how you live each day in relation to who God is and what He deserves. That’s why this widow’s gift is such a beautiful act of worship. She didn’t give her two small coins to elicit praise from the priest or awe from the crowd. That’s crazy! In fact, I suspect she tried to give without anyone noticing her or her gift.

Amidst the din of the rich people putting in their large and noisy sums, she likely hoped the very light “clink, clink” of her small gift would be invisible. Ah, but Jesus saw her… she wasn’t invisible. And He recognized her and her gift for what they were – huge heart and a huge gift. He sees you, too. He knows your sacrifice and your struggle. She gave to worship and honor God, will you? Will you trust Him to keep word and fulfill His promises?

We all have dreams, aspirations, goals and plans for our lives. I was asked to write an essay for English class during my Junior year of High School about my dreams for the future. I wrote about my desire to own a large acreage with a big, beautiful log cabin right in the center of it. As I’ve matured, I never really forgot about that dream, but my goals and plans did adapt and change to fit the reality of my life. I don’t own a large acreage with a log cabin and that is no longer my dream. Do I still want it? Sure, I’d love to have it but it is no longer my goal. My goal is to live in such a way that I honor God and fulfill His purpose for my life. My goal is to give Him everything as I live in full assurance that God keeps His promises and fulfills His Word. That means I can never give God too much or too little if I give Him all I possess – all of my life.

Let me assure you (did you see what I did there?), if you give God all you possess then you will never give Him too much or too little, either. You will have given Him all He desires and all that He deserves – absolutely everything. Not too much, not too little – but everything He asks. Jesus was calling the disciples to live their lives like this widow as they followed Him. He’s calling us to do the same.

Not too much, not too little. Give Him everything.