Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44
“There is no reason to think [the widow] was the only such person present, but Jesus singles her out as an object lesson…[He] both commends the widow’s self-sacrificing generosity as an example for all God’s people and (probably more significant for its context in Mark) turns upside down the normal human valuation of people.
What matters in God’s sight is not what a person has (and therefore is able to give without pain) but the devotion which causes her to give at even great person cost, even though the amount of the gift may be completely negligible in comparison with the enormous wealth of the temple. The gift does not matter to God so much as the giver. And it is implied, this should also be the basis of his people’s valuation. By such a criterion, the first will often be last and the last first.”
R. T. France in The Gospel of Mark (The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002) 493.
A pastor emailed me this week (on the heels of my recent posts linked to Matthew 6:1-4 where Jesus teaches that giving is a private affair) and asked for advice for teaching on giving since it is not a public exercise. I got the sense that he wanted advice on the “how” more than the “what” related to such teaching.
With R.T. France, I would suggest following the example of Jesus and use object lessons to show what God looks at and what God values. Jesus reminds everyone that God is watching, that every gift and every giver matter to God, and that He cares more about our hearts and what’s left in our pockets than what we look like on the outside and what goes in the offering.
The setting for this object lesson is also quite strategic for Jesus. In doing it in front of the place where the offerings were put, He branded the lesson on their minds to impact their lifelong giving. Likewise, use object lessons that point to illustrations people can understand and locate them in the context of giving so that the impact of your instruction shapes their generosity for years to come.