(Mark 12:38-44)
When you see the brightly colored “Caution” or “Slow” or sign posted as while driving on the highway, you know that means there is a potential danger or risk ahead, so you pay attention to the warning. You do the same thing as you are navigating through a store or mall and see the yellow sandwich sign that alerts you with a “Caution: Wet Floor.” These warnings are intended to alert you and keep you safe from injury or danger.
Jesus gave a warning sign to his listeners. He told them to “watch out for the teachers of the law” (v.38). But why? Were they a threat to his disciples? Jesus didn’t follow up his warning by pointing out any specific false teachings that the teachers of the law were promoting. Jesus didn’t appear to be emphasizing any physical threat that they posed, at least not here, and not to his disciples. He didn’t alert them to any death threats or assassination plots. So why were they supposed to watch out for the teachers of the law?
So that the disciples wouldn’t become them. The overall picture Jesus paints is that of a group concerned with optics and outward appearance. They were more worried about how others saw them than they were about how God saw them. After all, if they were going to enjoy religion’s version of celebrity status, they had to look the part. The upscale clothing, the special treatment, the constant performance – it was no small thing to pull it all off! They couldn’t dare come off looking like, well… a poor widow, for example. How serious is Jesus’ warning? “These men will be punished most severely” (v.39). Those words really require much explanation, do they!?
It’s a good reminder for us. Yes, we know and believe that it isn’t our outward works, but our faith in Jesus alone which saves. Yes, we know and believe that every sin has been forgiven. These are most certainly true.
However, while all our sins have been forgiven and we are no longer slaves to sin, there’s that lingering part of the old us that will always be attracted to sin and still tempted by it. And perhaps no other sin is more attractive to us than pride. Jesus was essentially warning his disciples to watch out so that their religious piety isn’t corrupted by religious pride. This warning is especially appropriate regarding the topic of giving – especially giving generously – so that we don’t allow our generosity to become tainted by pride and its desire to be recognized.
While Jesus began this section of his teaching referring to the teachers of the law and mentioning the rich people and their gifts, these weren’t the only ones who would serve as his teaching illustrations. There was also a widow.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some more details about the widow? Something that could cement for us that her gift was purely given, cheerfully and willingly, and prompted solely by her love for Jesus, whom she knew loved her so deeply? When we come up with the deep theological questions in Scripture and wonder about the details of different accounts in the Bible, I can’t recall anybody ever asking about more of the background on the widow from this account. But would’t that be helpful if we could get more of a snapshot of her life, something that would fit more neatly with the rest of the Bible’s teaching on giving and generosity? Would’t that be something?
Perhaps we don’t need it. Perhaps Jesus is allowing us a sneak a peek into the window of her life by contrasting her so sharply first with the teachers of the law, and then with the rich people throwing in large amounts in their offerings.
She obviously wasn’t concerned about the optics – “Hey everyone, redirect your eyes away from the piles of cash everyone else is putting in the offering boxes and get a load of these two copper coins I’m about to drop in!” Neither did she make excuses or promises to be more generous down the road when she might have more to give. No, her gift was quietly and generously given, for it was everything she had. And that kind of gift is the kind of gift that faith gives. Not to be seen or recognized, but simply because that’s what faith does.
Jesus commended her. “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” (v.43-44).
What can we learn from Jesus’ commendation of the widow and his thoughts on generosity? Generosity is not about your money; it’s about your heart. Admittedly, I don’t imagine it’s the first time you’ve ever heard that. Giving and generosity are not matters of amounts, but are a matter of where our heart is at. So when giving and generosity are a struggle for the believing child of God, it is rarely because we are unaware of the fact that it’s a heart issue. Instead, it has more to do with our inability or even refusal to diagnose the heart issues unique to each of us. So let’s work through some of those.
Since no one likes junk mail, whether it’s in your physical mailbox or your email inbox, let’s refer to some of these deceptions that can keep us from growing in the grace of giving as “generosity junk mail.” If God is wants to change our hearts in regard to giving (remember, giving is always a heart issue), then we have to get good at identifying the junk that fills the inbox of our hearts so that we stop believing it and perpetuating it. Let’s consider a few of the more common ones.
1. “Offerings (or “treasures”) aren’t the only thing God cares about – he also wants us to give him our time and talents.”
I know what you’re thinking. “Wait, that’s not wrong; it’s true that God also wants our time and talents to be used to serve him.” Technically, you’re correct. But I have to point out the problem with how that statement is used. You know who doesn’t ever make it? Generous people. What I mean is, while it’s true that God has given us so much more than just financial blessings to manage and to be generous with, there is typically a reason people are quick to redirect to time and talents: because they struggle with being generous financially. And again, not because it’s an issue of dollar amounts, but of the heart. So be careful before you share such a statement, and do a little digging into your own heart to make sure you aren’t expressing it as a spiritual sleight of hand to hide your reluctance to grow in the grace of giving.
Here’s another piece of generosity junk mail we need to discard:
2. “I’ll give more when I have more.”
Look back at the widow again. If she had taken that approach to giving, Jesus wouldn’t have this story to tell! She would have waited until those two copper coins added up to something much more. Instead, she gave what she had – all of it. When is the last time you gave all that you had to God? It’s been awhile for me – like never!
Here’s a question to consider that lines up with some of the promises God gives in Scripture. While we’re sitting back on the “I’ll give more when I have more,” mindset, what if God is saying to himself, “I’ll bless him with more once he starts giving from what I’ve already given.”? So while we’re waiting on God to bless us with more to give, he’s waiting on us to give right now so that he can bless it.
This next one is a piece of generosity junk mail that is probably more common outside the church, but Christians still struggle with it, too.
3. “All the church cares about is money.”
It’s a statement typically spoken by those who refuse to acknowledge their own unhealthy attachment to money. It’s not easy for them to let go of it, so they turn the church into the bad guy, and whenever giving is mentioned, it’s blown out of proportion as “all that’s ever talked about.”
To provide a balanced perspective, however, certainly churches and pastors have mishandled or mismanaged that trust; of course it has. And, there are certainly some who resort to legalism rather than gospel-generated giving. But these churches don’t represent all or even most churches by any means. So let’s discard that piece of generosity junk mail.
And one last piece of generosity junk mail:
4. “I just don’t have enough after all my expenses to give more than I’m giving.”
And you never will. This junk mail exposes two possible issues: one, a spending issue, or two, a priority issue. When is the last time you’ve tracked your expenses and evaluated where unnecessary or frivolous spending was present? Perhaps that should be more of a cause for concern than it is. Could our “expenses” include purchases that we could still live quite comfortably without?
The other issue with this attitude is that it turns giving upside down. When we give our left overs we’ll never have enough left over to give more. That’s because giving needs to be realigned to the top of the list. When giving comes first, we see how God keeps his promise to provide for everything else that we need. Until giving tops the list of priorities, it’s impossible for us to rise up to the level of being a generous giver.
As believers, we can have open conversations about giving, because we know that we’re the ones God is trying to grow through this process. We also know that the widow wasn’t the only one who gave everything. Jesus did the same thing, but on a scale that impacted far more people. With her two copper coins, she “put in everything.”
So did Jesus. Jesus went a step further and “put in everything” with his whole life. He went all in. He didn’t hold back. Jesus gave it all by giving his all.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). There is nothing of greater value that could ever be given than Jesus’ life, and he gave it up for you and me. The widow’s two copper coins were her “everything”: Jesus’ life was his “everything,” and he generously gave it so that we could benefit eternally; so that we can live forever.
Let’s live right now like we’ll live forever and use what he gives us here and now so that we can help as many others as possible live forever. Let’s discard the junk mail and give with startling generosity.
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