Mark 12:38-44
38 As [Jesus] taught, he
said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be
greeted with respect in the marketplaces 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues
and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake
of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
41 He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Reflection
They
were her last two coins. The Bible says
that the two coins were “all that she had
to live on” (Mark 12:44). After
that, what? Begging? Death?
Since it was her last two, they might as well go toward something
good. Giving the two coins to the temple
meant that they had the potential to help out another poor widow such as
herself. The sound of the two coins
thrown into the trumpet-shaped, bronze funnel barely made a sound. When the rich threw in coins out of their
abundance of riches, the clatter would turn heads. Her offering would not. No one would notice or remember. The two dull plunks were her quiet sacrifice.
This widow’s sacrifice reminds me of another widow in the Bible, who was using up the last of her meal and oil to prepare one last meal for her son and herself; as she states in the Bible, “that we may eat it and die” (1 Kings 17:12). The prophet Elijah asks her to make a small cake that he too may eat. What is one more person? It did not matter in the end. They would all soon starve. Why not make your last action one of grace? No one would notice or remember. The small gift of food was her quiet sacrifice.
The two widows remind me of the mother who knocked on the door of the church, asking for just five dollars so that she could finish buying food for her two children.
“What about some food for yourself?” I asked.
“No, no. The kids are who I care about. I can eat in a couple of days,” she said, unconsciously scratching her thin arms. “I get my paycheck in a couple of days. I will eat then. I will be fine. I have the rest of the money for their food and formula. Five dollars is all I need, if you could help, please?”
She was giving up her last scrap of money for her children, with little concern for herself. She was giving it all for the sake of two little, beloved children in God’s creation. No one but me would notice or remember. It was her quiet sacrifice.
All around the world, there are such people, making the same sort of quiet sacrifices for others’ sakes. They will never have poems written about them. Their names will not be remembered. Most of them gave their last two coins and baked their last cakes without anyone even noticing. Yet, their small, quiet sacrifices do cause a ripple of goodness that spreads across the waters of life.
What is most tragic about the widow who gives her last two coins is that the scribe who counts the coins in the box at the end of that bronze funnel and records the amount, could have noticed her plight and offered her some of the funds. After-all, God does expect God’s people to remember and help the widow and orphan.
In Deuteronomy 14:28-29 God instructs that, “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year, and store it within your towns; the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.” It is that scribe’s job to make certain that happens. But, it does not. She is not noticed.
Jesus tells us that those scribes often have other priorities in life, making them blind to those around. Do not we all? Jesus says, that the scribes “like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers” (Mark 12:38-40).
Widows sell their houses to get money for food, and the scribes happily buy them up; they happily devour their land, all in the name of helping out the needy. But, where does that leave the widows? Where are they to live without houses or land?
Jesus once preached, “Blessed are the meek (or the unimportant), for they will inherit the land” (Matthew 5:5). But, in order for those unimportant widows to inherit the land, or at least get it back, someone would need to notice and care. And, who would possibly notice the sound of two measly little coins?
Actually, someone is there to notice; someone special, who has the eyes of God. It is this one who embodies Psalm 68:5:
“Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation” (Psalm 68:5).
It is this one who has memorized the call of Isaiah 1:17:
“Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).
It is this one who will take notice when this specific law of love has been violated: “You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry…” (Exodus 22:22-23).
“I will surely heed their cry.” The Bible says that someone did notice.
Hear the word of the Lord: “[Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:41-44).
Jesus notices what no one else did. Jesus notices the widow. Jesus notices both her generosity and her plight. Jesus notices. In a world that does not see and even if it did, does not care, Jesus notices and cares.
We cannot remember a single man or woman who dumped in huge amounts of coins out of their abundance in those ancient days. We have no stories about them. But, this widow was noticed by Jesus and now lives on the inherited land that makes up the pages of the Bible. There are an estimated 7.5 billion Bibles in print, and she is in each and every one of them; all because Jesus notices her and cares.
Jesus is the one who leaves 99 sheep in order to find the one. Jesus notices and cares.
Jesus is the one who notices a man, blind from birth, and allows him to see. Jesus heals him. Jesus notices and cares.
Jesus is the one who notices the crippled woman who is bent over and cannot stand straight. Jesus heals her. Jesus notices and cares.
And, in a world where all attention is on leaders vying for power, on the rich movers and shakers, on the well paid athletes and their games, and on the famous entertainers and their craft, Jesus notices a woman putting in two coins, worth almost nothing, and declares that she has put in more than anyone else. Jesus notices and cares.
If that is true, then Jesus notices and cares for you as well. Jesus notices when you love and it is not reciprocated. Jesus notices when you have given your all and it still is not considered enough. Jesus notices when you have tried hard to change, but others still see you as your old self. Jesus notices and cares. Jesus not only notices you, he dies to join you in the grave of insignificance, dying a criminal’s death, and he carries you out of that grave of insignificance, and stands you back up as a child of the Most High God. Jesus notices and raises you each and every time.
Jesus notices you just as he noticed the widow that day as seen in this excerpt from the poem, “The Widow’s Mites” by Brother Roy from New Hope International Ministries:
But she did not escape the eyes of Savior as he sat unnoticed and out of the way.
But Jesus intended that the story of the Widow’s mites would be here to stay.
Even though her pockets were empty and her clothing was
threadbare,
She withheld not a cent, regretting only that she didn’t have more to share.
The story of her sacrifice and devotion around this old
world has spread,
Inspiring others to help the needy and to see that the hungry are fed…
…She moved through the crowd to cast in
her two mites and then silently drew apart,
But more than the two mites she left there, for
with them she left [Jesus] her heart.”
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