Extreme Generosity

Luke 21:1-4

21 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

Immediately after Jesus’ comments about the religious elite stealing from widows, comes this story. The wealthy are putting their large offering into the offering box (treasury) and the woman, in the centre of this story, put in two copper coins (coins of the smallest value). But Jesus says she had put in more than the others because in percentage terms she had given more. In fact, she had given everything.

One Sunday at the International Protestant Church in Ankara, Turkey, my father and another elder were responsible for counting the offering. My father taught at the university and the other man worked for the American embassy. There were also Kurdish refugees who attended the church. One of the Kurdish refugees made her way to the front in order to put her offering in the offering plate. It was the equivalent of 25 cents Canadian. But as the other man said to my father, her making that offering was a choice to give up a meal in order to give an offering to God.

We may say, “But the poor should not be asked to give.” No one asked the poor widow to give, she gave out of her love for God. To deny her the opportunity to give is to prevent her spiritual practice, a practice that is part of following God. No, the appropriate response is to marvel at her commitment and be humbled by her faith in God.

Giving says as much about the state of our spiritual lives as it does about the amount that we give. Our giving indicates something about our spiritual well-being and our trust in God. 

PRAYER:

Make us generous, O Lord, make us generous so that our lives can be filled with a simple faith in you. Make us generous, so that we can live out the habits of your heart. Make us generous, so that we can learn to hold loosely to the things of this world and tightly to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.