I bring the word this morning, and before I do, let’s pray for the reading of this word. This will flow from Psalm 119, a section called Hey. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we ask this morning that you would teach us, O Lord, the way of your statutes, that we would keep them to the end, that you would give us understanding, that we may keep your law, that we would observe it with our whole heart. Lord, I ask that you would lead in the path of your Commandments, that I would delight in them, that you would incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain, that you would turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways. Lord, confirm to your servants your promises that you may be feared and turn away the reproach that we dread for your rules are good. Lord, we long for your precepts, and in your righteousness, give us life. We pray this as we come before your word this morning. Amen. This is God’s holy and inerrit word out of Mark 12: 41-44. And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, all she had to. Before I launch into the sermon, I want to get something out of the way. The text you may have looked, the costliest gift you may have sent. Oh, this is a sermon on tithing. The session asked the associate pastor to tell him to give more money. Here’s the deal. God doesn’t need your money. That’s the truth. He doesn’t need your money. Some of the ministries of this church could benefit from your money. Some ministries around the world could benefit from your money. If you close your hands, God will open another. He doesn’t need your money. Instead, the sermon, I think, might ask even a little more. Challenge us to give all of ourselves to the Lord, our mind, our soul, our heart, and all of our strength.
To that end, let me pray. Father, as my words are true to your word, may they be taken to heart. But if my words should stray from yours, may they be quickly forgotten. I pray this in the name and in the power of Jesus Christ. Amen. Many of you know that recently I had a chance to take Susan down to Oklahoma City to spend some time rejoicing and helping with the birth of our new granddaughter. I was just able to be there for a couple of days. She was there for a couple of weeks. But one morning, my grandson announced to me, pop up, today is opposite day, which of course meant that when he said he didn’t want another piece of bacon with a big smile, he of course did want bacon. I thought of all sorts of fun that I might have later on in the day, when it came time for chores or nap time or sharing of toys, opposite day. You got to love it. But I also thought of our passage this week and really A lot of what we’ve been experiencing in this series on discipleship out of Mark.
Jesus seems to regularly enjoy opposite day, where the first shall be last, the least becomes the greatest, and the Lord of all is the slave and the servant of all. Now, again, as Jesus teaches his disciples from the temple grounds, he seems to indicate that the smallest amount given is actually the largest gift. And as we wrestle with this statement, we find that in this encounter, Jesus is helping his disciples understand that to truly follow Jesus, one must be willing, and even more than willing, one must give their whole life. Furthermore, once we’ve given everything, once we’ve nothing left, especially then we realize how highly praised and valued our gift is to our heavenly Father. What initially struck me as curious was the first sentence of this text. And he, Jesus, sat down opposite the treasury and watched people putting money into the offering box. What was he looking for? I don’t know about you, but I love people watching. I could sit for hours at an airport and simply watch people walk by or run by. And I usually am sitting there for hours because I’m waiting for a delayed plane, so I don’t have a whole lot else to do.
But I do enjoy looking at people, and When they’re walking by, I recognize that I’m asking a lot of questions of them in my head. Do they seem happy? Are they anxious? I wonder, do they love Jesus? Can I tell? Just by looking at them walking by, where are they flying to? What are their lives like? Just random questions that I wonder to fill time. Jesus is much more intentional. And notice what he observed, and what I think we would observe had we been with him and paying attention. First, the setting. Scholars tell us that this likely occurred in an area called the Court of the Women, which was the first enclosed in the temple. It’s where the Jewish women and children were allowed to come to worship. On one side were 13 offering boxes. On the other side were actually seats, which the eminent, the wealthy women during the service would sit at, and ordinarily, anyone that felt comfortable enough sitting there were opposite it. On this side were 13 offering boxes. They were called showfar boxes because they were a box-shaped, hollow wood box with a trumpet made out of ram’s horn, likely off the top.
You would throw your money into the ram’s horn or the trumpet, and it would go down into the hollow box. One of the boxes was for the new shekel tax. One of the boxes was for the old shekel tax. One of the boxes was for replenishing the gold on the mercy seat. There were all sorts of boxes for the bird offerings, for the guilt offering, or for whole offerings, and so on. Several of the last boxes were designated for free will offerings. It was to these boxes that it appears Jesus was paying special attention to. We read at the end of verse 41, many rich people put in large sums. That they were rich would have been immediately obvious from their attire. In Western modern culture, we pay extra for ripped jeans and broken in shirts. But in the first century, superior cloth and expensive colors, the wearing of expensive spices and perfumes would be readily apparent. You could see wealth. Sipu verses earlier, in fact, in chapter 12, verse 38, Jesus warn the disciples about scribes who liked to walk around in long robes. The phrase long robes were full-length linen prayer shaws with an elaborate tassel at each corner.
And they marked that individual as an especially distinguished rabbi or as a wealthy or eminent scholar. Wealth could be seen, and it could also be heard. For Jesus noticed that they put in large sums. Any percussionist would tell you what happens if you affix a trumpet-like thing onto a hollow wooden box. As the rich would throw their money in, you would hear that sound. And it’s no stretch to think that large sums, particularly of gold and silver coins, would sound quite a bit different, longer, louder than the two two copper coins that are about to follow. For that’s the next person that Jesus sees, a poor widow. And she puts in her two small copper coins, which make a penny. I appreciate James Edwards, who tells us that Mark’s description of the scene, quote, accentuates the poverty and the insignificance of the widow and her gift, end quote. We can see that the scribes and the others are rich and extravagant, and this poor widow simply puts in two small coins. They are, in fact, the smallest Jewish coins in circulation. Together, they make up the equivalent value of the smallest Roman coin in circulation.
They make that coin, the Roman coin, the penny what it’s called here, is worth only one 64th of a denari, which would be a day’s wage. Scholars tell us that her two coins would be enough, perhaps, to buy a small handful of flour. Or maybe a last or the meagerest of meals. A couple other observations might be helpful as well. Questions that you might have. You might say, How does Jesus know she’s a widow? How does Jesus know she’s poor? How does he know that she put in two coins? How does he know their value? The answer is to the questions, the deliberations on these filled pages of commentary, which frankly could have been answered by any of our children in Sunday school. How could Jesus know? Because he’s God. In the first service, actually, people said that. It was fun. Yep, it could be just that simple. Jesus is God. Now, it could be that he could tell the difference in sound between two small copper coins striking and the gold and silver. It may be that he counted the strikes, heard the first coin, heard the second coin. It may be because of her attire, she was dressed in widow’s clothes.
In many occasions throughout the New Testament, we see Jesus speaking others’ thoughts. He performs miracles. You need not reason this away. He observed it accurately and seeing the opportunity. Verse 43 tells us he called his disciples. Before we explore his interaction with the disciples, I think it’s worth noting that he simply called his disciples over. And as he does so, he gives us a first lesson of disciple-making or really even parenting. You Notice Jesus’s use of an ordinary opportunity to teach a foundational truth. The disciples were there with him. People put money into the offering boxes all the time. And yet here was an opportunity to teach the disciple. I would submit to you, you have these same opportunities day in and day out. At the grocery store, at the thrift shop, on road trips, wherever it is that you live, work, and play, you can take ordinary occurrences and make with the spirit’s help, something to engage a heart, a conversation to touch a deep truth with your children, your friends, or your spouse. Ask the Lord to show you these opportunities where you can be intentional about the spiritual focus of one’s whole life.
I appreciated Pastor Randy Pope. He noted, quote, Nothing is more unattractive the perception that following Jesus is in conflict with the joy of living or irrelevant to the troubles of life. Christ must permeate family, play, work, meditation, hobbies, entertainments. Take the opportunities to disciple and to teach friends, family. Jesus saw the opportunity that he was looking for, and so he called his disciples, and he begins to teach them that Jesus is intentional here is shown by the first word of his comment, truly, or in the Greek, Amen. Amen. Truly, I say to you. That’s a phrase that Mark records Jesus as saying 14 times, and in each case, he’s making something significant. Sometimes it’s a prophetic statement like Mark 9: 1. Truly, Amen, I say to you. There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God after it has come with power. And then here and at other times, Jesus uses this phrase when he’s about to share a great principle like Mark 9: 41. Truly, I say to you, whoever gives a cup of cold water to drink because you belong to me will by no means lose their reward.
So whether it’s prophetic in Mark 9: 1 or here a great principle in 9: 41, this phrase telegraphs. It’s a significant marker. Christ is being deliberate. He has sat down to watch. He has intentionally has his disciples nearby, and now he calls them and he begins with a formula which they recognize that’s something like, the master is speaking to us. Listen up. You about to teach, you might make sure that your audience has your attention. This is what he says. He says this is a huge difference between what we observe and what God sees. Jesus begins, Truly, I say to you, this poor woman has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. Now, presumably, some of the disciples were actually sitting with Jesus and maybe even watching what he was watching. And so perhaps they saw the widow and they saw her put in the two coins. It’s also likely that among the disciples, some were nearby but looking elsewhere, and others might have been wandering close by because the text tells us that Jesus called his disciples to them. In any case, whether they saw the widow or not, they wonder, how could it be that she has put in more than all the others?
This is another example that it’s important to take the text with its context so that it is accurately and not just literally understood. It is true that the others, these many rich people, put in more, as in a greater amount. That’s what the disciples would have seen. But Jesus sees something entirely different. What he notices about the many rich and their large sums of money given to the temple is that they gave out of their abundance. Their gifts, as we understand from Jesus, did not require sacrifice. I think it’s important to realize as R. T. Franz writes, quote, that Jesus’s comments are not an attack on wealth, or the wealthy as such, but rather on the scale of values which makes more account of the amount of a gift than the dedication of the giver, end quote. The Bible does not despise the rich, and in many cases, commends the rich. Wealth was seen as a general sign of God’s favor and blessing in the Older Testament. You can see that spelled out in Abraham’s wealth or Jacob, or Joseph, or David, or Solomon, in each case, we understand that their wealth is a sign of God’s abundant provision in their lives.
Furthermore, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, they’re full of sound advice to those who would hear on how to protect your wealth through hard work and thoughtful usage. In the Newer Testament, we see that it was Joseph of Aramathia’s wealth that enabled him to have privileged access to be able to request the body of our Lord for burial. It was the wealth of several women that supported Jesus’ public ministry. But wealth can take our eyes off of God as our provider. Wealth, like all of God’s good gifts, can become an idol and can shift our thoughts and our affections off of our Lord and onto ourselves. So we are warned by Paul in first Timothy 6: 17-18, for instance. That reads, As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They, the rich, are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, and to be ready to share. You may also do well to remember the story in Mark 10 and Luke 18, one that we call the story of the Rich Young Ruler, a man who asked Jesus, What must I do to inherit eternal life?
And after some conversation in which the young man is trying to impress Jesus about how well he followed rules, Jesus remarks, One thing you lack, go sell everything and give it to the poor and follow me. If you paid attention in Sunday school, you would know the answer of how he responded. You can read it in Luke this way, He went away very sad, for he was extremely rich. In this case, wealth was a tremendous disadvantage to him. You may protest, but the rich in our text, they are sharing. They are giving large sums of money. I would say, again, we’re technically correct, but that doesn’t appear to be what God saw. We generally apply the scales of value that Jesus wants to turn upside down. One of the primary teaching points of the entire Book of James is to stop looking at people and things with the eyes of the human economy scale. Wealth doesn’t make you better. Glamor doesn’t make you better. Success in your career doesn’t make you better. You will not find joy in any of those pursuits, but you will find it when you find God. And when you understand that God so loved you, that he gave his only begotten son for your life, to die for you, to give you life, and then give you joy.
Joy. That’s the God to give back to. As you do, you’ll discover that God is more concerned about the giver than the gift. Jesus next recognizes the poor widow, and he compares the poor widow against these rich who gave without any personal sacrifice. Regarding her gift, Jesus wants the disciples to realize first that she gave out of her poverty. Furthermore, that she gave everything that she had. Lastly, that she gave all she had to live on. Appreciated New Testament scholar James Edwards, who notes that everything about this woman says less, and yet Jesus says her gift is more. He reflects on Mark’s use of more, and he calls it powerfully ironic, declares, In purely financial terms, the value of her offering is negligible, unworthy to be compared to the sums of rich of the wealthy donors. But in the divine exchange rate, things look differently. That which made no difference in the books of the temple is immortalized in the Book of Life. For Jesus, the value of the gift is not the amount given, but the cost to the giver. I think this can be incredibly encouraging to us. Jesus loves us enough to have died for us.
He has raised himself in power, and he has given us the gift of the Holy spirit, and he is not inspecting our performance. He isn’t grading and then adjusting our grade up or down by our levels of giving or performance or obedience. God loves you, and his love is costly to himself and free to us. And as we receive it, we realize that now we, too, can be freed up to love in costly ways as well. We can realize with New Testament scholar David Garland, with God, it is all or nothing. Love cannot be tithed like money, not just 10 %. And then he notes, few people can honestly sing, All to Jesus, I surrender. We’re going to have an opportunity to try to honestly sing that in a few moments, but let’s consider two quick questions or two quick lessons that we can learn from this unnamed poor widow. First, Jesus commends those who seek after him and not just his benefits. Whereas the wealthy might expect other onlookers to notice their gifts, this woman would receive no accolades from the temple priests. In fact, there’s a biblical story about a priest actually chastising a widow because she had so little to give.
This woman received no accolades from the priest. She simply gave all she had, even her whole living to God. And Jesus was about to do the very same thing for her and for us as well. God sees her sacrifice, and that leads us to the second lesson, which that even the littlest gifts, even that which you think might count for nothing, could eclipse larger gifts in God’s eyes. Robert Stein reflects on this idea as he writes, For the humble and poor throughout the centuries, our passage reveals that God looks upon their meager offerings of love with great delight and pleasure. No gift is insignificant when given in love and devotion. It’s a beautiful picture to think of God delighting in us and that which we do. This woman gave all she had to God. And in doing that, she has given us a perfect picture of what it means to love God. It’s also a perfect picture of what it looks like to follow after Christ as his disciple. And we, as disciples, we are to give our lives to God, our heart, our soul, our mind, our body, and our strength to our savior.
And when we do, we find that that which has cost us now everything is the fitting response to Jesus’s costliest gift, his gift of himself. And instead of losing everything as we give it to God, it’s opposite day. We find true freedom and joy in our dependence upon him. We can give all of ourselves because we have already gained everything when we gained Christ. We give because he first gave. We love because he first loved us. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for your word. I thank you that you don’t rank us, that you don’t evaluate our performance, that you don’t mark us up or down by how well we’re behaving. Father, you have done the work. And there are times in which the sin in our life, it confuses us, it distracts us. Our good deeds are actually done for selfish gain. We want something, someone’s attention or to feel good or not to feel bad. But, Father, you see all through that and love us anyway. You have done the perfect and full work in and through the righteousness of your son, and you have given him to us to save us from our sin.
Father, we praise you for that, and we pray that you would work that truth deep into our lives so that our lives would be lived in response to your gift, and our gifts would be a reflection of your great love. Father, we give you all thanks and praise in Jesus’ name and for his sake. Amen..
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.