Widow's mite

Mother Theresa said giving away what you don’t need isn’t even giving. Miroslav Volf said that mostly we give in order to receive. At Christmas we might find that we give gifts that people don’t want, to people we don’t even like! And if I want to upset a congregation I can easily do it by talking about giving. And there’s a little story we use to make the point that we really should give more than we can afford. If we want to be really good Christians that is. Which if course, we do. Don’t we? So, here’s how you do it. you give away all you have to live on. Sound ridiculous? Well that’s what Jesus said when he saw the widow put her two coins in the temple treasury. No, really he did. He watched the rich people put their money in and then he saw a widow put in the last two coins she had and he said that she put in more than all the others! And he commends her. So we should do the same, right? Hmm. Maybe, in truth something else is going on here. Jesus does appear to commend the widow, but do you really think he wants anyone to give away all they have live on? He did tell a rich young man to give everything away. But that was because it was the thing that was stopping him finding God. Money had captured his heart. But that’s not true for this widow. More likely Jesus is using her as an example of someone who is doing what she thinks the religious leaders think she should do. They can put in lots and so she feels pressured to put in more than she can afford. She now has nothing to live on. Maybe Jesus’ heart goes out to her and is cross on her behalf. After all, to give a little of your wealth is not as challenging as giving everything if you’re poor is it? Jesus is actually warning the people not to listen to the religious leaders because they have got lots of things wrong! I’m wondering if this story is here to teach us not to be pressured into giving what we cannot afford by others. God loves a generous giver. But God loves a generous giver when they freely give. In fact, a gift is only a gift when it is freely given. It seems there is so much pressure to give in all sorts of ways. We cannot impress God with our giving, so I wonder why we try. But we do. Don’t we? Especially when we know there’s a need. Don’t hear me wrong. It is good to give and many things wouldn’t happen if we didn’t. But I have a feeling that God, the God who is able, is far more interested in the heart of the giver than in the quantity of the gift. After all our God is the God who can take five loaves and two fish and feed a crowd of thousands and still have leftovers. Giving from the heart touches the heart of God. And he can use our gifts in ways that we could never have imagined. I wonder what he was able to do with a widow’s mite? I wonder what he can do with ours?