MARK 12:41-44
‘She from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on’ (v. 44, CEB).
Money and how we handle it is a recurring subject in the teaching of Jesus. He teaches that we should give both to God and to pay our taxes (Mark 12: 17), he warns that it is difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10: 23), and in our text for today he makes it clear that God’s perspective is different than what is normal, when it comes to our investment in the kingdom.
In the world, and unfortunately also in the Church, we often focus on how much people have and how much they give. We give more attention and maybe even honour to those who have and give much, but God’s perspective is very different. He does not look at the gift as such, but the heart and the condition of the giver. In the words of Paul:
‘If the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have’ (2. Cor. 8,12)
Those, who have little, should take encouragement from this. God looks to our heart and our ability, and does not compare us to anyone else. Our gift, even when small and given out of our poverty, is pleasing to God when we give wholeheartedly.
At the same time, those of us, who must be considered rich, should pay attention and not be tempted to give ‘out of spare change’ (v. 32 CEB). The South African pastor Andrew Murray summed Jesus’ teaching up in this way:
‘How different our standard is from Christ's. We ask how much a man gives. Christ asks how much he keeps.’
Prayer: God, help me always seek to give as the widow and not only from my spare change.