Luke 21: 1 - 4 "As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

As Jesus was speaking about the oppression of widows by the teachers of the Law, He looked up at the great bronze "trumpets" in the temple courtyard, in which people put their gifts. The rich were putting in their gifts and Jesus saw a widow slipping two mites into one of these receptacles.

A mite was a copper coin, the smallest coin in the Jewish currency. It was worth about one tenth of one cent. The amount of money she gave was minuscule. It is interesting that the rules of the rabbis forbade giving just one mite, because the expense of administering such a gift was more than the gift itself. Thus, the minimum acceptable offering was two mites, exactly what the widow gave.

Jesus was moved. He said this widow had put in more than all the rich. Jesus did not mean this in a quantitative sense, but in a qualitative one. She put into the treasury something more than money. She gave sacrificially.

This woman was grateful to God and gave proportionately much more than the "tip" that the rich rendered to God. The rich were giving out of their surplus. They could easily afford to make their offerings; they would hardly miss the money. The widow, on the other hand, "out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." She was casting herself completely on God.

Though poor in goods, this woman was fabulously wealthy when it came to her spirit of generosity. Certainly the Spirit of God was manifest in her. And as her reward., her act of sacrifice was noted by the King of heaven, who placed His benediction on her for her charity, compassion, and sacrificial love.

Jesus was keenly aware of the giving of both the rich and the poor. God continues the same awareness today. Polls suggest that only 4 percent of believers tithe and the that the average giving is about 2 percent, not l0 percent. Are you, am I, more like the widow or the rich in this story?

Sincerely in Christ,


Floyd McPhee