And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
The widow's gift
Jesus was observing people coming to the temple to give gifts and tithes to the temple treasury. Some made a big deal of it, making sure as many people as possible saw their generosity. But a little widow came and put in two small copper coins. It was all she had to live on, and it was the only gift that Jesus took notice of. He knew those two copper coins were more costly than all the gold and silver that had been placed there by the rich and famous.
The KJV translation of the Bible, when talking about these copper coins, uses the word Mite. A Mite was a tiny Medieval English coin. The coin in Jesus’ day was called a Lepton and was 1/64th of a Denarius, which was the basic wage for a labourer for one day’s work. A Lepton could buy a very small amount of food. This widow had indeed given away all she had to live on and would go hungry because of her giving to God.
In Matthew 6, Jesus says,
So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:2-4
It seems that some givers in Jesus’ time made a show of their generosity. Sounding the trumpet so the poor could come scrambling to receive from their hands or making a show of their temple gifts. Jesus said that God will see what you do in secret. This widow was not making a noise about her gift; she gave all she had, and God was watching. We can be assured that she was rewarded for her generosity and that God would have looked after her. We do not hear the end of that story, but we can be assured that God, who cares for the orphan and the widow, had her needs firmly in His sights.
Prosperity preachers
I sometimes look at the sermons from these prosperity preachers, who say if you sow a gift of $1,000 in their ministry, God will bless you and give you 10 times more back in blessings. Then they make a show of their mansions, planes and bank accounts, and I wonder if their ministry is just one of trumpets and loud noises or not letting their left hand know what the right hand is doing!
In my life’s journey, I have seen God provide and care for my family time and time again. God is faithful, and He rewards the humble; however, he does not want us to be greedy and demand from Him more than He is willing to give. There are no magic formulas to make God love and bless you more. He has already shown the greatest amount of love possible by sending His son Jesus into the world to die for you. But these prosperity preachers. I am not even sure if the gospel they preach is in any way related to the one we read about in the Bible. It seems like a grab for cash to me!
The love of money
We live in a big world where the gaining of money and riches are encouraged. Earning and spending are good for the economy; the more you spend, the more other people in the economy can benefit. If 10,000 people spend $10 on coffee on the way to work each day, then that $100,000 goes a long way to employ other people who spend their wages on other things, and so it goes on. But how much is enough?
Paul wrote to Timothy in 1Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10
So, our attitude towards money and riches is something we need to keep an eye on. In my journey, I met some very wealthy people who love God and who have a balance between their relationship with God and the money He has blessed them with. They are not driven by a need to make more and more money; they are driven by their love for Jesus and wanting to serve Him.
On the other hand, I have met people who I would describe as moderately wealthy, who have been obsessed with making lots and lots more money, and as Paul writes, some of these have come to grief.
Jesus once met a rich young man who was on the way to grief because of his riches. Jesus told him to go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. The rich young man went away sad, for he was very rich and did not want to part with his wealth. He wanted to be Jesus' disciple on his own terms. You will find the story in Matthew 19:16-30.
Giving all you have
The widow at the temple gave all she had; would some of these prosperity televangelists do the same? One famous one is estimated to have personal wealth of more than $700,000. Imagine if he were just to quietly give it away; how many Bibles could you distribute with $700,000? How many starving children could you feed? How many churches could you plant? These guys do not hold a candle to the widow, whilst they only seek to increase their wealth, rather than give it all away! They want discipleship on their own terms.
A personal journey with some "widows".
As some of you are aware, in the past I have led a ministry that worked with the abject poor, so I have an appreciation of what the word poor means. Some of my closest friends are refugees, or people who have lived in very difficult situations.
In the early years after I took over the ministry, we had a financial crisis. Just getting enough money coming through the books to cover our running costs was sometimes difficult. We were never insolvent, but I had to be innovative to create new income streams. We had street appeals, sold drinks to students, and prayed for God’s help. One thing I did was I started producing a monthly newsletter, and people began giving to the ministry through it. Many of the donors were what I would call “the widows”; all they could afford to give was a few dollars each month, and they did, faithfully. These “widows” were giving us their widow’s mite. By itself, their few dollars did not amount to our whole financial answer, but what accompanied it was much more valuable than their donations. Often attached to their cheque, or $5 note that they had sent through the mail, was a note. These notes were handwritten and offered us a word of encouragement or a Bible verse. One widow would send in dollar coins sticky-taped to a piece of paper; and on the outside of the envelope, she wrote the dates and times that she prayed for the ministry. These widows did not have much money, but they were praying every day for our ministry. Sometimes when we faced a huge challenge, the Scripture verses they sent to us spoke to us specifically about the situation we faced. We were in a place of incredible blessing. God’s people were praying for us every day and letting us know that they had.
The ministry I led grew; it went from a very small income of about $60,000 a year when I took over, to about 1 million a year by the time I left. However, we only got through the difficult challenges because we had our widows giving and praying for us.
I believe that the “widows” of this world carry with them a special gift from God, intercession for God’s projects.
Conclusion
So, if you fall into the category of someone who is financially depleted, who is only able to contribute a mite. Go ahead, make that contribution, as you feel led, and … pray for that ministry. Your prayers may bring about the very breakthrough that ministry has longed for. The small amount you give is dear to Him, and He will hear your prayers.
On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. 1 Cor.16:2
Paul encourages the church to give as they can afford. These widows were sending what they could afford, but adding to it that which they could freely give: their prayers and encouragement.
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