Putting it all in

 This week's verses are: Luke 21:1-4:

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box. He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all offered their gifts out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.”

 These verses get used a lot when people want you to give them money. We've probably all heard them before, when the music starts playing, and this ministry or that one wants to light a fire underneath our seats. But have you ever read them on their own?

Here we have two people making charitable donations to the church. Except in this case it's not just to pay the clergy and buy new sound equipment. In Biblical times, the temple would provide some of the social safety net, along with a judicial system, something police-like (not just to round up escaped slaves, if that's what you've been led to believe), social and cultural services, and so on. So where church donations might be "good" nowadays, they were super good when it was basically one giant mega-charity rolled into one. "Church donations" to the Jewish temple at the time were also basically seen as money being given to God.

So here we have those two people donating money. One is rich, powerful, and probably a net contributor of value to the community already, and one is poor, unprotected, and probably in constant need. You can understand the rich people giving money, but the poor widow has no business giving anything in her situation.

An elderly widow in poverty had pretty much no realistic chance of getting out of it. While there were some opportunities to make money, there was nobody to protect her if she started accumulating it. (Remember, not much in the way of police.) If you were an orphan or a widow, you had no pool of tough guys to draw upon in case there was a need for vigilante justice, and were basically a walking target for sociopaths. Same with the option of marrying into wealth and power: marriage was for having kids, so if you were past that age, tough luck.

Being a poor old widow was a really tough place to be! No money, no social safety net, nobody to turn to if you were victimized, few career opportunities, and no influence to be had on anyone: If you were in that situation, and somehow had managed to get your hands on some money, would you give it all away to charity?? I would have a very hard time giving that money up!

But in a sense that's probably why she did give it up. If giving money to the temple was like giving it to God, what better investment could she have made? In giving up her two cents, she's making a statement that she has put all of her desperate trust in God to take care of her and protect her.  It's not about the money, it's about the devotion and trust. She has nowhere else to turn and she knows it.

The rich guys, on the other hand, have plenty of options. Need protection? Hire some thugs or bribe someone. Need food? Buy some, or buy a farm for that matter. Need friends? Throw a party. Need power? Cultivate some relationships with other rich guys. Where is their place of desperation? Where is their opportunity to trust God? Their poverty is their lack of need.

In our modern times, we're more like the rich guys than the poor widow. The government, and our paychecks, and our bank accounts and retirement and social security are often our gods. When we give, it's out of our abundance, like the rich guys. We're buying the right to feel good for helping, or maybe some tax breaks. We're not putting it all in, because our need isn't big enough to justify our all.

It's not just about money. How do we spend our time? How do you pray for something optional compared to how you pray when a relative is seriously ill? A recognized need consumes more time and energy, right? How much are you willing to pay for emergency repairs on a trip versus for mechanical work you can do yourself at home? When we recognize our need, it changes how we respond.

Jesus could have just compared giving levels and turned them into a strategy for his disciples to target their ministry to the rich people and not to worry about the widows nobody else worries about. That's how we would do it now. Get them when they're right out of college and you'll keep them when they start making the big bucks. But that's not the giving Jesus notices. He notices the person who puts it all in, because that's the person who understands.

Do we realize how much we are in need of what Jesus has done for us? Does our devotion to our faith reflect that need? How much do we share of ourselves with others? Are we willing to sacrifice stuff we need to represent God's kingdom on earth? Sometimes two hours to help a friend move some furniture is a bigger sacrifice than $500 to the homeless. Sometimes forgiving the guy who cut you off in traffic is a bigger sacrifice than those two things put together! Do you recognize those opportunities in your life? Or are you too rich to notice?

If you're too rich to have any good opportunities to notice how much you need God, pray and ask for some. Think about how much salvation would cost if you had to buy it yourself. (hint: If you have to ask, you can't afford it.) But if you're blessed enough to realize how deep your need goes, and how little you have to give, consider putting it all in.