Der Vasken’s Sermon on October 13, 2024

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

An elderly widow walks alone into the crowded and noisy temple in Jerusalem. Making her way to the offering box, she quietly slips in the only coins she has. She says her prayers and she leaves. No one saw her. No one noticed her except for One.

This is the beginning of a very interesting story that took place a very long time ago. So we need to ask what does Jesus want us to “hear” from this widow’s story? Two of the four Gospels (Mark and Luke) tell of an incident involving a gift that a widow gave to God. She didn’t give much in value but for her it was all she had. It was her dinner money for that day. She gave two small coins. It was all the money she had to her name.

The story is referred to as “The Widow’s Mite.” One day Jesus was sitting with His disciples near the temple offering box watching people enter the temple, approach the offering box and drop in their gifts. He watched people come and go all day—men, women and children, younger people and older people, healthy people, people with physical challenges, wealthy people and not so wealthy people. As He watched, I’m sure it brought Him joy. He watched people contribute from their heart but then along came a widow and in her hand she held two small copper coins—the equivalent of a penny in today’s money.

The Bible calls the coins “Mites.” These were the smallest of coins. The widow put her coins into the offering box. When she did that, Jesus called His disciples to Him and pointed out what He just witnessed. “Truly I tell you,” He said, “This poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their abundance but she gave out of her poverty. She put in everything she had to live on.”

This is a great story with deep meaning. There are several things that this story teaches us. First, God sees everything. It’s as simple as that. God sees what man doesn’t see or overlooks. This story is not about giving or not giving. It’s a story about trust. She placed her trust in God. He would provide for her and in Him, she trusted. That’s the message being made here.

The big gifts in the temple were noticed by everyone but Jesus saw what no one else did. He saw the humble trust and faith of a poor widow. The other gifts in the treasury that day were heard throughout the temple as they dropped into the offering box but the widow’s offering was heard only in Heaven. Secondly, God’s understanding of what was going on in the Temple that day was different than man’s. The widow’s two mites were worth half a penny in today’s money but Jesus said she had given more than anyone else.

We have to ask, “How can that be?” Remember, all sorts of people entered and exited the temple all day long—people of great means and people of lesser means and their gifts filled the offering box all day but He said the widow “put in everything she had…all she had to live on.” (Mk. 12:42)

Hers was the sacrifice. She gave her meal that day to God. She gave Him everything she had out of faith. That is a third lesson we can take from this story. Gifts for God are wrapped in faith. Here was a woman in need of receiving charity, yet she had a heart big enough to be charitable. She understood her gift was humble—that it probably wouldn’t help the temple very much but she knew that God could use it. She gave the last of her money, her last meal, her means of self-support to her God.

So, today let us leave here with this question.

• How does this widow’s “spirit of trust” speak to you today?
• When it comes to the “wealth” of our time, of our patience, of our love; when it comes to the “wealth” of our compassion and caring and understanding, do we trust in God as the elderly widow did that God will use it to help others or do we resemble the other people in the temple that day?

Something for us to think about over this three-day weekend.

Amen.

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