Imagine you are sitting with Jesus, opposite the Temple, people-watching as a variety of folks from all walks of life come and drop their donations into a public offering box. Jesus points out the gift of a destitute widow, surmising that the two tiny coins she just put into the offering were the end of her resources. Widows in that culture were often in that position, financially and emotionally. Having given her all, she is now, literally, penniless.
We know this story by its
traditional name, the story of the widow’s mite, a “mite” representing the
smallest-value coin of the day, and its traditional interpretation is deeply
ingrained in my psyche. In this
interpretation, Jesus seemingly presents the widow as a paragon of generosity,
the kind of steward we all should aspire to be.
Others gave gifts thousands of times larger to the temple, yet this gift,
so tiny as to be meaningless in covering the temple budget, is held up as exemplary.
This widow, literally, gave ‘til it hurt and because of that, her story has
been the foundation of countless financial campaigns by Churches and Christian
charities.
The thing is, though: if I
hear the story of the widow’s mite as a story that encourages us, too, to give
‘til it hurts, I am hearing something that Jesus never said. This story is found in both the gospel of
Mark and the gospel of Luke (21:1-4), and I’ll share Luke’s somewhat simpler
version:
Jesus
looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the
offering box. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two
small copper coins. 3 He said, “I tell you
the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For
they all offered their gifts out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty,
put in everything she had to live on.”
And Jesus leaves it at
that. He makes an observation here, but
with scant comment: he lifts up the
relative value of the widow’s gift, as she basically gave 100% of what she had,
but does not proceed to say “go and do likewise” to his audience or to
generations of churchgoers since then. He
could have, but he didn’t. Similarly, Jesus
does not make a big show by popping across the street to personally
congratulate the women on her generosity.
As told by both Luke and Mark, Jesus notes what the widow has done but the
emotional tone of the words is very neutral, we can’t really tell if he’s happy
about it or not. What is clear is that
Jesus, while seeing and acknowledging her gift out of scarcity, especially in
comparison with gifts far larger given out of surplus, does not use her as an
example for other poor folks to follow in their giving. While not wanting to double-down on the
widow, her contribution to make the Temple even grander while the needs of
people just like her were ignored was part of a system flawed and broken. We can imagine Jesus shaking his head, jaw
clenched, moved by the plight of the woman while seething at the inaction of
the Temple authorities.
A wide range of Biblical
scholars have written about this difference between how the Church has tended
to hear this and what Jesus actually said.
One of these is Emma Crossen, a Lutheran stewardship resource person,
who writes, “The popular reading of the widow’s mite says that Jesus was
pleased by the widow’s offering. Yet, when we consider how Jesus felt about
serving the poor, especially widows, we can imagine that the sight of the widow
giving her last coin was not pleasant at all”. The temple was supposed to serve the poor and
marginalized, not the other way around.
So when he sees the widow donating all that she had, to this institution
that is part of her oppression, Jesus scolds “the religious leaders who
perpetuate a religious system in which it would be acceptable for a widow to
lose everything she has for the sake of the temple”. We don’t know whether the widow felt
pressured into making this donation, or if some other factor is at work here, but
we do know that something is seriously wrong with this picture.
Although recent Bible
commentators are quite correct to point out that Jesus does not come out and
say, “do ye likewise” to Church givers, calling us to sacrificial giving as
demonstrated by the widow, he does state how valuable her gift was, and he does
so just days before his own sacrificial gift on the cross. And unlike the Temple leaders, for whom this
woman was basically invisible, Jesus SAW her. Seeing those who were generally disregarded by
others is a recurring theme in the Bible: The Holy One sees potentials that
others do not, like entrusting the future of the Israelites to Abram and Sarai,
the call stories of nearly all the prophets and disciples, or naming young Mary
to be the mother of the Christ Child. Watching as people made their temple
donations, Jesus vaguely noticed what others were doing, but specifically sees
what this woman did, and in so doing he speaks to the heart of all who have few
resources but have continued to give for the good of others, out of the
limelight. Jesus repeatedly sees those
regarded as invisible and unimportant by society, and he does so once more in
this encounter. And if I were to imagine
Jesus’ saying to those who have given more than they had to give, “you didn’t
have to do that – but thank you” I wouldn’t be far wrong – such is the heart of
God in Christ.
Though Jesus does not call us
to “do likewise” upon seeing this heartbreakingly large gift by the widow, he
does respect her dignity, and lifts up the value of her tiny gift. Having worked my whole adult life in the
Church and other non-profit organizations, I hear Jesus do something really
important here: he calls us and the Church and all volunteer organizations to never
look down on small gifts just because they are small. (I remember learning this as a kid, going
around on Hallowe’en with a UNICEF box & knowing that those little gifts
would add up!) Whether it’s the person who has difficulty getting up in the
morning volunteering for a community venture for a couple of hours, the person
whose work hours just got cut in half choosing to maintain their charitable
donations, or the person who finds it difficult to state their opinions
publicly signing a petition and not just remaining anonymous, small things
matter… and based on everything I know about Jesus, I can confidently say that
he would never minimize the heartfelt contributions of those who have little to
give.
Before leaving this
scripture, I suggest one more thing, and that is to look at the power dynamics
of this encounter and how that relates to the Church in this day and age.
For centuries, the Church in
the era of “Christendom” held an undue amount of prestige and influence. We were very much like the ones on the
entitled side of the ledger in today’s reading: the wealthy ones, the temple
authorities, even the Temple itself. But in our current context, in 2024, I don’t
think that’s where the Church fits anymore.
While I wouldn’t for a moment equate the situation of the mainline
Church in the northern hemisphere with the desperate poverty of the widow, I
gotta say, we’re closer to the marginality of the widow than we are to the
opulence of the temple-keepers. And
while that might sound negative, there are advantages to be had when one
approaches the margins.
While we lament that the
Church of today is much smaller and less influential than it was sixty years
ago – and within that, we do lament quite rightly that we are less
well-positioned to share the inclusive, engaged, compassionate and courageous
story of Jesus Christ with subsequent generations – our smaller, less
highfalutin self may now embody a more legitimate and Christ-connected kind of
authority. As we yearn to witness to the
life-giving love of Jesus, as we seek ways to live out our new United Church
vision of “Deep Spirituality, Bold Discipleship and Daring Justice,” let us
never forget that God does not turn away from us just because we are smaller
than we used to be, any more than Jesus would have devalued the contribution of
the impoverished widow because her donation didn’t line up with the big donors. In his preaching and teaching, even in his
death at the hands of those who held sacred and secular power, Jesus repeatedly
turned toward those with more meagre resources as the ones who more easily
understood his path and his promises.
As a smaller player, we, as a
denomination in our 100th year and as the United Church
congregations in Oliver and Osoyoos, may have greater nimbleness in responding
to community needs, we may have gained a new ability to say “we can’t do
everything but we can do this thing.” So
part of the task before Shannon and me, as we relate to these communities, is
to remain present when Churches of the south Okanagan and social agencies and
people of good will talk about how we take care of one another. Even in our smaller version, as followers of
Jesus it is still our work to do. As we do what we can, I feel the
encouragement of the living Christ, who welcomes our best efforts, whether
those are big actions with widespread impact, or small actions that make life
just a bit easier for someone who needs to know that God loves them and cares
what happens to them.
In the story of the widow’s
mite, we may hear an echo of guilt because we are so used to hearing that
refrain: you could do more, you should do more. But to me, this is not primarily that kind of
story; in addition to its critique of those who loved their power and influence
more than they loved serving their neighbour’s needs, it’s a story of a woman
who was basically invisible in her society being seen by Jesus, and her contribution
honoured, whether it actually solved a problem or contributed to one. As we find our place in the world, whether
that’s a reshaping of the old familiar central place once held by the mainline
Church or a newly embraced, more peripheral place, may we experience the
robust, encouraging love of Christ: focusing our efforts on that which is
doable, embracing what we can do, and helping us to believe that in Christ, there
are times when more than we can ask or imagine is very, very possible. In
Christ we pray, Amen.
Resources cited or
consulted:
Blair, Patrick. https://faith-finances.com/blog/2022/12/6/whats-the-real-story-the-widows-mite-or-the-temples-might
Crossen, Emma. https://www.gathermagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2015SummerBS_Session2.pdf
Penley, Paul. https://www.reenactingtheway.com/blog/the-widows-mite-good-or-bad-example-of-giving
Rippentrop, Jan. https://politicaltheology.com/the-politics-of-widows-gifts-mark-1238-44/
Weber-Johnson, Erin. https://churchanew.org/blog/posts/erin-weber-johnson-upending-the-parable-of-the-widows-mite
© 2024 Rev Greg Wooley,
Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge.
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