Mark 12:41-44 - “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ’Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on.’”

The passage says that many rich people threw in large amounts of offering.

Now, the reason this passage says ‘threw’ is because the offering box was a trumpet-shaped receptacle, and once a large amount of money was thrown in (coin currency), a loud noise would be made by the dropping of the money. In contrast, the poor widow comes with two very small copper coins which made no noise. These copper coins were known as a lepta-the smallest coin currency of that time. The temple law actually prohibited any giving that was below two leptas, hence her giving of the two copper coins was the absolute minimum that one could give.

In the passage it says that she didn’t throw her offering, rather she ‘put’ in the coins-hence no noise coming out of the trumpet-shaped boxes.

Now by this simple observation, if offering time was about the amount of money, then the rich who gave large amounts are more significant, while the widow’s giving was insignificant.  As in what difference would two pennies make when others are giving tens of thousands?  Why even bother giving it? However, this is how Jesus evaluates and shows how He views offering: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on.”

It is important to note that Jesus is not condemning the giving of the rich per-se, but rather He is elevating and validating the giving of the poor widow. Meaning, each of our offering matters to the Lord!  It is not about how wealthy we are-for we are all in different stages in life.  Some of us get paid to do our work, while some of us have to pay in order to work. Some of us tithe our paychecks, while the children tithe their allowance. However, the point is that each of us are able to and should participate in the time of offering, for the Lord welcomes/accepts our worship/offering.  Let’s remember that the grace that we receive during offering is that we would know the fear of the Lord-that it all comes from the Him, and that we are His treasured possession!

Today, let’s begin to prepare our hearts for the time of offering this coming Sunday.  As you prepare your offering in prayer, come joyfully knowing that the Lord accepts our offering.

-GK