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During this season of Lent we have been taking a journey through the gospel of Luke and each week we have seen how Jesus had a special burden and concern for the outsiders, outcasts and outlaws. Jesus came to lift up the lowly, welcome those that society and the religious leaders wanted to keep out, and love those that others found unlovable. Through this series we have been reminded that the heart of Jesus needs to be our heart as well. We need to be mindful of the outcasts and outsiders and we need to extend a love and grace that will draw those on the outside closer to God.
Last week we looked at the response of two people considered outsiders and outcasts to learn what a faithful response to Jesus looks like. It looks like giving thanks in all circumstances for God’s love and grace and then allowing Jesus to enter our lives to not only save us but to change us. Jesus truly stands at the door of our life asking to come in and if we open the door, Jesus will enter to forgive us and redeem us and to make us new.
Today we are going to look at another situation where Jesus lifts up the lowly and we are going to see here an example of how Jesus is calling us to live. The story takes place in the Temple courts after Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd. They welcomed Him as the coming King, but He wasn’t going to deliver the people the way they expected. They wanted someone to free them from the oppression of Rome. Israel was occupied and ruled by the Romans, and they wanted to be free from the taxes and the presence of the Roman troops, but Jesus came to bring a different kind of deliverance, and He continued to use the lowly as an example of faithful and righteous living.
Jesus is in the courtyard teaching, and He has just talked about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Jesus said that they prayed long and loud prayers to be recognized and praised by the people. He said many of the religious leaders wore long robes and loved to be greeted by the people with honor because of their position. They didn’t really care about the poor, they simply wanted recognition. As Jesus was talking, people were putting their offerings into the offering boxes set up in the Temple.
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
We believe that Jesus may have been sitting by the offering box that would have been for voluntary offerings. There were 13 boxes placed in the temple courtyards for different offerings and one box was simply for voluntary offerings that you could make out of a grateful and generous heart. The boxes would have had a long trumpet-like opening where people would have dropped in their coins and as the rich came by and placed lots of coins in the top, it would have made a lot of noise.
While it doesn’t happen as often today, it used to be that if you were in a casino and hit it big on a slot machine, quarters or silver dollars would pour out and make a lot of noise. When someone won big - everyone would turn to see what’s going on. Who won? How much did they win? Was it the big jackpot? It’s not like that as much now because everything seems to be tied to a card and the money goes on and the money goes off, but you know the sound I’m talking about when someone hits the jackpot.
That’s what it would have sounded like when the rich put in their offering. They gave a lot, and it would make a lot of noise and they would get a lot of attention - and they liked getting that attention. Jesus is watching them give great sums of money, but they aren’t the ones He lifted up. It’s not that their offerings weren’t good, Jesus wasn’t condemning them, but they weren’t the ones Jesus lifted up - it was the poor widow. Once again it was the lowly, the outcast, and the one others looked right over that Jesus focused on and this time He lifted her up as an example for all to follow.
She, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on. Jesus used her giving to teach us how to be faithful not just in giving but in all of life. This isn’t a story about how to give, this is a story about how to live. When we follow Jesus, we give Him all we have to live on; all our love, all our energy, all our trust, all our gifts and talents, all our time, and at times all our money.
When Jesus comments on this lowly widow, He is making her an example for those who are listening. He is using what He sees as a teachable moment. He is saying to the disciples and the crowd around Him - live like her! But notice that we don’t know who she is. We don’t know her name. Jesus doesn’t go over and talk to her. He allows her to continue in humility and anonymity. Like this woman, we need to be humble.
When we give, when we serve God or others, when we strive to make a difference around us, we can’t do it for recognition or honor, we have to do it for the glory of God alone. When Jesus talked about giving, He once said, don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Give quietly. Give without fanfare and without drawing attention to yourself. Give in ways that will lift others up and not yourself. I like that we don’t know this woman’s name because it teaches us that we need to be humble. She shows us that humility has to be at the foundation of our faith and life.
Not only is her gift anonymous, but her gift is also voluntary. We think she was putting her money into the true offering box at the Temple. It wasn’t the box for the Temple tax or sin offerings, it was a voluntary offering. No one was compelling her to give. She wasn’t being told she had to give, she was giving from a grateful and generous heart. This kind of giving was just part of who she was.
That’s the way we need to live, with a heart that tells us to give all we have to God. We can’t give and serve and worship and be involved in mission and ministry because we feel like we have to or that it is expected of us. We don’t worship, join a small group, and serve God and others to check off boxes to show God how good and faithful we are, we do all this because we truly love God and we others. Following Jesus can’t just be out of duty or obligation, it has to be voluntary with a heart overflowing with love for God.
In the Old Testament, the prophet Samuel said to King Saul, the first king of Israel, to obey is better than sacrifice. Saul knew how to make sacrifices to God. He knew how to go through the motions of honoring God with a ram or a bull, but his heart wasn’t in it. He wasn’t willing to obey God’s word. Voluntary obedience is what God desires because that comes from a heart committed to God.
The widow gave anonymously, she gave voluntarily, she also gave sacrificially. Jesus said, she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on. While others may have given more money, her gift was truly sacrificial. She gave all she had and this is what Jesus honors and lifts up.
I don’t think this means we empty our bank accounts and give it all to God, but I do think it means challenging ourselves to give a little more. If our giving to God, both through the church but also through our gifts to those in need around us, doesn’t push us to rely on God, then maybe we aren’t truly giving sacrificially. Jesus talks more about money in Luke’s gospel than any other gospel, which is why you might be hearing a lot about how we give during this series, but Jesus does talk a lot about our need to free ourselves from greed and being dependent on money. The only way that happens is by challenging ourselves to give a little more. That giving can be to the church, it can be to family and friends in need. It can be to those considered outcasts and outsiders in our community. Any and all ways we give helps us become more dependent on Jesus.
But Jesus isn’t just talking about money here. He is also talking about giving our time and energy and gifts and talents. Are we sharing our expertise with those who might need it? Are we offering our presence to those who are lonely? Are we offering our love and care to those who feel unwelcome and overlooked? Jesus doesn’t lift up this woman just for her example in financial giving - it’s an example of faithful living. How can our sacrifice in all areas of life help bless and lift others up.
The last thing we learn from this woman is something I can’t prove but believe. I believe she gave because she knew that her offering, in the hands of God, would make a difference. She knew what she was giving was going to bless someone else and make their lives better. She didn’t need to know how it was going to be used, she didn’t need to see the outcome or results of her gift, she simply knew that in God’s hands it would make a difference. In God’s hands it would be a blessing.
We need to know that when we give ourselves to God, we are making a difference. We might not see that difference. We might never know how we have blessed others, but when we humbly, and freely and sacrificially put our lives in the hands of God, we will bless others.
In a moment, Pastor David is going to come and lead us in a time of reflection on how we can make blessing others an ongoing rhythm in our lives. Blessing others involves making the world around us better and that always requires us to give in some way. It might be money given to others, it might be money placed in the hands of God, but it might not be money at all. It might be the sacrificial gift of our time. It might be an invitation you extend to someone to join you in worship. It might be an intentional prayer for someone in need.
The gift of this woman, that others overlooked, continues to bless the world because Jesus made sure we would still be talking about her and using her life as an example. He lifts up the lowly and through them He teaches us how to live faithfully today.
Next Steps
Outsiders, Outcasts and Outlaws - week 5
Read Luke 21:1-4. For greater context, read Luke 20:45-47.
Jesus lifts up this woman as an example of faithful living.
Here are four lessons we learn from her story:
1. Live with humility
● How is humility displayed in her life?
● Do you give and serve to be noticed or to be a blessing?
● Find one way to silently and anonymously bless someone this week.
2. Choose to be faithful
● Why do we think her gift was voluntary?
● Do you give because you choose to or out of a sense of duty and obligation?
● Choose to give or serve in some new way this week.
3. Live sacrificially
● How do we know her gift was sacrificial?
● Have you ever made a gift that was truly sacrificial? (Not just financially but a gift of time, energy, faith…)
● Does your giving to God challenge you? If not, how can you give in ways that will?
4. Live to bless others
● How does your life bless others?
● Take time to read the handout on the rhythm of blessing provided in worship.
● Between now and Easter, find one way you can be a blessing to others, then be that blessing.
