Jesus has been teaching in the temple courts, where He has been tested by the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees. He is no doubt weary, so He takes a break at this point and walks out to the area where the collection boxes are located near the Court of Women.
Mark tells us, "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury." (Mark 12:41a) He spends some quiet time there, watching the people come in, observing how much they put into the offering boxes. The Lord knows how much we give to His work, but even more importantly He knows the spirit in which we give. He knows whether we give in order to be seen by our fellow man or whether we give in order to be of aid to God's kingdom and to His people. He knows whether our giving is a matter of trust in God or whether our giving is a matter of having so much money that we think nothing of casting large sums into the offering.
"Many rich people threw in large amounts." (Mark 12:41b) There's nothing wrong with this. This passage isn't criticizing the lavish giving done by the wealthy. While some of the nation's wealthy may have donated large amounts to the temple offering in order to be seen and praised by their fellow man (such as the religious leaders Jesus has been chastising for their hypocrisy), I am sure that a number of these wealthy donors are giving out of the goodness and willingness of their hearts. Naturally, if a person is wealthy, he has more to donate to the temple treasury. The issue of the giving in today's passage has to do with whether it is costing the giver anything.
The wealthy people passing by Jesus as He sits near the treasury are able to reach deep into their pockets and draw out large sums. They are used to spending large sums, not just in their giving to the Lord, but in their daily lives. Are they going to miss this money once it disappears into the offering box? Most likely not. This doesn't mean their offering isn't sincere. This doesn't mean their offering isn't valuable to the Lord's work. It simply means that the wealthy people He's observed at the temple aren't giving sacrificially. They aren't giving to the point that it makes them feel uncomfortable. They are giving plenty because they have plenty.
"But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents." (Mark 12:42) We can just imagine how the Pharisees would scoff at her offering. Can't you just see them turning up their noses and saying, "What are these two small coins in comparison to what we have cast into the treasury? What does she think we can do with such a small sum? Why did she even bother?" Oh, but as the saying goes, little is much when God is in it! Jesus is so impressed with what this widow does that He wants to use it as a teaching moment for the disciples.
"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.'" (Mark 12:43-44) This woman trusts God with her whole heart. We know that because she trusts Him with all the money in her pocket. She could have kept one of the coins, since she had two, but she decided to give them both. Jesus praises her sacrifice. He tells the disciples that her offering means more to Him than all the offerings cast in by the wealthy. Her offering cost her more. Her offering took more faith. The wealthy donors who brought large sums could easily think to themselves, "There's plenty more where that came from." They didn't have to go home and wonder how they were going to put bread on the table. But when the widow gives to the Lord she has to trust Him to supply her daily bread. She feels like she owes the Lord something for His goodness. She intends to be obedient to the laws regarding offerings and sacrifices, which do not exempt the poor from giving. She believes if she is obedient to the Lord, He will take care of her. She could have rationalized not giving by looking at the emptiness of her cupboards or by agonizing over having only two coins in her pocket, but instead she honors the Lord with what she has. In return, the Lord honors her faith. I have no doubt that God saw to it that for the rest of her life she had food on the table, clothes on her back, and a roof over her head.
There's nothing wrong with the wealthy giving large sums to the Lord's work if they are doing it with a sincere heart. Jesus isn't making little of their offerings. He's just making more of the widow's offering because she isn't holding anything back from God. She believes if she gives her whole heart to the Lord, and trusts Him with all she has, He will take care of her.
Our passage today isn't instructing us that we must give all our earthly goods away if we want to please the Lord. It's telling us that our giving, in whatever form it takes, should cost us something. King David refused to give the Lord something that didn't cost him anything. (2 Samuel 24:24, 1 Chronicles 21:24) Jesus gave an offering which cost Him a great deal: His own life. There are a number of ways in which we can give back to the Lord, whether it's in the giving of our money, or in the giving of our time to His work, or in the giving of our energy in doing good deeds for those in need, or in the giving of our talents to His service rather than achieving fame and recognition by using them in the secular world. Our giving may cost us money, time, or energy that could have been used in some other way. God honors the fact that we could have used our money, time, and energy in our own pursuits but chose instead to offer these things to Him.
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