WWUTT 2481 The Widow's Offering (Luke 21:1-4)

Jesus singles out a widow in the temple who put two small copper coins in the offering box. Now, this story is often used to talk about how we need to be better givers, but maybe there's something more going on here when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When We Understand the Text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

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Luke 21 and the Widow's Offering in Context

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we are on to chapter 21. And this chapter begins with the account of the widow's offering. We read this previously in Mark 12. Here is Luke's account in chapter 21, verses 1 through 4.

Hear the word of the Lord. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.

Now, surely you have heard this account or the other one in Mark 12. You have heard this story of the widow and her two mites or the two small copper coins. And this story has maybe been used, maybe you've heard it in this context, to encourage people to give more money to the church.

Maybe you've even been in a church that had a giving Sunday, and the preacher stood up there at the pulpit on giving Sunday, and he told everybody about this widow and how Jesus singled her out before the disciples.

Look at how much this woman gave. She gave more than all of them because she gave all that she had to live on. And that's supposed to encourage you to give more to the benefit of the church. Is that really what we're to understand from this account, however?

I think there is a lesson here on giving, but it's really not the main point. This goes with what Jesus had just said at the end of Luke chapter 20. I said last week when we were finishing up the chapter that I wasn't going to spend too much time on verses 45 to 47 because that went better with what we were going to read at the start of chapter 21.

So let me come back to Luke 20 and read verses 45 to 47. In the hearing of all the people, Jesus said to his disciples, Beware the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts who devour widow's houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

They will receive the greater condemnation. So Jesus had just talked about scribes and Pharisees who devour widow's houses. And then what do we read about here at the start of chapter 21? This is one of those places where the chapter division really doesn't serve us well because you would think of this.

I think just kind of mentally, you know, as we see a chapter break, we think there's a scene change or something like that. But Jesus is still in the temple teaching. And so right after he makes this warning about the scribes and the Pharisees, even mentioning that they devour widow's houses.

Now we have this account of a widow giving all that she had into the offering box. So Jesus sees the rich putting their gifts into the offering box. And he sees a poor widow put in two small copper coins, smallest amount of currency that they had.

Like I said, sometimes referred to as a mite. And he said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. Now, the point is not to congratulate this woman for her giving. I think you can draw a lesson about giving from this.

Like I said, it's just not the main point. It's rather that this widow needs help. And that's what the disciples should be doing. That's what the scribes and the Pharisees should have been doing. But she was not being helped.

And still under obligation to give to the service of the temple. There she is putting all she had into the offering box. She, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on. That's not Jesus being moved by her considerate heart in making sure the temple continues functioning.

He is actually grieved over the fact that this poor widow is still obligated to give to the temple when the scribes and the Pharisees have consumed everything that had previously belonged to her. Whenever a man died, what it was that he possessed usually went to his son.

It would go to the oldest son. If in the event that the man did not have a son, his widow would take it over. But she did not have the same rights to that property that the husband had. So the leaders in Israel could come in and take that property for themselves.

And they might sell it off or something like that and then give the money to the service of the temple. And they would do it very piously, of course. Look how much we give to the service of God. We took this field, we sold it, and now all of the money we're putting into the temple.

So it was still to show themselves as being holier than thou. And believing that they were going to receive some great reward or recognition from heaven. But Jesus is saying here, they put in out of their abundance.

This widow gave all she had. She gave out of her poverty and everything that she had to live on. What should have happened instead, what should have happened is that the scribes and the Pharisees should have stepped in and helped this woman.

Beware the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus said. They like to walk around in long robes. They love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts.

Now, part of this warning is not just telling the disciples, don't follow after them. Don't listen to what it is that they teach you because they're false teachers. That's typically what we think of these warnings when we read of the scribes and Pharisees.

Jesus is more directly saying, don't be like them. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be seen. They want to be noticed. They want people to be impressed by them. That's what really matters to them is what the people think.

They're trying to please man. What did the Apostle Paul say in Galatians 1 .10? Am I trying to please man or am I trying to please God? If I were trying to please man, then I would not be a servant of the Lord.

I wouldn't be a servant of Christ. And so as a servant of Christ, it's not about getting people's attention. You understand that whom you serve is the Lord. What does the Lord see when he looks at me?

Does he see a genuine heart who cares for and loves people? Or am I in love with myself so much that I'm just looking for the recognition of others? They love greetings in the marketplaces. They want to be the center of attention.

They want everybody to see them as they're coming through. Everybody would be impressed. Oh, here comes so-and-so. What a great time of day for me to be here that I might be in the presence of this man as he comes walking through the marketplace.

They love the best seats in the synagogues because they want to sit in those highest places. Again, to be looked up to by other people or even have other people think of them. Boy, I wish I could attain to the kind of holiness and righteousness that that guy has.

He's so important. Look at the seat that he gets to sit in. Also a place of authority. In sitting in that place, he gets to direct and tell other people what to do. And they all listen to him. They love the places of honor at feasts.

Again, everybody dote on me. Pay attention to me. Give to me and wait on me. But then in verse 47, after all of this describing them as being attention whores, trying to get everybody's attention, everybody to look at me, trying to see me as being somebody great and important.

Then in verse 47, he says that they devour widow's houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They pray long prayers because, again, they want people to hear that and be impressed and hang on their every word.

It's not about praying to God. It's not about what God sees. It's about what everybody else sees. And they're not helping the widows. They're not helping those people who cannot benefit them over and over again.

Throughout the Old Testament, you will hear of the most needy people being orphans and widows. We even read in James 127, religion that God our father finds pure and faultless is this, to love orphans and widows in their time of need and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

This reference to orphans and widows is a reference to those who cannot provide for themselves. Orphans don't have a father. Widows don't have a husband. And widows also we think of as being elderly and are getting up there in age and really can't do much for themselves at all.

It's not like the woman can go out and get a job or even go out to the field and labor. She can't provide for herself. These are those people that most need someone else to care for them because they can't care for themselves.

The orphans and widows aren't the only people that are in need. But typically orphan and widow characterizes those who are most in need. So that's in the Old Testament throughout the Old Testament. And James uses it in James 127 to say that if we truly love God, we're going to love people, especially those people who cannot benefit us.

And when you've got the scribes and the Pharisees who are looking for all the ways that they can be heralded by other people, they don't really care for the widows because the widows can't give to them anything.

They don't even have a high status in society through which their attention would gain me more honor in the eyes of the culture. So they devour widows houses. They take that property that would otherwise be left to those widows, all that they have to live on.

And the Pharisees would consume it, perhaps sell it, give it to the temple, keep it for themselves, whatever they might have to do with it. And then Jesus says of them, they will receive the greater condemnation.

So these are men who are supposed to be teachers. And in modeling what they teach before the people, they should be the first to be caring for those who are most in need in the culture. And that's not what they do.

In fact, they are creating the poverty. They are consuming widows houses and causing those widows to be in poverty. And these men who know better, who teach others and yet do not do what they teach, they receive the greater condemnation.

They are hypocrites. And they, for putting widows in this very difficult spot, will pay for it dearly in eternity. God cares for the lowly. And so we must. Psalm 68 verses 4 through 6. Sing to God. Sing praises to his name.

Lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts. His name is the Lord. Exalt before him. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home.

He leads out the prisoners to prosperity. But the rebellious dwell in a parched land. These scribes and Pharisees think that they have all that they can have. And they even tried to accumulate for themselves more.

But in the end, they're the ones that will find themselves starving and dying of thirst. They will receive the greater condemnation. And so from there, where Jesus teaches the disciples this lesson, then you have, as they're sitting there in the temple, the rich coming and putting their gifts into the offering box.

But then this poor widow comes in with two small copper coins. And he said, truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. They did not sacrifice as much as she did. They don't need the help.

Nobody needs to take up a collection to give on their behalf. Whenever somebody doesn't give in the church, we don't take up an offering for the person who can't give and then give on behalf of the person who couldn't give, right?

No, you would take up an offering to help the person who doesn't have. And we do that in our church. We have a benevolence fund that helps out different people with various needs and things like that.

But the rich are not losing anything to put their offering in the offering box. And they may have been looking for the recognition of people, looking for all the people around them to look at them and go, oh, wow, look at how much money he gave.

That seems to be the setting. That seems to be the tone of what Jesus is talking about here. But the poor widow who goes largely ignored by everyone else, and yet Jesus singles her out and says she put in more than all of them.

They gave out of the abundance, out of everything that they have. They really were not sacrificing much of anything to give to God. I have to wonder, would Jesus have singled out the rich guy who came forward and he did actually give all that he had?

That would be extremely rare. I mean, we've already had the episode just a couple of chapters ago of the rich young ruler that comes to Jesus. Jesus says to him, go and sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me.

And the rich young ruler walked away sad because he had many great possessions and didn't want to get rid of his stuff. So very unlikely you're going to see a rich person do this. But you certainly have this poor woman who has nothing but the two small copper coins that she puts into the offering box.

She gave out of her poverty all that she had to live on. So what should have been done instead, she should have been cared for. By the very people that had consumed her property and left her with, well, now at this point, nothing.

But again, the lesson is less about how this woman was willing to give even when this was all she had left. That's not really the lesson. The lesson is more that we need to give for the benefit of these who don't have anything.

Listen to this from Matthew Henry. This is his commentary on this particular narrative. From the offering of this poor widow, learn that what we rightly give for the relief of the poor and the support of God's worship is given unto God, and our Savior sees with pleasure whatever we have in our hearts to give for the relief of his members or for his service.

You certainly see the contrast between her heart and the Pharisees' heart, definitely. So the Pharisees are after the attention of everybody else, whereas this woman who has nothing still has a heart that is for the Lord, still gives to the offering box in the house of God.

That's certainly a gesture that we shouldn't ignore. That's definitely an amazing thing, that she, out of her poverty, is still giving unto God, even though she has nothing left. But ultimately, the thing that we're supposed to recognize, especially regarding the warning that Jesus gives at the end of chapter 20, what we're supposed to see is this is a woman who needs help.

And so as somebody who is in service to God, like they're giving in the offering box and thinking, hey, look at this wonderful act of worship that I'm doing. Give me congratulations because of how holy and pious I am.

Well, if you really cared for what God has said, you would be helping this woman. If you love God, you will love others. And that's not what the scribes and the Pharisees were doing. The other ironic thing about this is that this particular box was likely the very place where the free will offerings were put to help those who were in need.

And that's what this woman is doing when she's the person in need. But she certainly has the better heart because it was not about the quantity of what was given, but the quality of it. And this woman, though she be poor and destitute, was richer than all of them because she gave not only out of all that she had, but out of her whole heart to the service of God.

And so when it comes to our giving unto the Lord, especially when it comes to ourselves, that's especially the way that we need to be. Not giving out of abundance, not giving God what is left over, not giving ourselves out to all these other different things, and then, God, what I've got left, that's what I'm going to give to you.

We give all of ourselves to God in service to Christ our King who gave all of himself for us. He who left his throne in heaven, died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead. All who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

We've been bought with a price. And so, as Paul says to the Corinthians, honor God in your bodies. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would take all of us unto yourself and that we would be as living sacrifices unto the Lord, holy and acceptable before you.

This is our spiritual act of worship, as said in Romans 12 .1. May it not be a thing where we're just giving God the leftovers, but we give to you with our whole heart. Heart, soul, mind, and strength, loving God with all that we are.

There's not a part of ourselves that we keep away or keep to ourselves that we can devote even to this sinful thing. But we devote all of ourselves to holiness, to living in the righteousness of Christ.

Help us to be mindful even of others who are in need of help so that as you have loved us, we may show that love to one another. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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