Reimagine: The Widow's Mite

A few coins don’t seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but to her they were everything.

You can’t balance a budget with spare change after all? Didn’t she know?

Sometimes when we talk about money and giving we feel more shame and guilt than joy. We can feel like instead of a big show all we have to offer up are a few lousy coins or maybe a casserole.

Our sister church Boyle fed the Well this past Friday and so we all made chicken spaghetti. One member was kind enough to buy Dollar General’s entire stock of aluminum pans and pass them out during worship. As I was up to my elbows in chicken spaghetti, Jim told me as he often does “man if I had a quarter for every 9x13 pan my grandmother would fill and take to someone over the years.” Apparently, Ninny Martha (a widow for more years than she was married now), was known for her chicken spaghetti.

The disciples are looking all around the temple, overwhelmed by the fancy architecture. There were many coming giving large gifts, likely being announced out in the crowd about how much and what it was for. Could you imagine that during Sunday morning worship? Someone shouting out your gift? But jesus notices the widow. Would we even have heard about her had it not been for the eyes of Jesus?

A widow and some change. We don’t know her name. We don’t know her story. We just know that she came in among those who gave out of their abundance and she gave out of meager means, and Jesus notices.

Perhaps you have heard many a sermon on the widow’s mite or maybe this is your first. A message about how she gave everything she had and how we should be inspired to do the same. About how Jesus is lifting up the widow and her giving. This is an important part of the passage, but to really understand her sacrifice we need to expand just a bit.

This verse is set within the scope of Jesus addressing the religious leaders. They would wear their fancy robes and say their long prayers but he accuses them of devouring widow’s houses. This seems pretty harsh. What does Jesus mean by this?

Some scholars suggest that “Scribes were given charge over the estates of widows. Widows, as women, were considered unable to manage their finances, so this fell to to the scribes, the legal experts. The scribes would manage the estate for a fee. In a many cases this led to financial abuse and theft.” They would take care of the widow “for a nominal fee.”

Luke Timothy Johnson says “Before the destruction of the temple, (the treasure) was the method used to fulfill the demands of the Torah for the collection of alms for those perennially dispossessed...namely widows.” By giving to the treasury, the rich were fulfilling their responsibilities...so that the widow did not have to. In fact, widows were not required to give to the temple.”

Widows were supposed to be able to trust that the church would support them as a safety net in the midst of their own hardship. As Jesus came and saw all the money-changing in the temple and now witnesses the widow coming to give all she has to a system that is broken, it angers and grieves Jesus. Some have imagined Jesus calling attention to the widow as a lament.

Sung Soo Hong says “The presence of one destitute widow questions the reason for the temple’s existence. As always in Mark, the disciples fail to understand: one of them said, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” (13:1). While the disciples were amazed at the splendid appearance of Herod’s temple, Mark’s Jesus saw no reason for the temple to exist anymore—not even a stone upon a stone.”

If a church isn’t caring for the vulnerable within it’s fold, what is it doing with the resources it has been given? I hope to share more with you over time about the many ways your contributions at St. Luke go out into our community and to help support ministries across our state. One fund we collect for is our Compassion Fund. Those dollars go into an account that we use for individuals who come to us with various needs. So far this year, we have used this fund to assist with medical bills, utilities for an individual on at-home dialysis, a hotel stay for someone out-of-work as well as help with the cost of gas. We also contribute to the Bolivar Medical Center chaplain’s fund so those being discharged without transportation are able to get where they need to go. A couple of weeks ago we were able to meet Sara Flores and her husband Dakin who we help support. These are just a few examples.

In the middle of the disciples gawking, the widow brings her offering. She brings little but sacrifices much. I wonder if her house had been devoured. I wonder if she felt alone or out-of-place. And yet she comes and gives. Emilie Townes says “The coins represent faith-filled offering found in presenting all of who we are and all we hope to become to God for service to the world.... It is not so much the act of giving or receiving, as it is the act of being.”

I wonder where many of our churches would be without the faithfulness and sacrifice of widows or of others who give as a way of being. I know of so many whose legacy of service continues to live on today because of the way in which generosity was their way of being. So many whose coins of faithfulness supported the prayer chain, building repairs,scholarships for college kids, the food pantry, and so much more.

I want you to imagine your life as a coin. What might your offering of time, talent, gift, or service look like? If you are anything like me, some days I don’t feel like I’m doing nearly enough for the kingdom of God and so I’ve gotten to the point where I try to say yes to what God puts in front of me. It isn’t always convenient. It may not always be what I would want, but I try to say yes even when that yes can feel like a small casserole. But maybe even casseroles have their place. Each time you are setting aside your time, your money, and your effort in caring for another, Nadia Bolz Webers calls these casseroles from God.

Enclosed in your bulletin is a pledge form for 2025. I hope you will sincerely read over it and pray about how you are led to give of your time, talent, gift, and service this next year. What might your own coin or casserole of faithfulness look like this next year?

Rev. Keith Keeton (senior pastor at Parkway Heights)tells the story of how his daughter Ava broke her piggy bank as a 3-4 year old for some need she overheard he and his wife discussing. As she brought the seven dollars in loose change and dollar bills, she asked, “is this enough?”

Keith told the church, “I’d take a congregation full of four year old Avas over bold “proclaimers” any day.” That Sunday as they began communion, Keith says “one of our guests who wandered in from the streets interrupted loudly. I was worried about what he’d say.

He said, “all I’ve got to my name is seven dollars. I want to give it to you.”

He then counted out four dollar bills and a handful of change. We prayed. He hugged me and then left before the benediction.

I don’t know what’s got me so troubled, but I assume it’s the fact that someone actually believed all of it. It makes me uneasy even now. I’d feel better if folks just commented on the nice weather or told me they liked the hymns. I don’t know how to respond when someone offers everything they’ve got. We get so complacent with just enough faith, just enough sacrifice, or just enough love. No challenge. No inconvenience.

And God sends us someone off the street who hasn’t been discipled in our small groups, never been confirmed, not a regular attender, and probably got looked at with suspicion on the way in the door. But he heard Jesus call in today’s sermon. Everything Jesus said to the church, he took at face value, and it cost him all he had.”

Maybe the church is meant to be a place that you can trust and find shelter in, a place that offers you a warm casserole from God when you need it, that dishes out hope and light faster than Delta State’s fried chicken on a Wednesday. We don’t give to a church because we believe in their budget. We give because we believe in the transforming power of the love of God and feel the church (the hands and feet of God) is called to embrace the world with this love. Stewardship and service isn’t just an annual event or church program. It is an overflow of our worship of the living God.

What might your coins or casseroles of faithfulness look like this next year? How are you being called to join us in serving hope and light where it is needed most?