Devouring Widow’s Houses

Introduction

Opening Illustration: It is Mother’s Day today, and I couldn’t help but think of the verse that has most impacted my heart as a pastor in my responisibilities towards you, our Church, is from the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2.

1 Thessalonians 2:7–8 ESV

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

That verse speaks about genuine love, a concern, a warmth, a motherly affection for God’s people.

Personal: But that verse is not just for Pastors. That is for God’s people. Do you have a motherly affection for every person in your Church. From the least to the greatest, a hunger to share not only the gospel of God, but your own life.

Context: Today as we continue our sermon series in the Gospel of Luke we come to a well known passage, the Widow’s Mite. Just a few verses, but verses I believe can deeply shape how we think about community, about life, about God’s Church, and about our love of the vulnerable among us.

Luke 21:1–3 ESV

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.

Meaning & Application

I THE TRADITIONAL UNDERSTANDING

Perhaps the best place to begin is to teach the classic lesson from this text. Traditionally when the story of the Widow’s Mite is taught, there is a lesson to be had around faithful generosity.

Context: The story of the Widow’s Mite begins in chapter 21 by saying “Jesus looked up and swa the rich putting their gifts into the offering box.” The scene is in the temple precinct. The temple stood in the midst of a series of courtyards. Each successive courtyard had limitations on who could enter. This scene is in the Court of the Women. The Court of the Women was the furthest place in the temple precinct that women were allowed venture. Around the Court of the Women were thirteen golden trumpet shaped offering boxes. They were beautiful, and when you visited the temple, you could make an offering in one of those thirteen offering boxes, and the money given would go towards sustaining the work of the temple. Since the offering boxes were golden and in a particular shape with a long trumpet like neck, one could hear the size of the coins and the amount of the coins that were being deposited. If someone came with a box of coins, you would hear for 20 seconds or as the coins were shaked into the recepticle. And if someone came with something like two small coins, you would hear the chink chink as the coins went down.

“Poor” Widow: Jesus provides commentary on the scene that he sees playing out. He sees the rich putting in their large amount of coins. And he contrasts that with a widow that he sees. Now the widow described a poor widow in verse 2 as a “poor widow.” That’s a fine translation of the term but the word really means extremely poor. We have encountered widows already in the Gospel of Luke, but some context is important. We have a sense of the plight of widows today. And yet their plight was often far worse in those days. Widows both you and old, as women, did not have much opportunity to earn a living in that day. Further, they were susceptible to many dangers of vile men who might mean them harm. Without a man around, many of the more difficult tasks that involved heavy manual labor, were impossible for them to complete adequately. And so women widows were highly dependent on the community to provide for them, to support them, to keep them safe. This was a very poor widow. She had little. And here she takes the very little she has, two small copper coins, and she drops them in temple offering box

Jesus’ Commendation: And it appears that Jesus commends this widow. It appears that he is looking at the heart of this woman, and though she physically gave less money, in some way Christ says what she gave was more than the rich. The idea is actually quite beautiful. Jesus here is teaching a lesson, so it is commonly taught, that this widow is an example to all, of what it means to give sacrificially. Of what it means to manage our finances in such a way that we don’t just tip God off the excesses of our wealth, but that give by faith even until it hurts. Because we love God and love others, and money has no hold on us.

Elsewhere in Scripture: This is a lesson that is confirmed elsewhere in scripture. In 2 Corinthians 8, the Apostle Paul boasts about the way the Macedonian gave of their finances to help the Church. He writes

2 Corinthians 8:1–4 ESV

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—

These Macedonians were in “extreme poverty” and a “severe test of affliction” and yet they begged to be able to give financially towards the growth of the Church.

Experiential: This begs us to ask all kinds of questions about our stewardship of our finances. Good, godly questions.

Do we give sacrificially?

Is our faith such that were we in the position of this widow, or of the Macedonians who were in “extreme poverty” that we would still seek to show generosity to others?

Do we view our finances and our wealth, as our own, or belonging to God’s kingdom?

All of these questions and more, might be answered by considering this extraordinary gift of this “poor widow.”

II AN ALTERNATE UNDERSTANDING

Yet, I am not convinced of that reading of the text, for a few reasons. But most noticeable because of the context of the passage. The passage begins “Jesus looked up…” That seems to indicate that he had just finished doing something else. So what was he just doing, and does what he was just doing have anything to do with a widow putting money into an offering box. Let’s just back just a few verses, and read the preceding context.

Luke 20:45–47 ESV

And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of 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 widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

That provides some very interesting background for the story of the widows mite. Jesus is sitting in the “hearing of all the people”, in other words, in the court of the women where people are passing by. And he turns to his disciples and in verses 46-47 Jesus condemns the scribes. The scribes were another group of religious leaders in Israel. Their particular job was to be experts in the law of God, the Old Testament.

Beware of the Scribes: He uses six short phrases that are loaded with meaning to reveal their true character. The instructions are very clear. We are to beware of them. In other words, take notice and do not be like these people. Six descriptions.

1 Walk in Long Robes: First, they like to walk around in long robes, they desire to be seen in these clothes. Jesus is clearly saying something more than their fashion sense. The long robes were a symbol of their elite position in the religious establishment of the day. Their desiring to be seen in these clothes is because they are a status symbol, and being seen in that status symbol feeds their inner ego.

2 Love Greeting in Marketplace: The next three descriptions are all about the things they love. What do these scribes love? They “love greetings in the marketplace.” The image is of a man who puts on his very important clothes, and then walks around in a public place where he knows others will feel the urge to revere them, to notice them. They love being noticed.

3 Love Best Seats in Synagogues: Second, they love the best seats in the synagogue. Not because they want to make sure they don’t miss anything from the teaching that week. But it seems from the sense of Christ’s teaching that they loved that spot because all eyes would be upon them.

4 Love Places of Honor at Feasts: Third, they loved the places of honor at feasts. They want to be honored, they want to be elevated. They want people to notice their importance.

5 Devour Widows Houses: The last two description are somewhat connected. They are put together to draw the insane contrast of the two actions. First, we are told they “devour widows houses.” What does that mean? Well scholars are a bit divided on what exactly the practice was that Jesus is referencing here. But essentially they were conning widows, who had nobody to defend them, out of their real estate. We can imagine the scene. A man passes away and leaves an elderly widow with the family possessions including the house. But she is an older widow and cannot quite maintain the house on her own like she was able to when her husband around. Of course we remember the context that widows in that day were in a very dangerous position, not much opportunity to create more wealth. Not much protection from those who meant her harm. And so in her moment of weakness and fear and loneliness, a group of smiling scribes show up at her house. And they cajole her into a bad deal. Perhaps they say “We’ll give you the money you need to live on, if you just sign over this property to us.” Or maybe its an even worse deal for the widow, “We’ll protect you in your older years, if you just sign this over to us right now.” This is wickedness.

6 For a Pretense Make Long Prayers: And then Jesus contrasts that action with going out in public and making a spectacle of a long high sounding prayer where others can see their holiness on display. Look at how we pray publicly… while we rob widow’s of their homes. These scribes are criminals. And much more importantly, they misrepresent God and they misrepesent the kingdom of God.

The Old Testament: Now it should just be common courtesy to know that “devouring widows houses” is wrong. But these scribes were experts in the Old Tetsament, and as experts they should known the very words of God that were written over and over and over again all through the Bible that God’s people are to prioritize care for the poor, the weak, the needy, the defenseless, the orphan, the immigrant, and… the widow. This is a theme on repeat in the Bible, and its given in at least three different ways.

God’s Character: First in God’s character, we see that God Himself has an interest in executing justice for those whom justice is often misapplied. We read in Deuteronomy 10,

Deuteronomy 10:17–18 ESV

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

The Law: Not only God’s character, but God’s law. Many examples I could cite, but God’s people were obliged to obey God’s law which gave specific instruction to care for widows.

Deuteronomy 24:17–19 ““You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge… When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”

The Prophets: God’s character. God’s law. And finally God’s prophets were sent to continually warn that they were falling short on their responsibility to care for the widows.

Isaiah 10:1–2 ESV

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

To Summarize the Scene: And so, let’s summarize the scene, with this new context. Jesus is sitting in the courtyard teaching his disciples about how wicked the scribes are. He’s teaching about how they use their religious position to feed their inner ego. They use God and religion for their own advancement. And the chief culminating wicked deed that summarizes the condition of their heart is that they would dare to go stand in front of others and make lengthy prayers that make them look as if they were spiritual leaders worthy to be followed, while meanwhile behind the scenes, they are conmen, who are stealing from the most vulnerable in their community, they’re making the poor poorer, while they get rich. Their devouring widow’s houses.

The Widow Walks Across the Room: Then… chapter 21 verse 1, “Jesus looked up” and he sees a widow. Not just any widow, but a widow in extreme poverty. He watches the scene play out. And he sees the rich giving out of their wealth, and he sees this poor widow, with nearly nothing to her name, come with two small coins. Jesus says about this women,

Luke 21:4 “… she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

That means now after putting her two coins into the offering box at the temple, she’s going to have to find a way to beg, borrow, and steal for a slice of bread. But the system just keeps going on. Does Jesus see her heart and commend her? Maybe. But this passage is pincipally, I believe, not a commendation of the widow as much as a condemnation of the scribes and of a system that force widows who have nothing to believe that faithfulness is giving their last two coins the temple.

The Widow: That widow should have been protected and cared for overwhelming within the community. In fact we might go so far as to say that how God’s people care for widows among them is a sort of spiritual barometer of their health before God. The very fact that she only had two mites, is a condemnation of the way the temple was being run. And the fact she was being expected to drop off her last two coins into the temple offering, was an additional condemnation. That widow should have been treated as a cherished loved one.

Her home should not have been devoured by con-men, it should have maintained and sustained by strong men.

Her bank account should not have been depleted by offerings to the temple, but those in charge of the temple should have taken the offerings and filled her bank account.

The care of widows was meant to be a spiritual barometer for the nation of Israel, that this widow had but two mites to drop into the offering spoke very poorly of the spiritual health of the nation.

Application

What do we draw away from this text. I would like to offer us today three applications for working this text deeper into our heart.

1 We Must Have Eyes to See Others as Christ Saw Them: The first application I want us to reflect on is that we should be a people that desire to see people like Christ saw people. How many people were in that Temple Court on that day? How many do you think saw the rich putting in all their excess and thought longingly about them? And how many do you think noticed the widow.

No Name: In the Gospel of Luke there is a recurring theme. That is the theme of nameless women. You might recall the woman in Luke 7 who washed Christ’s feet with an alabaster flask of ointment, no name. In Luke 8 there is the women who had bled for 12 years who Christ healed, nameless. Here we come across a poor widow, again nameless. One of the challenges of suffering is that it is very often a very private thing. We don’t want to be a burden to people. We don’t want to have all the attention on us. We don’t want to come off like we are weak. There are all kind of social reasons why we labor so hard to hide our suffering.

Jesus Saw: But Jesus consistently saw who no one else saw. This makes sense, doesn’t it. If Christ is the living embodiment of the law of God, if he is the law made flesh, and if in the law of God we find over and over and over again this calling to be a people who see and provide for the vulnerable, then it only makes sense that Jesus did this so well.

Dependent on Outside Help: I suppose one of the key reasons that we struggle so much to see people, and to take notice of the needs in our community, is because somewhere we have this sense, this very American independent strong rebellious sense, that to be dependent on outside help is the ultimate sense of shame. To need somebody to step in and provide something in your life that you can’t provide yourself, is the ultimate dishonor (so we think). And so when we see somebody who is dependent on others, there can be an inward first move of feeling a burden. But what an ironic twist for a Christian, isn’t it.

The Gospel: Because at the heart of Christianity is confessing that we cannot help or save ourselves. And that unless someone else acts for us, we are utterly lost, incapable of coming to God on our own. Praise be to God, someone did come to us, Christ! Christ saw us. Christ moved towards us. Christ suffered for us. He carried our burden for us. He died for us, while we were weak, and dependent. The very center of Christianity is our own absolute dependence on Christ. In fact you cannot become a Christian until you confess that very thing.

What Stops You: This is why, the care of widows and orphans, is a spiritual barometer for the health of the people of the God. Because its a signal for us that we actually understand the gospel. Oh may God grant us eyes to see as Christ saw.

2 We Must Relish the Scriptural Vision of the Church: The second application I would like to draw is the beauty of Christ’s Kingdom done Christ’s way. This scene in the Temple Courtyard is a picture of God’s Kingdom done in man’s way, where widows are neglected, and the rich are praised. But the Church, that is filled by the Holy Spirit and equipped for every good work, has an entirely different economy.

The Church (Heaven on Earth):The Church is supposed to be a glimpse of heaven on earth. In Acts 2 we read of the early church community who was gathering regularly, the word was being preached, signs and wonders were being done, and then we read in the midst of that community,

Acts 2:45–47 “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

What this Wasn’t: This was not forced economic Marxism, where the Church was requiring that everyone sell all their possessions and all goods were shared equally among all. Rather what this was, was a true community of Christ-ones, who were looking out the real needs of the growing community, and everyone was looking at what they had, and saying “How can I use this wisely? How can I bless?” And I find it no surprise in the midst of that culture that the Lord was adding to their numbers daily.

Everyone Has Enough: Let me get even more simple and practical. What I’m describing happens in two ways, formally and informally.

Formally: Formally, when you give financially towards this Church, that money is stewarded to accomplish much of the formal ministry that happens. From something as simple as rent and salaries of ministers are all provided for through your giving. But so is all of hte ministry. From teaching the Word of God, to building the adoption fund which helps children get adopted, to supporting our global missionaries who are serving overseas, to our benevolence fund, a fund that individuals in this church regularly use. If someone falls into a hard season adn can’t pay their rent, or just needs some help to get through a tough season, we give out thousands upon thousands of dollars every year. And that is your money. When you give to this church, your money is going to those places. We don’t broadcast it because its people’s personal lives. But nevertheless you are giving towards that and sustaining that.

Informally: But then there is the informal. Just the way you all have eyes like Jesus to see and care for those in need around you. Incredible what I see

Some have taken folks into their home for long seasons who needed a place to stay

Attorneys have given free legal counsel

Doctors have given free medical care and counsel

Moms have stepped in provided care when others were overwhelmed

You’ve become foster parents and safe families

Sometimes I find out months down the road that a member overwhelmed somebody in our church with a financial gift to simply help them.

You’ve met one on one for prayer, practical guidance

You’ve taken immigrants into your home.

You’ve helped people move.

You’ve cooked people meals.

You’ve sat and wept with people in their sadness, and stood and rejoiced in their rejoicings.

On our best days, I see it. And I am reminded of the Apostle Paul when he was sent off to go preach the gospel among the nations he was told by the other Apostles “Only remember the poor” and he follows up “The very thing I was eager to do.”

More to Grow: I can boast on you Church, because I am very fond of you. And I can also encourage us that there is more. We cannot take care of every person and every need in the city of Chicago. That’s too much. But we can make sure that everyone who is a part of this community is well cared for.

3 We Must Examine Ourselves: Third and finally, I want us to examine ourselves, particularly our spirits. I want to see if the Holy Spirit is forming this in us. Are our hearts being made more like Christ? If so…

Convicting Spirit: Those whom Christ has saved and are on a path of sanctification will have a inward humble sense of conviction when considering what areas of life they may be overlooking in their care of others. In other words, they will not gloss over this easily. This convicting spirit is not necessarily that there is more you could be doing (that’s guilt). It’s a convicting spirit that your heart may have some development still needd.

Quickening Spirit: Secondly, those who are filled by the Holy Spirit, once they experience the conviction of the Spirit will then experience the quickening of the Spirit. As they are led to take action, to be the hands and feet of Christ. Let me warn here against grand plans. I am not speaking of begining grand ministries and raising grand funds.

A quickening spirit to provide new tires for that member in your Small Group.

A quickening spirit to provide a meal for that exhausted mom.

A quickening spirit to provide a room for that person in your church. Begin with what is around you.

Tender Spirit: Third, those who are filled by the Holy Spirit, will have a tender spirit themselves to the proper and healthy functioning of God’s church. Here I am speaking of the people, and not the system. A tender spirit is interested in the sufferings of others in their community. They take a very special notice of this, in fact they seek it out. There are personal boundaries and all of that, yes. But underneath that is a tenderness to the needs of your fellow saints in Christ.

Compassionate Spirit: A healthy follower of Christ increasingly has a sensitive heart for the marginilized. This is not to be confused with what I think is properly referred to as modern toxic empathy, where we are to feel bad for everyone who claims to be marginilized. No. We are to have a sensitive heart for those whom God declares are marginilized.

Conclusion

And so, we conclude our study of the widow’s mite. As I have shown, I believe the classic reading of this text falls short. But if we are willing, this text might have much to teach us about Christ’s words when he taught us,

Matthew 25:40 “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”