Radically Generous

Mark 12:41–44 CSB

41 Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. 43 Summoning his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had—all she had to live on.”

Let me set the scene here.

Mark tells us that Jesus was sitting across from the temple treasury, where offerings were made for the temple tax and other purposes.

There were 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles that sat on top of boxes where money would be dropped into and collected in the box.

This would have been in the Court of Women, where Jewish women were permitted to be, but not beyond that point.

Jewish money at this point would have been all metal coinage, not paper, and would have consisted of gold, silver, and other, less expensive, less heavy, metals, such as copper.

You can image then when someone would put a donation into the metal, trumpet-shaped receptacles, it would have made a variety of sounds depending on what was put in it.

Someone wealthy would have thrown in handfuls of heavy, valuable coins, sending a loud, ringing noise throughout the hall.

Those watching and listening in the temple would have known when the wealthy givers were putting in their donation, but they likely would have missed the widow.

But Jesus sees the widow and wants to direct the disciples, and our attention to her.

The widow shows us a clear and powerful example of Radical generosity.

Mark compares her gift to the gifts of the wealthy.

They gave from their overflow, but the widow gave from her poverty, putting in everything she had to live on.

Jesus isn’t saying that everyone should do as the widow does in giving over all that she has to live on.

His focus is not the act, but the heart behind the act.

God isn’t after our money. He’s after our hearts.

He wants us to love Him first of all.

He knows that our hearts are inseparably bound up with our money.

As Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21).

For this widow, Jesus is pointing out where her heart is, it is bound up in the Lord.

This is radical generosity.

Radical because it doesn’t make sense.

Why would she give it all, why not half? We will still be talking about her today.

It is radical because it is rare.

Something would stop being radical if it was common practice.

But it isn’t commonplace, and that is the purpose of Mark 12:41-44

In this widow, we are given a picture of Radical Generosity.

1) Radical generosity comes out of HUMBLE POVERTY.

The comparison is clear here: the rich weren’t coming to God needy, seeking Him.

Matthew 5:3 CSB

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

In the most important sermon ever preached, Jesus starts the sermon off with a call to poverty.

He isn’t saying that only financially poor people will get to heaven, but that only those who recognize their poverty and their neediness for God will receive God’s invitation into His kingdom.

This account of the widow is a good illustration of something Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 19

Matthew 19:23–24 CSB

23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Just before Mark tells us about Jesus seeing this widows offering, he records Jesus’s words about the Scribes, the religious elites of the day.

Mark 12:38–40 CSB

38 He also said in his teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who want greetings in the marketplaces, 39 the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”

The most devoutly religious, those who should have been taking care of the widows and ministering to those in need, were living self-centered and greedy lives.

Perhaps these very men, or acquaintances of them, were the “rich people” putting in handfuls of coins.

The stark contrast of the rich people and selfish scribes, against the poor, humble widow is clear and challenging.

There is a humble neediness she is expressing that Jesus is pointing out.

She had little to give and thus little to hold on to.

It is often much harder to give from an abundance, since there is so much more to give.

Humility breeds generosity. Listen to Paul report of the churches in Macedonia to the Corinthian church about the offering for the churches in Jerusalem:

2 Corinthians 8:1–6 ESV

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 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. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. 6 Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace.

What follows this introduction is one of the most clear and direct teaching on giving and generosity in the New Testament.

And Paul starts with the account of a poor, yet deeply humble and radically generous group of churches as an example to this, much more wealthy church in Corinth.

Humble neediness breeds generosity.

2) Radical generosity is guided by GODLY VALUES.

It is not hard to see what we value in life.

Look at our bank accounts, our calendars, and listen to our conversations.

Clearly we value food, shelter, transportation, clothing, entertainment, and so many other things.

You might think “We have to have most of those things!” and you are right, that is why they are valuable to you.

We invest in the things we value.

Here is my point, the widow found great VALUE in the Lord and the place she worshipped Him.

She gave it all, likely not sure where she would get her next meal.

The questions of “what if?” “How am I gonna?” “Where will I?” were NOT strong enough to keep those coins in her pocket.

This widow stood out because of what she valued and those values lined up with the values of the Lord.

This is key in seeking to live a radically generous life for the Lord.

YOU HAVE TO SEEK TO LOVE/VALUE THE THINGS HE DOES.

We then must let those values guide our decisions and directions in life.

Whatever God values most ought to be the things we value most.

Godly Values:

God values His Church

Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

God values the mission of making disciples

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God values the poor, sick, and persecuted.

Matthew 25:40 ESV

40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

How do your values line up and why?

When you sit down to work out a budget, what factors into the categories?

We can sometimes get so caught up in percentages that we fail to ask the question “What is most valuable to God?”

I am not talking just about offerings on Sunday mornings, but what about the desperately poor around the world? What about the unreached people groups in the far reaches of our world?

God values those things, do we?

3) Radical generosity cultivated in COURAGEOUS FAITH.

“All she had to live on…” that required courage, and that courage was rooted in a deep faith in God.

None of us are likely in the place of the widow, poor to the point that 2 copper coins is all she has to live on

But faith is not measured necessarily in how close we get to not paying all our bills.

Faith is measured in the security and trust we find in the Lord versus what we place in money.

The widows total giving was a demonstration of her absolute trust in God.

But she doesn’t give those 2 coins with a list of expectations attached.

She gave with a confidence in the promises of God and her eyes transfixed on the treasure He promises.

The calling here is not just a lifestyle of generosity, but of ambitious generosity. Not, “Make sure you cover your bases, and then see if you have some left over to give away,” but, Lay up treasures in heaven. Chase this treasure. — Marshall Segal

Radical generosity requires us looking ahead and not focusing on the glass of water.

It requires us to see our lives as part of a bigger, much more significant story than just our tiny existence.

The widow’s gift dislodges the excuse, “We’ll give when we get enough money.”

No, you won’t! Giving is a mind-set.

If you don’t figure out ways to give faithfully when you’re poor, you won’t give when you’ve got more.

You can always find some way to give something if you have a mind to be faithful to God.

Close

God isn’t after our money, He is after our hearts.

Radical Generosity flows from a humble, needy heart.

Radical Generosity flows from God-sized values

Radical Generosity is propelled by confident and courageous faith.

We can’t come to God with our hands behind our backs, clutching to our earthly riches (or anything else for that matter).

Come to Him with open hands, trusting that He is enough and He will take care of us.