The widow’s generous offering Mark 12:38-44

Mark 12:38–44          (Gospel Reading for Sunday November 8th)

OK I’ll get my cynical point out the way first! Is this a very strategic placement by whoever put together the lectionary, of a reading at a time of the year when congregations are struggling to meet budgets and/or approve new ones? Maybe if we are made to feel guilty we will be nudged out of complacency/selfishness to give more?

I suspect that most of us over the years have interpreted this text with a stewardship slant, but cynicism aside, do we read more into this text than is actually there?
Perhaps we think of the rich as being people “with attitude”, putting on a bit of a show of how much goes into the coffers. A careful reading however does not uncover this line of thinking. Likewise we may come away thinking that Jesus praises the widow. Well, he doesn’t exactly do that either. It seems that Jesus simply gives a commentary on what has just happened, without drawing conclusions. I think we tend to add our own conclusions into the story.

I don’t think the intention is to directly link this story into stewardship and specifically our monetary giving. By taking that line, there is a danger even if only sub-consciously, of thinking that we might earn favour with God, by the amount or proportion of money that we give. This of course is quite contrary to what the gospel says, so I doubt that was what Jesus had in mind. Therefore, I’m not sure that Jesus is asking us today to put our every last cent into the collection plate.

So what’s going on here? Let’s also keep in mind the context and the lead up to this little incident. Jesus has been under fire from the experts in the law trying to trap him and he has also been trying to get through to the people that faith and trust in him is the key to entry into the kingdom. But also note carefully the preamble in verse 38. Maybe this is a subtle little teaching technique by Jesus, to set up the temple offering story as a metaphor for commitment to him. Are we too just partitioning off part of our life for Jesus, rather than giving it all to Him first and trusting him with it?

For us in schools, do we perhaps fall into the trap of pigeon-holing the God stuff? Do we put that in little boxes and tick each box once we have done a bit of the God stuff, rather than allowing the gospel of Jesus to under-pin, be fully integrated with, to inform and direct all that we do?