Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
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Luke 20:45 – 21:4
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
20:45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”
The Widow’s Offering
21:1As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
If you’re a regular participant in these Bible Reflections, you might remember that we’ve said in the past that many of the most respected New Testament scholars point out that there’s not necessarily a correspondence between the order of things in the gospels and the order in which Jesus said and did those things. These scholars say that the apostles who compiled the gospels took great pains to be accurate in recording the teachings of Jesus, but that they never claimed to be getting them all down in chronological order. So, for instance, we don’t know whether the two events reported in today’s passage actually happened one after the other as they’re set down here, or whether Luke just put them together.
But however these two little stories came to be next to one another, it seems really interesting that the Holy Spirit led Luke to put them together. I say that because I think you could make a case that the two stories present a marked contrast between two different visions of what it means to be faithful to God.
In the first few verses, Jesus seems to be criticizing the vision of faithfulness that was lived out by his people’s religious leadership. He seems to reject that vision, or at least to reject the way of life that the leadership is manifesting.
But I think it’s important to note one thing — Jesus doesn’t say the leaders’ teaching is wrong. It’s their way of life that bothers him. The leaders are living out a vision of faithful life that seems more about glorifying themselves than about glorifying God. Jesus says that they dress up in fine robes when they go out in public. And they want to sit up front in worship so that others will see how important they are. And they’re in love with the sound of their own voices, too – they make prayers long and eloquent so everyone will know how terribly religious they are. In everything Jesus is talking about here, the religious leaders seem more interested in honoring themselves than in honoring God.
That’s bad enough, of course, but there’s an even darker side to the lives of the religious leaders. Jesus says they’re using their power and authority to take advantage of the poor and the vulnerable. What he actually says is, “They devour widows’ houses.” Now, it needs to be said that the Bible scholars aren’t actually in agreement about how the religious leaders were ‘devouring widows houses.’ But one possibility some scholars point to is a practice Jesus specifically condemned in other places in the gospels. It seems that some religious leaders were persuading people to pledge their assets to the temple instead of taking care of their elderly parents.
But the specific form of their heartlessness probably doesn’t matter — the point is that, as far as Jesus was concerned, men who derived their authority from God were using that authority for their own benefit while needy people were suffering.
The second little story provides a stark contrast to the hard-hearted greed of the religious leaders.
Jesus points out the people who are giving their offerings at the Temple. In the account of this story in Mark (which is probably the original version, because Mark is the eyewitness testimony of Peter, and Luke is based on Mark), Jesus actually makes a point of sitting down and watching the people give their offerings. It’s not that he just noticed something as he happened by.
What Jesus saw was that after a number of rich people have given their offerings, a very poor widow walks up to put in two small coins. Then Jesus comments that the widow has given more than the others, because she has given all she had. His point, it seems to me, is that true faithfulness to God is sacrificial in nature.
To a wealthy person, an offering of a thousand dollars might be ‘chump change.’ Less than a boat payment. It doesn’t really represent a sacrifice. The wealthy giver doesn’t miss it. But it seems that to Jesus, sacrificial giving – giving that you really feel – that’s the kind of giving that genuinely honors God.
This passage challenges those of us who are richly blessed to make sure that our giving is as generous as God’s blessings to us. Sadly, studies show that on a percentage basis, poor people give more generously to God’s work than those of us who are better off. I suspect that’s because many of us who are well off are suffering from the mental disorder of entitlement – the delusion that we deserve our material blessings because we work harder and are more virtuous than the poor. (Statistically, of course, both claims are false. In spite of what we tell ourselves, lots of poor people work harder and are just as virtuous as we are.)
But it seems that entitlement is a mental disorder Jesus wants to cure his followers of.
On the other hand, what Jesus says in the second part of our reading should be a source of comfort and encouragement for followers of Jesus who are of limited means. I say that because it seems clear that the God of the universe is delighted with the smallest gift, when that gift is sacrificially given. People with few material resources can give with the confidence that their offerings bring just as much joy to God’s heart as those of the rich. Or for that matter, even more.
Let’s pray. Lord, we pray that your Spirit will be working within our hearts, to guard us against using our roles as disciples for our own benefit, and to move us to give generously – even sacrificially – in support of your work in the world. Remind us daily that all we have is a gift from you. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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