Two Cents’ Worth (Mark 12:41-44)

Have you heard of The Giving Pledge? It’s an online commitment made by 256 of earth’s wealthiest families who publicly promise to give away at least 50% of their fortunes. Bill Gates, George Lucas, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and a bunch of other billionaires we’ve never heard of have signed. Warren Buffett, the founder of the Giving Pledge, says he’ll give 99% of his fortune to charity.

It certainly gets a lot of attention and tons of favorable media coverage for those folks. But often it’s more fanfare than follow through. Of those 256 individuals or families who signed, only 9 have kept their promise.^[1] And those that have, like Warren Buffett, tend to make large “giving” contributions to, well, themselves. This year, Buffett announced he’d be giving $4.4 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and half a billion dollars to each of his children’s foundations.^[2]

Dale Schroeder was the opposite. His story of giving is all follow through with zero fanfare. Dale had a hard childhood. His father abandoned the family during the Great Depression.^[3] There would be no money for college. Dale grew up and became a carpenter. He worked at the same company for 67 years.^[4] He never married, never had kids. He lived very frugally. He owned two pairs of jeans: One for work, one for church. When he started receiving his Social Security checks, he left them uncashed. A friend later said the stack of checks was nearly an inch and a half thick.

Before he died, he decided he wanted to give what he had saved directly to young Iowans from small towns who wanted to go to college but couldn’t afford it. He got together with a couple of his friends, one of whom was an attorney, and asked them to accomplish his plan after he died. They said they would, then asked how much he had to give away. Dale’s answer? $3 million!

Dale died in 2005 and his friends got to work. In a world where charitable giving is so often just a way to move money to other family members or political organizations, outside observers didn’t believe Dale’s friends would really do all of this for free. They were audited three times.

Between 2007 and 2015, Dale’s gift paid for 33 kids to go to college, totally free of charge. Naturally, the first year the scholarship was available, hundreds of students applied. The finalists were interviewed at Dale’s friends’ church and none went go home empty-handed.^[5]

In our text tonight we have one of the most dramatic examples of giving recorded in the Scriptures. Because, like Dale Schroeder, this lady gave all. But what’s much more astounding is that she did not wait until she was dead. As she does it, Jesus tells all of us to pay attention.

Now, while this is a story about giving, it’s not primarily going to teach us about the doctrine of giving. Certainly there are principles we can draw out which give us direction when it comes to our own generosity and offerings to the Lord. But more than a text about giving, this is a text about living. How to live out our faith, trusting God.

Mark 12:41 – 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.

It’s been over a month since we’ve been in the Gospel of Mark, so perhaps a quick recap would be helpful. Mark 11 shows us the Sunday before the crucifixion. The chapters that follow are all that final week leading to the cross. Mark 16 shows the following Sunday, resurrection morning.

In Mark 11 and 12, we’ve had five conflict encounters, where different groups come to Jesus, each trying to trap Him or discredit Him or question Him. Chief priests and scribes and elders and Pharisees and Sadducees. Each of these groups claimed to have spiritual authority. Each thought they had discovered the right way to be religious, to honor God, to live rightly.

But in each case, Jesus either exposed their inadequacy, their hypocrisy, or He would outright warn the regular people around them, “Don’t be like these guys.”

Finally, the onslaughts have stopped. And Jesus goes out into the area known as the Court of the Women and sits down for a minute. What’s interesting is that, number one, none of the crowds are bothering Him, and number two, the disciples seem to be giving Him some space.

The Court of the Women was a large space. It’s been said that it could accommodate 15,000 people.^[6] Along the wall there were 13 chests, shaped sort of like trumpets, that served as offering boxes.^[7] The chests were labeled. The majority were for what was legally required of Jews. Things like the Temple tax. But some of them were for free-will offerings.^[8]

Jesus takes a break to do a little people watching. The Temple is jam-packed. It’s feast week. Lots of people are there and lots have come to give their offerings as required and desired. But Jesus isn’t just zoned out. The word used for watched means He observed thoughtfully.^[9]

It’s good to remember that Jesus is watching our lives. He does so because He loves us and because He has plans for us and because He wants reward us. But I know I find it easy to get into a mentality where I kind of only think of God watching me to make sure I’m not sinning. That He’s watching like a referee, ready to call something I do as out of bounds. But God doesn’t want to relate to me as a referee. He wants to relate to me as a Father.

He watches not just to make sure we’re not doing things, but to see what we are doing. What am I spending my life on? He’s given me life, what am I doing with it? He observes all our steps.^[10]

In this case, there were lots of people. They’re there in God’s house. They’ve come for different reasons and different attitudes. And God sees past the surface into the heart of each of them. Again, not so He can disqualify as many people as He can, but because He cares about them. Remember the scribe from the last passage? Jesus said, “You’re not far from the Kingdom.” He knew and He cared and He was calling that individual to follow in faith.

Mark 12:42 – ⁴² Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little.

These coins were called “leptons” which can literally mean “the thin ones.”^[11] They were the smallest copper coins in circulation. While people at other boxes are chunking in silver and gold, each coin clanging on the pile, this lady drops in two little pennies that would’ve made barely a sound.

The amount she put in would’ve been equivalent to 1/64 of a days wage.^[12] In our terms, what a laborer would get for 7.5 minutes of work. It’s not enough to be the Temple tax, which means this was a freewill offering.^[13] She’s not giving out of obligation, but by choice.

Now here’s what we know about her: She is both poor and a widow. It would be hard enough to be a widow in this society – there weren’t many options for you. But one would hope to be at least a wealthy widow. But she is in double trouble being a poor widow.

Mark 12:43 – 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.

Where were the disciples? We don’t know. But Jesus formally calls them over and says, “Guys, take a look at this. This is officially a teaching moment.” By summoning them and saying, “Truly I tell you,” Jesus was signaling that this was an important lesson not only for the 12 disciples, but all subsequent disciples. This widow is an example we’re supposed to learn something from.^[14]

Let me say right away, the lesson we’re supposed to learn is not that every disciple must give 100% of their money every time they come to church. That would be impossible and unwise. We have a potent example in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. Peter told them their money was theirs to use at their disposal.^[15] Paul later said God’s goal in our Christian giving is not self-affliction.^[16]

So what is the immediate lesson the poor widow teaches us? First, we learn about how God does accounting. In His eyes, value is not assessed by decimal points, but by devotion. The gift she gave was given not out of obligation, but in faith. And we’ll see that it was truly a sacrifice for her to give this money, despite how little buying power it had. Through her we learn about God’s valuation.

Jesus said not only was hers the most valuable gift that day, but actually that on heaven’s books, her donation was worth more than all of the others combined.^[17] In verse 44 He gives more context.

Mark 12:44 – 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.”

Warren Buffett gets a lot of accolades for promising to give away 99% of his fortune. But listen, that still leaves him $1.45 billion. Meaning, Warren will still have more money that the median American would earn in 850 lifetimes. He gives out of his surplus.

Now, Jesus wasn’t saying the gifts the rich people gave were evil or worthless, but they weren’t sacrificial. And this is a principle we want to pay attention to. God is not demanding your bankrupt yourself every time you give Him an offering, but He does ask us to sacrifice. Why? For at least two reasons: First, God wants us to live in such a way that we don’t let greed and materialism take over our hearts.^[18] Giving sacrificially is a practice that contributes to our spiritual health. And second, when we give sacrificially to the Lord, it demonstrates the genuineness of our love for Him.^[19]

Where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. But how much of our treasure? Christians argue over whether we have to tithe – meaning give 10% of our income – to the Lord or if we should give some other amount. The truth is, this text doesn’t teach about tithing. She gave 100%, not 10!

For the record: The New Testament does not command Christians to tithe. It does command us to give to the Lord’s work and gives us principles, guidelines, and imperatives in doing so, both in the epistles and from Jesus Himself.

Those principles include giving discreetly,^[20] regularly,^[21] eagerly,^[22] generously and cheerfully,^[23] and sacrificially.

As to where we give to God’s work – practically – the New Testament gives us several ways. First, to support the local church and those who work there.^[24] Second, in the work of missions.^[25] Third, in helping the poor of this world, especially impoverished Christians.^[26]

The widow in this scene is a bright and shining example of many of these principles. Now, she is not yet a member of the Church. And we shudder to think of what the corrupt leaders of the Temple would use even her two little coins for. But God still counted her gift as worthy. Her heart was what Jesus was excited about. A heart that was not only ready to give but to live out her faith.

Did you notice what Jesus said? “She has put in everything…all she had to live on.” This woman does not know where her next meal is coming from. Why did she give everything she had? We don’t know. But she trusts the Lord. See, it’s not about the amount or the percentage. Her great example is in the life she living, not the leptons she’s giving. She’s not giving pennies. In this act she’s giving her life to God as a free-will offering. Even in her difficulty, she believes that God is good and God is worthy and that the best thing she can do if give herself to Him.

Why does Jesus want to show His disciples this example if she’s not the model for how to give our money? Well this story sits right in the middle of two major sections which reveal what true spirituality is about. Previously, Jesus said, “These proud, ostentatious scribes may look pious, but they’re not spiritual as far as heaven is concerned. That’s not real faith.” And the next section is going to be the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus says, “Guys, some costly days are ahead. My disciples are going to be flogged. You’re going to be arrested. You’re going to be hated. You’re going to be betrayed to your deaths. The Temple is going to be destroyed.” In those days, real faith has to be more than an empty pledge. It has to be more than just people getting good press by acting pious. It’s going to require the kind of trust and sacrifice embodied by this poor widow. Real faith means not quibbling over a percentage or a decimal, but living life as an offering.

And, as far as God is concerned, a simple life lived in devotion to God, a life lived in real, loving faith toward Christ, is worth more than all the billions donated by the Buffetts and the Gates. That is what the Lord is looking for. A person who will trust Him and live by faith, whether they have two fortunes or two pennies. Living a life of quiet, personal devotion. Being led. Maybe you’ll be led to empty your savings account one day in service of God’s work. Maybe not. But all of us are called and commanded to trust and follow and worship and participate in what God is doing.

Every year, the 33 people who had their college paid for by Dale Schroeder get together for a reunion dinner. They celebrate the impact one person can have by living for others.^[27] And they recognize they can’t pay Dale back. But they can emulate him.

Jesus was also about to give all He had. Not a couple of coins, but His very life. His blood would be poured out for you and me. Shed for the remission of our sins. We can’t pay Him back. But we can live out the Christian life. A life of faith, of trust, of generosity, of hope in God, Who will lead us according to His perfect purposes.