Day five - What can I give?

As I write this reflection, we are almost a year into the restrictions placed on us due to the pandemic and life is difficult for many people in many ways – children, young people, families, single people, the older generation. Its reach and impact are wide. Many have found themselves unemployed or on reduced hours of work, possibly for the first time in their working lives, at the same time coping full time with children at home when household resources are stretched.

At the time of Jesus many people lived in difficult circumstances, many living hand-to-mouth on a regular basis in a society where there was no state safety net for those who had little means of their own.

Immediately prior to the arrival of the widow Jesus was teaching at the temple, and as he sat opposite the Temple treasury he was condemning the religious leaders who exploited widows and feigned piety.

We learn in Mark 12:41-44 that there was a poor widow who arrived at the Temple treasury. “A poor widow came and put in two small coins, which was worth a penny.” Mark 12:42

Jesus saw the widow approaching the treasury, with little to give. She may have felt embarrassed giving so little money, discretely placing the coins into the collection vessel, hoping that others wouldn’t notice how little she gave.

Many people give to our churches, for which we are grateful, but we have all probably known people who have made a great show of giving. It is perhaps easy to focus on these people rather than others who maybe aren’t in a position to give financially but give of their time and their skills, equally as important to the life of the church and those within it. Anyone who has been in a position where they have struggled to make ends meet or have known people who try to ‘eek out’ their money so it will last until the next money is due, will understand the stress and worry involved. Like the widow they may feel that they have little to give.

But Jesus is clear that what the widow gave was her all, far more valuable to God. She gave to God above her own needs. How precious is that! Jesus argues that the widow has given the most because while the rich have only given from their surplus, and thus have not sacrificed anything to God, the widow has indeed sacrificed greatly. She has given all she has suggesting that she may now not have money for food.

As we progress through Lent this is a good time to review what it means to us to be a disciple of God, and how we serve God and our fellow Christians. We can apply the widow’s example not only to the giving of our money, but also of our time, our prayers, our love, our service and our talents. Do we truly offer those to God, or do we give them mechanically, half-heartedly, even grudgingly at times? Do we bring them out of routine or habit, or as a spontaneous expression of love and thanksgiving?

So, take some time during Lent to reflect on where you are in your discipleship journey, and what changes you can make to the way in which you follow God.

I recently found this reading from Nick Fawcett’s book Heaven Touching Earth: Prayers for Daily Life, entitled ‘The Loose Change’.

I pocketed the coins with barely a glance,

The sum so small it seemed hardly worth counting;

Yet what I judged insignificant

Others would have considered a fortune,

Enough to spell the difference between life and death.

It could have bought food for the hungry,

Medicine for the sick

Or shelter for the homeless;

But it did none of those,

Lying instead in my pocket

Until spent, not on others, but myself.

Kathy Shaw