Mark 12:41-44 • Devotional
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
I want to look with you at Mark chapter 12, right at the end, verses 41 through 44.
And I want to thank Dr. Doudy, whose idea it was to get us together, and the blessing of seeing so many people who share in the endeavor of preparing servants of God to go forth into the world to gather here to say, "We unite together, rejoice together, in what God gives us to do this year." And particularly, I think, as Dr. Doudy has led by saying,
having us together in chapel as regularly as we can, he's gone to the various supervisors and vice presidents, said, "Can we all come, as much as our jobs allow, come and be a part of this, is just leading, not just by our jobs, it's leading in worship, as we would try to have our students understand for now and for their long-term futures what it means to gather as a people in corporate unity for the great tasks of the kingdom." And I want to thank Dr. Doudy for thinking of that. Now, you might think, "Well, what I would do on any given day, what little I would contribute to this overall effort might not mean much, but I want to convince you otherwise." And so I'm asking you to look with me at Mark 12, verse 41 and following. Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
They all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in everything all she had to live on. It had been a rough series of days, even hours for the Savior. Prior to this, he had been disputing with the big heads the people who were questioning whether he had a right to lead anybody, whether he had a right to teach. And so those who were experts in the law came with their arguments and asked very important questions like,
if a man marries and dies and his brother marries his widow and dies and his brother marries the widow and dies and his brother marries the widow and dies and his brother marries the widow and dies and his brother marries the widow and dies,
whose wife will she be in the resurrection? Now you know the people just every day wrestled with this question.
And Jesus answered and said, you don't understand the resurrection, you don't understand the nature of heaven. But it wasn't just that he had to wrestle with the people who just loved the theological debates and showing off their big heads. He had to deal with the big wigs as well as the big heads,
the people who were challenging his authority. And so they came with other kinds of arguments. Now, should you pay taxes to Caesar, knowing that however he answered, he'd be in trouble?
And Jesus talked about them. He talked to the people about those scribes who wear the long, flowing robes, who want to be recognized in the marketplace and have their names called out and sit at the special places at the banquet tables. And those people who appear to humanize to be just so important. And Jesus knew their importance was being challenged by his message. And so they didn't really want him. He had to wrestle with the big wigs as well as the big heads. And it may be for that reason that he's just kind of gone to a corner of the temple courts, apparently by himself, just to kind of get away from the disputing, from the wrangling. I don't know if saviors have migraines, but you can just kind of see him doing this. And then what's happening in this corner of the temple is he's now got to start to deal with the big givers. From what we know, at least some accounts say that the way the treasury was at the temple at that time is there were these large collection boxes. But the way in which you put your money in was apparently there were these funnel-like things made out of metal so that they were shaped kind of like trumpets so people could kind of throw in their money. You know, like if you're on a toll road, you can kind of throw in your money. But the emphasis of a language seems to me that that's exactly what they did. That people were throwing in large amounts and you can just kind of see Jesus kind of trying to get his silence and maybe his head in his hands and suddenly there's this clanging, you know, of people throwing in large amounts to be recognized by other people.
And then there comes a widow, apparently poor. I don't know how he knew that, but she puts in, not throws in, puts in two little coins that we call widow's mites now.
We don't know exactly what they were, but there are traditions in Israel even now what they were. To as many as you as I still had coins for when you came in the room, I gave you those little Israeli coins today. You have them, I see Vi looking and others of you look at them and lots of appropriateness to why Jesus would have been
encouraged by the little that was given. On that little coin, if you look, it's kind of hard to see. There's a symbol. It's not the one that has the number, the other side of the coin. And the symbol is of a palm branch, actually a number of palm branches tied together. And the reason they were tied together, and think about the appropriateness of this, is a priest would take this palm branches tied together and the ceremony of the Jews of the time was he would bow with it in four directions to honor God over all the earth. And of course, you know, only days after this, the palm branches would be put before Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem for the last time. And here is this woman who gives all she has, saying it's all the Lord's
to his purpose, to his glory, her palm branches already preceding him as she honors.
Something else about the coin and maybe hard to see on the little things that you have,
that coin isn't worth very much. The NIV here says a fraction of a penny. I've tried to look and seems to range from a third of a cent to a sixteenth of a cent. Just a little fraction of a penny.
And if you look at it, it's off center. It's kind of rudely cut.
Even what she offered seemed damaged, seemed not well made, but she gave it to him.
And can you imagine now what Jesus does as he sees this woman giving to God her all?
He calls to his disciples. Hey, come here. Look at this. Apparently they haven't noticed, so the Lord has to point it out. She gave her all. And it is more to God than all that the big heads and the big wigs and the big givers have given. Because somehow she recognized that all she had was the Lord's and therefore it was his. And her giving it back to him, even in its imperfection, even though it isn't quite right, even though it isn't very much,
is what encourages the Savior in those moments and becomes his boast to the disciples. Look at her.
I think of what we do here. And some of us serve, I know at times, intimidated by the big heads. People who are so smart, so able to argue and pull out all kinds of facts that normal people don't know. There are the big wigs, of course. I mean, the seminaries and some means dependent on the approval of church leaders and others that come to the campus and that have statues and wear the suits on regular days. You know, the ones who do that sort of thing.
And of course, they're the big givers, the ones who we very much need to support the work of the seminary and give big checks. And you think what we do isn't worth very much.
I want you somehow to think in the work that you do
that when you give out of your all to God's purposes, to multiply the kingdom of Christ in this place, that in ways you cannot even imagine, he's calling to the angels saying, "Come here.
Look at this." A person that's so little to give, so little to offer, but the way heaven is accounting, it's not the totality of the gift, it is the cost to the giver that makes it valuable. How much does it cost you to give? To work in jobs where maybe people don't understand why you do what you do, where you serve your heart out and sometimes people seem unappreciative.
You give and give and give and no one seems to notice or care. And then you meet that arrogant seminary student who is so deferential to a professor and so wants to be a professor. Insulting to you. And you think, why am I doing this? For some of you, I hope you'll just take that little widow's mike coin and put it on a desk or a computer terminal or something.
And on the days when it gets kind of tough, say, if it costs me to give this day, that's the value of the gift. Even if it doesn't seem much from the world's perspective, heaven notices. And the glory of that is that it's not got to be perfect. It's not going to be all right just stamped out in the best of things. It's depending upon Christ to say, "God, all that I had to give you provided, I recognize the grace of you toward me and that's why I'm doing this."
Even when it costs me and others don't recognize, out of love for you,
I give this and I praise God that you notice. That's what makes it valuable to me.
Some of us about the middle of this summer began to pray for one of the Tom Bing's, do you remember? Leon called and said he had been summoned by rebel leaders in India. He had to go. He didn't know whether he would be greeted with a demand or a machine gun, but he had to go. And we began to pray for him around the country, around the world, around the seminary, that he would be preserved. It might not seem like much. And yet, you know, when we got the email some days later, he's back.
He's safe. How we rejoiced and recognized that somehow across the nations, across the world,
God had recognized what we offered. When we trained him, when we prepared for him, when we prayed for him, God still sang, "Look what they're offering," and responded.
Because of what we do here, there will be students going all over the world. They'll go as far away as India and they will go as near as the children in our families to minister.
And what we do is providing for that ministry of the kingdom forever. It may just seem to be, you know, just these little pennies that we're offering day to day. You know, not much.
It's the treasury of heaven as we give to God and he uses us for his kingdom. Pray with me.
"Father, I do thank you for these wonderful people who gather,
who recognize all they have is from your hand. And so they give you day after day, out of which you have given them." And it may not seem huge compared to what the big heads offer, or the big wigs give, or what the big wigs givers can give. But when they give out of hearts committed to their Savior, somehow it encourages him. Somehow he calls the host of heaven together and says, "Look at that. For the service of the kingdom, that one gave so much, even though it cost him or her, that one gave so much." May it be our encouragement too, as we live for the Savior and proclaim the kingdom by the work we do here with one another and for one another and for these students. We ask your blessing upon this year, praising you even for someone like Dr. Dalby, who would get us together today. Somehow he understands, and we want to understand too, what it means to be a part of a great effort to magnify Jesus before the world. Grants us out of our riches and out of our poverty, the knowledge that we are serving you,
and you are pleased. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.