Giving: The Widow's Mite

Giving: The Widows Mite

Mark 12:41-44

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

“A story is told of a circus strong man who particularly had very powerful hands. And one of the things he would do is take an orange before the crowd and squeeze it with his bare hand until every drop of juice came out. And then they dared the audience to find another drop because of how strong he was. So he would squeeze it and every drop would be rung out and big men would come up and try to squeeze it more. But to no avail, there would be no more juice to come out. On one occasion a real skinny man came up and said I’d like to try. They laughed but gave him the orange. And he took one hand and with all the strength he could mustard up he squeezed it. And to the shock of the strong man and the crowd there was a drop of orange juice that dripped out. They couldn’t believe it. They said, how in the world were you able to squeeze out another drop of orange juice? Where did you get that power? Oh, he said it’s easy I’m the local treasurer for the Baptist church down the street. I can, I know how to squeeze stuff out of folks.”

“When God has to squeeze out of us praise, squeeze out of us time, squeeze out of us service when He’s been this good there is something wrong and it’s a matter of the heart!” The goal of this sermon is not to “hit you up” for money but to provide you with sound doctrine on tithing so that you might be good stewards by sharing with one another the blessings you have received.

The Widows Mite – An Example of Honorable Giving

The doctrine of giving is best illustrated by the story of the widow’s offering unto the Lord. We are told that Jesus entered the Court of Women and sat down on a bench. This was not only “the first enclosure of the sanctuary in which Jewish women and children were allowed to worship” but also the location of the treasury. There were 13 trumpets shaped like a ram’s horn “positioned with the tapered end upward to prevent theft” along the walls of this court. While some of these trumpets were designated to fund specific purposes others were used for freewill offerings. Since it was the Passover the treasury would have been exceptionally busy and as a result Jesus sitting on a bench watching people put money in one of these “shopharoth” chests would have gone unnoticed. Since the heavier and the larger the quantity of the copper, brass or bronze coinage a person gave the louder the “clang they would make in the trumpet bell,” one could easier determine or even announce the size of a person’s gift. Since the Jerusalem temple was known for its vast wealth it should not come as a surprise that while Jesus sat on the bench He saw and heard many of “rich people throw in large amounts” into the treasury (verse 41). After a while a poor widow came into the Court and dropped in the smallest of currency in Palestine, two small coins or “mites” that were worth a “sixty forth of a denarii” which was the equivalent of a day’s wage. As she dropped these coins into the trumpet chest the best they would do is make a faint “ting.” And yet while her amount to many would have seemed insignificant it was all she had to live on. She could have kept a coin for herself and buy desperately needed flour to make a small meal and yet she chose to trust God and gave everything! To Jesus her sacrificial giving “made the noise of a vast offering” that would forever ring how to tithe honorable unto our Creator!

What is a Tithe

So what exactly is a “tithe” and what amount are we to give unto God? Ever since the beginning of time humanity has been giving back to God some of the blessings they have received. For instance, Abel gave God the first fruits of his flocks (Genesis 4:4), Abraham gave a tithe of his increase (Genesis 14:20), and “while making a shrine at Bethel Jacob promised to give a tenth unto God” (Genesis 28:18-22). By Levitical law every Jewish person was required to pay tithes for the Levites, for the temple and great feasts, and for the widows and poor of the land in the form of “seed, grain, wine, oil and firstlings of herds and flocks (Deuteronomy 14:22-23).” The word “tithe” literally simply means “the tenth” and in the Old Testament this was the minimum a person was to give unto the God (Mal. 3:10; Lev. 27:30).” Even though there is not a direct command in the New Testament for Christians to tithe giving according to 1 Corinthians 16:2 is to a “regular part of our lives.” While it is debatable that since “not the smallest letter or least stroke of the pen will by any means pass away from the Law until all things are fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18) means that today’s Christians ought to still give a 10 percent, there are lots of examples like today’s story of the Widows Mite, and the giving by the churches of Asia Minor that point to tithe in the New Testament not defined in percentages but attitude of heart! One is to give cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:6-7), out of one’s possessions not abundance (Acts 2:45; 4:32-37) beyond one’s means (2 Corinthians 8:3) and without “neglecting the weightier matters of the law, namely justice, mercy, and the love of God” (Matthew 23:23). The conviction to give in the New Testament was not to be done out of guilt but in light of what the Lord has done for us and the fact that “every penny we have to our names is the Lord’s.” We ought to give generously, willingly and with thanksgiving in our hearts out of our deep desire to express our love for God and one another (Matthew 22:37-40!