If I gave you a penny would you get all excited about it? Probably not. One day Jesus watched a poor widow put two tiny coins worth less than a penny into the offering.
Other people gave lots of money if you count how much it can buy, but Jesus wasn’t thinking about that. Jesus knew that the other people had much more money and they only gave a little part of what they had. But this woman was very poor, and this was all she had. Yet she gave it all to God by putting it into the offering. I think she probably felt embarrassed that her offering was so small. But Jesus didn’t think her offering was small. Jesus said she had given more than anyone else, because she gave all she had.
One year I was a third grade teacher. One of my students’ father was in prison. This little boy was teased by the other students. Many times during recess we talked about Jesus. When I opened the Christmas presents the students had given me, the students laughed at this little boy’s gift. It was a stuffed dinosaur that he had obviously played with for a long time. The gifts the other children brought were things their parents probably bought at a store, but this child gave me something that was precious to him. I believe there was more love in his gift than in all the other gifts put together.
You can read this Bible story about the widow’s offering yourself in Mark 12:41-44. If you don’t have a Bible, click on the link and read it on your monitor screen.
Dear Jesus, thank you for seeing us through eyes of love. Help us to have loving hearts too. Help us to want to give generously because we love you. Thank you for telling us about this lady in your Bible. We are glad that you saw in her gift how much she loved God, and that you loved her too. Amen.
© 2009 by Janice D. Green
Janice is author of this beautiful story. Loved it.