Luke 21:1-4
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor woman has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
A few years ago a friend in the church introduced me to a woman named Nancy. It’s a bit of a long story how the two women became friends, but what you most need to know is that Nancy is blind, lives in Wisconsin, and loves to pray. In fact, even though she lives several hundred miles away, Nancy loves to pray for FBCG and for our pastors; so much so that she considers FBCG to be her “church home away from her church home.” Once a year or so, when she is able to travel to our area, she will offer to meet with me just to encourage me and pray for me as “her pastor.”
Well, Nancy came into town a couple of weeks ago and so I met with her and the other friend from church for a time of prayer and encouragement. Now Nancy’s visit happened to come during a very busy time in my schedule; I had lots of extra meetings that week due to our ministry expansion project called “Growing to Serve.” (If you don’t attend our church, “Growing to Serve” is a $9 million project that involves expanding and renovating our ministry facilities.) In some ways I couldn’t afford the time for another meeting, but I agreed to meet just because I know Nancy prays for me and for our church.
But Nancy had a surprise for me. Part way into our time together she dug around in her purse and pulled out a folded-up commitment card for the “Growing to Serve” project. She handed it to me with a big smile on her face and said, “It’s not much, but I just felt like if this is my church that I should participate in the project.”
She had clipped a check for $100 to the commitment card.
I was both surprised and humbled. I knew that Nancy had a hard life. I knew that she had lost her 23 year old son to a brain tumor back in the summer. I knew it had to be an enormous sacrifice on her part to give that gift.
I asked her, “Do you mind me asking how you earned the money?”
She said, “No, I don’t mind; I sold cheesecakes.”
I think that’s what Jesus was talking about when he observed the poor widow in the temple.
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small coins. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor woman has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
We’re talking a lot about generosity these days at our church; a $9 million project will tend to make you do that! But we are reminding ourselves often that our generosity isn’t about buildings or budgets, it’s about the the glory of God, the power of the gospel, and the surpassing value of the kingdom of heaven!
I think Jesus may have been thinking about both of these extravagantly generous women when said:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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