HEAVEN’S MATH
Luke 21:1-4 NKJV
21 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
Jesus was constantly challenging the narratives of the Jewish culture. I do not believe His goal was to create chaos in the Jewish system. Rather, His aim was to simply declare and exhibit truth. The truth and light that came from Jesus exposed the darkness of the religious system.
Jesus is observing the giving ritual in the temple treasury. The wealthy Jews would often make a show of the money they gave. And the bigness of the gift would reflect the religious piety of the giver. The large gifts were a sign of status, albeit religious status. So, Jesus watches the rich, and then He spots a poor widow who put in two mites. A mite was a small copper coin that was not worth very much. It could be the equivalent of putting a couple of dollars in the offering today. But Jesus was impressed with this widow’s gift. The rich had given much larger amounts, but Jesus introduced a new form of math to the Jews.
He declared that the widow put in more than anyone else. This widow gave out of her poverty. The rich gave out of their abundance. Jesus did not criticize the rich or belittle their gifts. But the widow was commended because she put in all she had. She gave it all to God. So, as a percentage, the widow gave more because of giving out of her poverty and need. And she gave more because she gave it all, one hundred percent, everything she had. The rich still had plenty left, but the widow went to zero.
APPLICATION
When I look at giving from Heaven’s perspective, I realize that I do not know who the biggest givers at The Ark are. I typically don’t look at giving records. Large gifts come in, but are they really the largest from Heaven’s point of view? Someone with one thousand dollars in the bank who gives one hundred dollars is a bigger giver than the person with one hundred thousand in the bank who gives a thousand dollars. The person who gave one hundred dollars gave ten percent. The person who gave one thousand dollars gave one percent. So, if we look at the gifts the way Jesus did, the person giving one hundred dollars gave the largest gift. Don’t let Heaven’s math confuse you. Heaven is looking at the percentage of the gift, not the monetary amount. Now, you can see another reason why I stay away from giving records. I can’t tell the size of the gift only God knows. I am grateful for all the gifts given to the Lord through The Ark, but I’ll let Him sort out the math.