Today's gospel reading is from Mark 12:35-44, and in it Jesus lauds the tiny offering of a poor widow over the large gifts of rich donors. Her two coins represented all she had.
These days many church pastors are worried about giving. Church budgets are tight. Two small coins don't help very much, and so we pastors love to have members with lots of money who can place large offerings in the plate.
I like to think of my own giving to the church as more than generous. I preach and follow the mandate of the tithe, or 10 percent. But the widow in the gospel reading quickly deflates any puffed-up feelings I might have. I am like the rich givers Jesus observes who give "out of their abundance." I quick look at the family check book or the credit card bills will easily confirm this. Mortgage payments on a nice home in a nice neighborhood, cable TV, internet service, and a long list of other items dwarf the occasional check written to the church.
I don't plan on selling the house or disconnecting the cable and giving the money to the church, but Jesus' words do make me think about my own list of priorities, about how someone could give "all she had to live on" while such a thought seems so ridiculous to me.
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