Tuesday 25 September 2007
- Bible Book:
- Luke
"He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, 'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on'". (v.1-4)
Background
Luke wrote this book of the Bible, and he highlights themes ofsocial justice, fair treatment of the poor, women and otheroppressed groups. In his writing he tells us about some of theconversations Jesus had with the Jewish religious leaders inJerusalem.
In this section we hear that Jesus looked around at what he sawabout him, and made his message relevant to what was goingon.
Jesus sees a poor woman giving two coins, which he says is worthmore to God than the many coins put in by the rich men. Why? Jesusanswers that question in part by saying the rich men offered onlytheir spare money, but the woman gave everything she had.
Christian teaching calls on Christians to use all our resources tobe used to do God's work. This means not being 'hooked' on thestatus and privilege attached to money, skill and knowledge, but touse them (give them) wisely. Jesus isn't anti-rich people in thispassage, he simply points out that the rich people are giving lessproportionately than the poor woman. This is unfair.
A study published by the BBC in June 2004 showed that people in themost deprived areas of Britain gave the most generously tocharity.
To Ponder
Do you think Jesus was talking just about moneyor could he have been implying other types of giving too? Whatmight they be?
Are there things in your life which you clingto?
If Jesus were to look around your life to findillustrations of injustice - or illustrations of generous giving,what would he find?