Luke 20:45 - 21:4
Jesus is arriving
in Jerusalem for the Passover. Still flush with the excitement that surrounded
His entry into the city, He goes straight to the Temple to pray. Furious over
the exploitation He sees there, Jesus challenges the religious leaders at their
very seat of power. He throws out those who were fleecing pilgrims at crooked concession
stands, which were charging shocking exchange rates and most likely paying
kickbacks to the Temple leaders.
At this point,
Jesus is standing again at the main Temple gate with His disciples. He is
observing the "teachers of the law," strutting and swaggering in
their expensive clothes, and reveling in the deference the crowd pays them.
Both the "teachers" and the crowd concur that their ill-gotten gain
is proof of God's favor.
Jesus is
indignant about the shameless ways these religious elitists are lining their
pockets on the backs of the poor, and then flaunting their riches in public.
Critical to understanding the point Jesus is making is not only that God’s
spokesmen are parading around in expensive robes. It’s also how much guilt
these rich religious elite are heaping upon themselves by the methods they are
using to acquire their wealth. Their costly attire, their social status was
purchased, in part, with money stolen from widows who were helpless against
them.
Jesus turns to
His disciples, and to those within the sound of His voice, warns them about the
consequences of such injustice. He declares that these leaders are not only
very mistaken about their standing with God and the people, but that they will
also be severely punished.
Then the scene
continues to unfold before them. Jesus observes a poor widow digging deeply
into her purse. Slowly she takes her hand out, and places her last two small
copper coins in the collection plate. It is conceivable that this particular
widow's poverty is attributable to the greed of the powerful "teachers of
the law," whom Jesus has just passed judgment on.
If true, Jesus
could very well be suggesting that the most significant part of this story is
not that she gave everything. He could be pointing to a deeper theological
issue. In spite of the economic injury she has suffered at the hands of the most
important members of the Temple, she still gives everything she has in the
offering. This poor, powerless widow understands the principle behind giving. She
refused to be vindictive! She refused to be a victim! In her mind, she was not
giving to the "teachers of the law," or even to the Temple. She was
giving to God Himself.
In this story,
Jesus offers to us two snapshots of people of faith. In the first picture, we
see a picture of pride, power, and presumption. In the second photo, we witness
absolute loyalty and giving to God without regard to personal injury – even
when the oppressor seems to be the Church itself.
The dynamics
of economic exploitation can be found today. Take elderly widows, for example.
These widows have given, because of their compassion and generosity, to causes
that have sent them heart-wrenching letters. A substantial share of their donor
base is home-bound widows, most of whom live on fixed incomes. Then those
organizations sell the addresses of those who have given to them to additional
“ministries” who, in turn, send them their letters. Once in their databases,
the widow’s addresses are not easily deleted.[i]
These dear women continue to receive scores of letters per month, even after
they have almost nothing left. And yet they continue to give what little they
have to God.
Jesus warns
that those who engage in practices that exploit people economically "will be punished most severely." Exploitation
is most often not what we do it’s
what we don’t do. It can be agreeing
with policies that favor the rich to the detriment of the poor; keeping silent
when we know employees are being ill-used; or supporting government programs
that knowingly keep people in permanent dependency.
What about you
and me?
How often do
we withhold our tithes and offerings over disagreements over how the money is
being spent or personality clashes with or character flaws in our church
leaders?
How often do
we excuse not giving God our tithes and offerings because we don't have enough
money?
[i]
An 85
year-old woman in my church had asked me to visit her in her apartment. I had
to clear mail off a chair to be able to sit, and she seemed disoriented. I
asked her if she was alright, and she told me she didn’t know what to do about
all her mail. We discovered that over 100 different Christian organizations
were sending her monthly letters requesting money. It took more than two years
of letter writing and telephone calls to stop them from coming.
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