The Widow's Mite

[Jesus] looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. And he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had."

-St. Luke 21:1-4

We know exactly where Jesus was when he said this. In the Temple there were the various Courts – the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Women, the Court of the Israelites, the Court of the Priests – each one leading closer to the Holy of Holies. A person would go through these various Courts to get to the next one, as far as he was allowed. In this particular passage, Jesus was speaking in the Court of the Women. Men could be there, but women could go no further. Located there were thirteen trumpet-shaped receptacles, each one assigned to receive offerings for a different purpose - for the wood that was used to burn the sacrifice, for the incense that was burned on the altar, for the upkeep of the golden vessels, and so on. It was near these receptacles that Jesus was sitting.

He looked up and saw several people making their offerings, including a poor widow. She had two small copper coins to give, worth only a fraction of a penny, but Jesus said her offering far out-valued all the other offerings, because it was everything she had.

When it comes to a gift, there’s the spirit in which it’s given. A gift which is given unwillingly, a gift which is given with a grudge, a gift given for the sake of prestige or of self-display loses a lot of its value. The only real gift is that which flows out of a loving heart, something given out of a deep desire of the one giving it.

And there also is the sacrifice which the gift involves. Something which is virtually nothing to one person may be a huge amount to somebody else. That day in the Temple, the gifts of the rich, as they flung in their offerings, didn’t really cost them very much; but the two coins of the widow cost her everything she had. The rich had probably calculated how much they could afford; she gave with a kind of reckless generosity which could give no more.

Giving does not begin to be real giving until it hurts. A gift shows our love only when we have had to do without something or have had to work doubly hard in order to give it. No gift, if given in love, is too small. Nothing escapes the notice of God, from whom no secrets are hid.

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Image: "The Widow's Mite" by James Tissot (1836-1902)