Sunday Church Sermon : The Widow's Offering (Mark 12:41-44)

Today's church sermon by Pastor Richard Chiu was on the passage of Mark 12:41-44 about the story of the Widow's offering. As the story goes, many rich people were putting in large amounts into the temple treasury. The poor widow put in the two small copper coins that was all she had to live on. Jesus commended her offering over those from the rich people because the rich people gave out of their abundance while the poor widow gave what she had to live on out of her poverty.

An interesting point that Pastor Richard Chiu pointed out was that the original Greek word for wealth in the the passage, "Periseuontos", has the the connotation of 'leftovers'; That is, the rich people gave what they had after accounting for their other needs and expenses. This gives a rather critical view of the offerings of the rich people which is not captured in a literal reading of the passage. But nevertheless, that may still be quite alot isn't it, perhaps even more than the 10% tithing ratio that is featured in various parts of the bible.

I suppose I do account my tithe, lest I give too little, or too much. And I usually give at least 10% of the allowance I get from my parents. Regarding tithings, a pastor in my church says that there is no compulsory need to tithe, and one should tithe simply out of one's charity and circumstances.

Now, what does it mean to give 'like a poor widow' (that is a bad meme!). I am wondering, what is the distinction that Jesus is trying to draw out here between the rich people and the poor widow?

I suppose the possible difference is the belief in divine providence? But wouldn't it be radical if someone were to give all his allowances and savings to church offerings and simply trust in divine providence? I mean, if I hear a fellow Christian friend saying that following the preaching of Jesus, he wants to give his all his income and savings to the church, I would have that instinctive response to tell him 'hang on a minute, is that what the bible really advocates?' And I would try to come up with some explanation for how it is biblically substantiated that one should be prudent in giving tithes and give within his or her own means

I can't think of any reason from the bible about why this is 'radical' and not being prudent. If Jesus says this is wise, who is to say otherwise?

My discipleship group leader, Hobart, who has in my opinion, a very radical contextualist approach towards scripture interpretation, would probably say that Jesus commendation of the widow would have to be looked in context, perhaps with regards to the religious structure that governs the contemporary societal life. Perhaps the communal arrangment within society would have allowed the woman to find her sustenance from the church, or from other societal sources, unlike the Singaporean society. I really doubt that the passage can be read too contextually.