Offering

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ,

For today my reflection is from Mark 12:41-44, a widow praised by Jesus as an exemplary model of generosity and true piety. This reading can be regarded as the usual or traditional interpretation of the story which we keep listening to over and over again. But it is also the story of a widow, who offered her last penny, this is a tragic and painful example of an exploited woman . The widow’s act would be nothing but a misguided expression of false piety inspired and encouraged by the religious leaders. As the story goes in Mark 12, Jesus was watching people put money into the temple treasury. Rich people put in a lot of money. Then, a poor widow put in 2 small copper coins. Jesus’ comments make it clear that the widow felt the impact of her contribution much more than all the rich people giving money they didn’t need. She gave the only money she had to buy food to survive. Her sacrifice had painful consequences in her poverty.

We have historically assumed that Jesus is commending the widow’s example to us. Is the point of Jesus’ observation is to praise the sacrificial heart and actions of the widow? We need to think over it and reconstruct / restructure our thoughts in understanding this passage. Jesus is not talking about generosity in offering or self-sacrificial love in this story of the widow. He is talking about how corrupt the religious leaders are.

Jesus is angry at other Jewish teachers who are persuading poor people to give all their money to the temple treasures. This widow no longer had anything left to live on because temple teachers had convinced her to donate it. He sees a corrupt religious system that no longer honors God’s heart to care for the needy. Teachers of the Law no longer honor the intent of the Law. Instead, the system has created wealthy religious people who construct lavish buildings.

The widow’s offering reminds us that generosity without discernment is not commendable. Self-sacrificial giving to misguided causes doesn’t please the Lord. God wants justice and mercy embodied by people who walk humbly before the Lord ( Micah 6:8). God doesn’t want Christians who build beautiful buildings and publicly demonstrate their religiosity. Many pastors and TV evangelists preach prosperity and materialistic blessing, the original purpose of the tithe/

offering was to care for the poor not to rob from them but today everything is changed. People also blindly accept and believe all types of preaching without thinking. We must be reminded that the widow’s offering is an illustration of injustice not generosity.

People shouldn't be compelled to give offerings to God, it's not a give and take policy to give offerings and receive blessings in return. It's completely personal, out of their own will and wish people have to come forward to give offerings. We need to establish merciful patterns of sharing God’s blessings with those struggling to meet their basic needs.

Article by Antony clinton R