by Tom Wacaster
There are two important principles regarding our giving that come to the surface in these three verses. The first is the motive that compels a person to give in the first place. The second is the amount of the gift itself. One of the best examples of giving can be found in the case of the widow who gave her two mites to the Lord in deep appreciation and love for the Father. Perhaps it would do us good to consider again the story, the act, and the motive as recorded by Luke. Here is how the text reads:
And he looked up, and saw the rich men that were casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than they all: for all these did of their superfluity cast in unto the gifts; but she of her want did cast in all the living that she had (21:1-4).
Mark’s account tells us that Jesus watched how they gave (Mark 12:4). He not only saw what they gave, but how they gave. Mark those two words. I am not suggesting that our Lord was unaware of exactly how much they gave, but that He was more concerned with the motive than the amount. But think for a moment about the amount this widow gave. We can view this from two aspects. The first is the actual amount – the monetary value of what she placed into the vessel. It is difficult for us to estimate the spending value of one single mite. It was a different time, a different coinage, and a different rate of exchange. It is best to ask, what was the spending power of one single mite in today’s economy? The mite was about 1/96th of a denarius. One denarius was the equivalent of one day’s pay in the first century. So the mite was 1/96th of a day’s wage. Let’s convert that into today’s economy. At $15 per hour, a day’s wage would be $120.00. Thus, in today’s economy, that widow’s mite would have been worth about $1.25, making her two mites equivalent to about $2.50. What can you buy for $2.50 today? One gallon of gasoline! One loaf of bread with about 60 cents left. Three pounds of apples. It would pay for less than six hours of electricity. That same $2.50 would not even purchase two bottles of purified drinking water at your local convenient store.
Now, you may squabble over the precise amount, but be assured, those two mites, being the smallest of the Roman coinage, were worth very little, even in today’s market. That, my friend, was a meager amount. But let us look at this from another vantage point, namely the “amount” in comparison to what she possessed. It was all she had – she had no more! It makes no difference how much one may possess, when he gives “all,” there is nothing left! If she was a pauper before she gave, she was even more of a pauper after she gave. It is impossible to miss her “readiness” in her selfless act. She was, without doubt, willing to do all she could do.
Now imagine if you will, our Lord as He observed the action of this woman. Not only was Jesus watching her, but through divine inspiration we are provided enough details to provide us with a mental image of the widow and the Pharisees. Talk about a contrast in Christian living! Our Lord was watching the “rich men that were casting their gifts into the treasury” (verse 1). To be sure, these were magnificent gifts that these men gave, at least by the calculations of men. But now comes this widow, and as our Lord watched her, she cast in all she possessed. Her very life depended upon these two mites, but because of her faith in God she was willing to give these to her God in trusting, Abrahamic faith, confident that Jehovah would care for her as He did for the patriarchs of old. Now listen to the words of our Master: “Of a truth I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than they all: for all these did of their superfluity cast in unto the gifts; but she of her want did cast in all the living that she had” (verses 3b-4). Notice that He did not say that she had cast in more than any one of them, but more than all of them put together. Truly, she had given according to what she had, and “not according as she hath not.”
There are two ways of giving. In the case of the rich men, they were giving out of their superfluity, out of their abundance. Literally, they were giving out of what was left over. They were giving out of what they did not need! Here were large gifts, amounting to a large amount, but nobody missed what was given. There was no sacrifice in their giving. Now let us look at the widow. She gave out of her want. “Want” is equivalent to her need, and yet out of that need she had given to the Lord. This entire story reveals two ways of giving. The first is giving out of superfluity, giving what we do not need and will never really miss. The other is giving with what someone once described as “the red blood of sacrifice running through the gift”! May I be so bold as to suggest that it is not the amount that the Lord is interested in, but the amount in comparison to what He has given us as we are motivated by love to give back to Him in grateful appreciation the gift of our heart and soul.
I cannot now recall the source of this quote, but I filed it away more than four decades ago. “The gold of affluence which is given because it is not needed, God hurls to the bottomless pit; but the copper tinged with blood He lifts and kisses into the gold of eternity.” That, my friends, is what it means to possess the readiness and then follow through with our generous gift to the Lord. When we consider all that our Savior did for us, how can we do any less?