On giving and getting!

Mark 12:41-44

41 Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. 43 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

Food for thought!

The story has many lessons, for both the rich and the poor, for both men and women, for both giving and getting. First, the gospel says "Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money." This means what, if not that Jesus cares about our giving? This is evident from the fact that Jesus was observing the people casting their money into the treasury. He was watching them as they gave. How many believe that Jesus still watches the people as they give? That he watches us as pray? That he watches us guve and get? The first lesson is, therefore, that JESUS WATCHES!

The second lesson is that no one is too poor to give, just as no one is too rich to get. No one should say that I am too poor to give. No, you are not. You may not have money, like the widow, but you have the time, the health and may be the wealth. Someone once said, “Those who think they have nothing to give should remember that they can always give themselves, and that they can always render some kind of service even if it be nothing more than a few words of cheer.” The gift of ourself, our time, and energy may often be one of the most important and wonderful things we can give.

The third lesson is that the best gift is not your money or your dollars; the best gift you can give is YOU! The Lord prefers you to your gift. And I am sure your spouse, your friend, your children prefer you to your other gifts. The best gift you can ever give to your spouse is not money, is not material things; it is YOU, your heart, not your wealth. Many of us want love and companionship and forgiveness and understanding, but it is a law of life that we must first be loving and friendly and forgiving and understandind; if the approach is good, the response is good; if it bad, the response is bad. If you shout at people, people will shout at you; if you're rude to others, they'll be rude to you. So the third lesson is that YOU'RE TREATED THE WAY YOU TREAT OTHERS. 

The fourth lesson is that real giving must be sacrificial. The amount of the gift never matters so much as its cost to the giver, not the size of the gift, but the size of the giver; the attitude of the giver is more important than the gift itself. The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.

Real giving has a certain recklessness in it. The woman might have kept one coin. It would not have been much but it would have been something, yet she gave everything she had. There is a great symbolic truth here. It is our tragedy that there is so often some part of our lives, some part of our activities, some part of ourselves which we do not give to Christ. Somehow there is nearly always something we hold back. We rarely make the final sacrifice and the final surrender.

It is a strange and lovely thing that the person whom the New Testament and Jesus hand down to history as a pattern and example of generosity was a person who gave a gift of, not a million dollars, but half a penny. We may feel that we have not much in the way of material gifts or personal gifts to give to Christ, but, if we put all that we have and are at his disposal, he can do things with it and with us that are beyond our imaginings.

The law of giving and receiving also asks us to be good receivers. As we give of ourselves, our time and resources, our positive attitudes and loving thoughts and actions, it is also important to be able to receive the gifts of others in a graceful way. Everyone truly loves to give, and there are times when we are being of service by graciously receiving what another would give us—when we find a way to say, “Thank you, I accept your thoughtful gift.”

President John F. Kennedy advised Americans, ”Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” And Viktor Frankl nored, "Ask not what you can expect from life; ask what life expects from you."