The Woman & the Wealthy

A reflection on giving toward things that will not last.

Today in our reading, Jesus is observing. He’s not performing a miracle or confronting a crowd. He’s just watching people at the temple. We could pause here just to reap the note that sometimes, the action of Jesus is just to sit still and observe.

So, Jesus observes the wealthy dropping in their offerings, and then he notices a widow slip in two small coins. He notes that she has given everything she has to live on, while the wealthy are giving spare change.

The very next thing Jesus does is look at the temple itself and say it’s all coming down. It won’t last. The massive stones, the glimmering beauty, even the system the temple houses - it will all end. Which means this woman just gave everything she had to an institution already under judgment.

There’s a conflicting tension here. Some perhaps feel it in their participation in the Church today. The Church, too, is as worthy as the Temple of Jesus’ judgment and cleansing. American Christians often treat their financial gifts, tithes, and offerings as a voting mechanism.

“Why would I or should I give to something that ______?”

I’m not sure these are bad stewardship questions. Particularly as long as we are shaped by pragmatism and the desire for functional means to live in, even with seemingly righteous goals and ends - that what we give would support the works of justice, beauty, or truth.

And while we can’t escape all things pragmatic (even Jesus paid the temple tax), there is certainly something deeper and more meaningful going on in this comparison between the woman and the wealthy. Remember that Jesus has already cleansed the temple - he’s made his point about the system itself.

But he doesn’t rebuke the woman’s actions. He’s looking deeper at her heart. She’s not investing in a system; she’s trusting God. Her devotion isn’t to the temple’s permanence but to God’s presence, even within its crumbling walls. She gives, not because the structure is worthy, but because God is.

Isn’t that…weird? It’s certainly not a blueprint for function and pragmatics. (Her small offering alone will not keep the Temple afloat.)

Jesus will do the same in a matter of days. He will pour himself out completely, not into a stable institution, but into the hands of God. When Jesus dies, all seems lost, not won. But there’s something deeper going.

So perhaps faithfulness isn’t about finding the perfect vessel for our offering. It’s about giving ourselves wholly to God, even when the structures around us are fragile and fading. This is the strange economy of the Kingdom: we live as though resurrection is real, even while everything around us may seem to be crumbling.

Luke 21:1-6

Looking up, Jesus saw rich people throwing their gifts into the collection box for the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow throw in two small copper coins worth a penny. He said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than them all. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had to live on.”

Some people were talking about the temple, how it was decorated with beautiful stones and ornaments dedicated to God. Jesus said, “As for the things you are admiring, the time is coming when not even one stone will be left upon another. All will be demolished.”

Psalm 72:25-26

Do I have anyone else in heaven?
There’s nothing on earth I desire except you.
My body and my heart fail,
but God is my heart’s rock and my share forever.

Prayer

God,

I admit I often want the things I give to or work toward to last. I want to see evidence that it matters, that it endures. Is faithfulness about endurance? I think it must have something to do with it…?

I am sure it is about trust. And I don’t trust much of anything institutional. But I do trust you. I trust Jesus and his example. So help me not to measure my generosity or obedience by what seems successful or secure, but by your call to be faithful. I do trust that in the end, you will sort everything out.

When I’m tempted to withhold, remind me that Jesus also gave everything into a unique uncertainty. You made that act, the cross itself, the beginning of all resurrection hope. So take what I offer today and make it yours. Let my giving, my serving, my life reveal your Kingdom, which outlasts all the things we strive to build.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.