The window's mites

I'm sure you have read and heard teaching on the story in Mark chapter 12 verses 41-44. Here Jesus sits down near the collection area and watches the people drop in their offerings. A poor widow comes and drops in two small coins and Jesus comments on this. This is the most common way I have heard this passage explained:
Jesus blessed, or gave a special blessing to the widow for her faithfulness to give till it hurts. That God surely poured out an abundance on her for her selfless giving.

I say BALONEY! This is sly 'tithing' talk and if you follow me here, I'll show you that this common teaching is EXACTLY what Jesus was teaching against!

Take whatever translation of the Bible you want and show me a SINGLE place in these verses that support that teaching? It just isn't there! But even better, let's fill in the rest of the story and see what REALLY happened.

Let's back up to verse 38, where we read Jesus' warning about the teachers of religious law. How they parade around making it all about them and who they are. Verse 40 gives us our first clue into this matter when Jesus says they "...shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public". Cheat widows, eh? hmmmm....

Now, let's continue on with this story....but Mark chapter 12 stops at verse 44 you say? So it does...but look at Chapter 13 verses 1 and 2. A lot of people get hung up at chapter breaks thinking the break is there to mark off a change in subject or time. Maybe sometimes it does, but not here!

1. As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of His disciples said, "Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls."
2.  Jesus replied, "Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!"

So, let's put this all together...Jesus was at the temple inspecting it once again (see Mark 11:11-21). Expecting to see fruit, he saw nothing but leaves. Jesus warns about the hypocrisy of the religious teachers and how they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property. He sees people putting money in the offering place...wealthy people putting in small amounts of money from their surplus, and then a poor widow dropping in all that she had to live on. Then as they were leaving and the disciples commented on the beauty of the stonework of the buildings, Jesus proclaims the temple will be destroyed! Why? Because He was ANGRY! Basically He said "I'm done with this!" The truth of the matter is...why, if all these people have extra money does this widow have nothing? Why are the people neglecting her? Obviously from Jesus' words, He expected the teachers to speak up and correct this behavior, but they had not done so. Even better would have been that they had learned the importance of taking care of their own and it had been a priority all along! But they were greedy and self important.


James chapter 1 verse 27 says, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

We as a whole have pawned off our responsibility on the government in the form of social security and to retirement homes and the like when this work should never have left our churches and our people. I hope this shows the importance God has placed on this to keep our communities sound and healthy, fully blessed and backed by God's own mighty hand.

I am not saying that we should not give our offerings to the church, we should. But when the money is used for things inappropriate or dedicated to things at the neglect of what we are commanded to do, then our priorities are wrong and have to be changed!

Matthew chapter 15:

3. Jesus replied, "And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?
4. For instance, God says, 'Honor your father and mother,' and 'Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.'
5.  But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, 'Sorry, I can't help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.'
6.  In this way, you say they don't need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.
7.  You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
8.  'These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
9.  Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.'"

Missonary work is also very important, but not at the expense of the people next door or our own families. Remember these scathing words by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 23 verse 15:

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!"

Makes you think, doesn't it.

Out on a Limb

I will give fair warning now, no matter how hard I try not to, I will eventually offend you. It will happen, I have no doubt. I am not deceived into thinking that I am all that smart or all that smooth. I'm not. The things I hope to share here is the knowledge, insight and wisdom the Holy Spirit has shared with me...revealing the truths of God and of His Son, Yeshua aka Jesus, the Messiah or Christ...and the good news of His Kingdom. Some of the things I have come to understand are rather simplistic, as far as the overall scheme of things goes, yet I feel are still worth noting and, at least for me, help in understanding larger things. Some of these things challenge even me to the core of my own previous and long held beliefs and understanding. I do not have a particular order for these commentaries, as I will post them as they come to mind. So stay tuned and feel free to chime in.