Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving through our year focusing in on the events of Mark’s gospel, we come to an event that I believe is misunderstood by many people. This short event is when Jesus takes a break from teaching in the temple to sit near the temple money box.

However, while I believe this event is misunderstood, that doesn’t make it any less powerful of an event. Let’s read what happened before unpacking several things we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 41, Mark tells us that:

⁴¹ Jesus sat near the Temple money box and watched the people put in their money. Many rich people gave large sums of money. ⁴² Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which were only worth a few cents.

⁴³ Calling his followers to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. ⁴⁴ They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had; she gave all she had to live on.”

In this short event, I wonder if the disciples didn’t even notice this widow at first. Prior to Jesus shining the spotlight on her gift, the few coins this woman gave hardly appeared significant in comparison to the large gifts of significant amounts of money.

But when Jesus does focus the disciples’ attention onto this widow’s gift, He tells His followers that she gave more than all the rich people.

Does this mean that God wants all His followers to give all their money to Him? In my own mind, the answer is a yes and no.

First off, in this event, nowhere do I get the impression Jesus was challenging His followers to do like this widow did. We don’t see in any of the gospels that record this event a challenge for the disciples to model this woman’s gift of everything. For this reason, the answer to our earlier question could easily be a “no”.

However, with that said, it is worth noting that God already owns everything. Whether we think we “own” something or not, whatever it is is actually God’s. This is just as true for our home and car as it is for our body and our breath. God created the universe and He owns every atom in this universe because of this.

Bringing this big truth into this discussion, the only giver in our short event who truly understands that God already owns everything is this poor widow who gave everything. She had two coins and she gave both to God. We don’t see her keeping one of her two coins. Instead, we see her give both her coins which shows an incredible faith in God to supply her needs.

In contrast, the extravagant gifts of the rich people were gifts of money that they did not need. This means that while they had plenty of money left over, and while they understood that giving was important, they had focused on their wants and needs ahead of placing God first. While it is possible that these large gifts included the giver’s tithe, nothing in how this event is recorded hints at this. Since the tithe was to be paid first, before expenses, and because Jesus describes these rich gifts as coming from what the rich people did not need, I cannot help but conclude that the gifts from these rich people does not describe them giving their tithe, even if these gifts were 10% or more of their income.

Because of this, we can see this poor widow being an example for us. This widow gives everything she has, which included her tithe and a free will offering, while the other givers only give after they had already satisfied all their needs. In this widow’s gift, we can see a challenge for us to give our gifts to God before anything else, and to not hold back what God may be calling us to give.

I don’t know if the Holy Spirit prompted this widow to give both her coins that day in the temple, or if she was that devoted of a person already. Whatever the case was, this widow gives something even greater than her gift of two coins. In this event, this widow gives her heart, her faith, and her trust to God that He will supply her needs. This widow does this likely knowing full well that her help will come from God and not from the organization that she was giving her money to.

At the time this widow gave her gift, the religious system was corrupt and it was unlikely she would be helped by it. More than anyone else living at that point in time, this widow would have known and realized her gift was being given to a corrupted institution. However, this widow still chooses to give.

This detail is important to realize. God calls us to give the money He has entrusted to us to further His mission on this planet. While we should be diligent regarding where we give our discretionary dollars, we should never exclude God’s church from our giving because we believe the church has fallen away. Jesus commended this widow’s gift to a corrupt institution.

God has called His people to give because giving is what He modeled for us. God wants to replicate His character in our lives and in our hearts. Because God is a giver, He wants His people to be givers as well. God gave us Jesus, and Jesus gave us His life in exchange for ours, and we are challenged to give our lives and hearts back to God as our way of saying thank You to God for everything He has blessed us with, which is similar to what this poor widow did with her gift!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Choose to give like this widow gave, and give God more than just your money – intentionally give God your faith, your hope, your trust, and your belief. Give God your heart like God gave you His heart!

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. While other people have many ideas and opinions about the Bible and what it teaches, don’t discount what the Bible says in favor of their opinion. Choose to filter our world through the truth the Bible teaches.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue through the gospels looking at Jesus’ miracles, we come to a miracle that comes with an object lesson, and while this object lesson is not pleasant to thinking about, it is something that is very relevant to our mission in the world today.

During the first century, the culture had developed the belief that those who were sick, injured, disabled, or hurting was because of their sin, or the sin of their parents. Those holding to this belief had several Old Testament texts that they used to support this idea, but while the texts are accurate, as we will soon discover, the error of those holding this belief was thinking that this belief covered every situation.

Let’s read what happened, and discover what Jesus wanted to teach His disciples. Our miracle for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 9, and we will read it from the New Living Translation of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. ² “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

³ “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. ⁴ We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. ⁵ But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. ⁷ He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

⁸ His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”

But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”

¹⁰ They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”

¹¹ He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

While the event continues for a good portion of the rest of the chapter, this is a good place to jump out of it. Evidently, this miracle happened on the Sabbath, and while we could continue reading and focus on that big theme, we’d run out of time before being able to focus on a few verses near the beginning of this event that stand out even more in my mind.

It is possible Jesus wanted to do this miracle to tick the religious leaders off because it was the Sabbath, but that thought doesn’t match how this event opens. Instead, this passage opens with Jesus and the disciples spotting a blind man begging on the side of the road. While it is logical to think Jesus had already decided to heal him, the question the disciples ask Jesus is very profound when we think about it.

The disciples ask Jesus why this man was born blind. The two options in their minds, which also reflected the minds of those in first century Jewish culture, was that this was because of sins that were either committed by a previous generation, such as his parents or grandparents, or because he had some serious sin present in his life. The last option doesn’t make much sense, because usually the punishment for a sin comes after the sin itself, and this punishment seemed to come before a sin could have even been committed, but this doesn’t exclude it as an option in the minds of those in the first century.

However, while the culture only allowed for two options, Jesus opens the door for a third. As we will soon see, we should openly desire a third option, because the two options present in that culture wouldn’t have allowed Jesus to work any miracles, and those two options would actually keep us from helping others while living within God’s will.

While it sounds crazy to think about, imagine for a moment that a parent is punishing a child for doing something wrong, and as a punishment, the parent takes the child’s favorite toy away. If the child had a friend with the same toy, and the child’s friend chose to give the toy to the child, how would this friend be seen in the eyes of the parent punishing the child? In essence, the parent is trying to punish, but the child’s friend is cancelling the parent’s efforts.

Let’s translate this into first century culture, and into the idea that they had about God. Those in the first century believed that injury, illness, and similar situations were God’s punishment for sin. If this was the case, then every time Jesus healed someone, He broke God’s will that that person deserved to be punished, and it makes Jesus’ ministry oppose God.

However, this is unfortunately what many Christian’s believe. Many Christians see God the Father as a mean God looking for reasons and ways to punish people for their sins, while Jesus is holding the Father back or cancelling the Father’s efforts in certain cases. This doesn’t sound like a unified picture of God or a pleasant picture of heaven.

Luckily, Jesus gives us a different frame of mind to view illness, injury, struggle, and disability: Jesus gives us the frame that shows us it is an opportunity to see God’s power in a person’s life. When bad happens in our lives, Jesus doesn’t say that sin is never the cause, but Jesus opens the door to the option that the bad that happens is not God’s punishment.

Jesus’ third option opens the door for us to be a blessing to others. If God is punishing someone for their sin, we would be unwise to get in the way of that punishment. However, what if the bad that happens is God sending an opportunity for His people to step in and help, and an opportunity for God to be praised through the good that happened in spite of the bad situation? If this is the case, then as Christians, when bad happens, we are to see this as God giving us an opportunity to get involved and challenging us to make a positive difference.

The same is true in our own lives. When we think about our testimony, rarely if ever do we discover our testimony comes out of our triumphs and successes. More often than not, our testimony comes out of our trials in life, and how God brought us through the trials and into a closer relationship with Him. When we let God lead us through the trials, we find that we come out the other side with a testimony. Our testimony is a blessing and it is given so we can be a light in a dark world.

Jesus warned His disciples that the night was coming when no one can work. Jesus tells us that while He is present, He is the light of the world. While Jesus could be saying that the night began when He returned to heaven, I have a suspicion that since we as believers are together called the “body of Christ”, we are to consider the night as still coming. While we can be a blessing to others, we should be a blessing, because the night is coming when we won’t be able to work.

Let’s together demonstrate God’s love, His power, and His compassion to a world that believes God hates them. God doesn’t hate us. Jesus came to redeem us from the curse and punishment of sin.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and place Him first in your life. Understand and recognize that God the Father loves you and that He has called you, me, and all believers to be a blessing to others. Don’t see the bad that happens as God punishing, but instead see the bad as an opportunity or a wakeup call from God to start living within His will – whether that means changing something within our lives, or whether it means stepping out and helping someone else in need.

Also, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, discover, and grow closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and study, we grow our relationship with God and we learn from Him what He wants for our lives.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or choose a path that walks away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!