Generosity
“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ”
What does generosity look like?
This passage challenges some preconceived notions.
I have to admit that giving is something I do when I feel like it—out of increase. I have been given much therefore I reciprocate. And while it is true that in our best moments we are simply reflecting the Father’s heart when we give what happens when we are exhausted and we’re scrapping for remnants? We often give from our increase—we take inventory and if we have something left over we might share it. In our scripture God flips things around..
What happens when you’re giving all you have? I think here we start to get a glimpse of what generosity is although it may feel like an unwelcome stranger in a world where we don’t engage in conversation or shake someone’s hands without fear of contracting a deadly disease—a world where the stranger is stranger than before. It’s not that I stopped giving, it’s that my spirit does not feel like giving. I feel empty, clinging to vestiges of what once was—trying to give from a void like the clanging coins Jesus looked past to see the widow and her mite.
In this passage, this poor woman drops in two small copper coins—all she has to live on.
What am I living on? What am I clinging to besides Him?
I think this can help us notice the difference between giving out of habit or because we get a tax break and giving as an act of love. Love will sacrifice for the one it loves. This is what Jesus does for me. When I go to the cross and I see that He is broken and spilled out for me, like the extravagant gift Mary poured on Jesus feet—the fragrance of it’s immeasurable worth and beauty filling the room—an extravagant gift for the One who is loved…
This is the extent of His love for me and for His world. God so loved the world He gave…
So may we give him all we have to live on because apart from him those things fall short. His love saturates the air around us but are we breathing it or something else? Can you breathe the fragrance of His generosity over you? Will you allow him to break up the hardened surfaces of your soul—give Him all you have to live on so you can become free and generous? I have a feeling that trade will always be an unfair exchange in our favor.