Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 192 · July 11
All Her Living
“For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
Jesus sat down in the temple to watch people give money. "And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much."
Then a widow came. "And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing." These were the smallest coins in use. The detail that matters is that she had two. She could have kept one, and nobody would have known, but both went in. Then Jesus called His disciples and did the sums for them: "all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
Now read the verses just before this scene. They belong to the same teaching, and they are fierce. "Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces." Two verses later He says that they "devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation." So Jesus names a group of men who eat up widows' homes. Then He sits down across from the offering boxes in the temple where those same men taught, and He watches a widow put her whole living into one of them.
As He leaves the temple, He is already speaking of its fall: "Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Keep both halves of that day together. Jesus praises the widow fully, because she gave more than all of them put together. Yet He never praises the system she gave into.
So this week, do two sums. First, work out your giving as a share of what you have, because the share is the only measure Jesus used. Then think about what your money holds up, and whether the poorest person who gives to it is helped by it or harmed. Jesus was watching both sides of that box, and He still is. Nothing given to Him in love is too small for Him to see.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 192 is Hope Not Ashamed (Romans 5:5).