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The Biggest Offering

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(Luke 21:3)

"I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others.

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Today, Jesus was sitting in front of the temple treasury.
In that place, Jesus looked at the people putting in their offerings.

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The people were lining up in front of the temple treasury to put in their offerings. Among the people, there were also rich people who put in very big amounts. They proudly put shiny gold coins into the temple treasury.

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Upon seeing the rich people offering their big amounts, other people became envious. Those people thought that the rich people were serving God very well.

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Among the people putting in their offerings was a widow, who didn't have a husband anymore, who had come to put in her offering. The widow offered 2 copper coins. Copper coins were the smallest amount of money in their time.

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This copper coin was the smallest amount of money in Judah. If you worked one day, they would receive one denarii. This copper coin was 1/128 of this one denarii. A copper coin was the smallest amount of money.

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During that time, there was a rule for putting in the offering. They could not only put in one copper coin. So the offering of this widow, two copper coins, was the smallest amount of offering that could have been given.

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Jesus saw all of those things.
Then, Jesus gathered the disciples.
And Jesus said a very strange thing to the disciples.

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"I tell you the truth. This poor widow has put in more than all the others who put in the offering." The disciples could not understand what Jesus had said. The widow had not put in any gold coins or silver coins. She had only put in two copper coins which was the smallest amount of money.

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But Jesus explained himself, "The rich people gave their offerings out of their wealth.  But this poor widow put in all the money she had.
So this widow had put in the most than any of the others."

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The people who had put in the gold coins still had a lot of gold coins even though they offered some to God. They put in a very big amount of money but that still was only a very little amount of what they had. They still had a lot of money.

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And Jesus knew that those rich people put in the offering with hearts of showing off their wealth than offering it in front of God. Jesus was not happy with them because they put in their offerings with wrong hearts.

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But the offering of this widow was different.
This widow offered to God with all she had.

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That money could have been used for her life but instead she offered the money to God. Jesus said that the offering of this widow was the biggest offering because Jesus acknowledged that she offered a very precious offering which is like her own life.

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The offering that can make Jesus happy doesn't concern how much it is. Jesus is telling us that the most important thing in our offering is not how much the offering amount is. Jesus is telling us that the most important thing in our offering is how sincere we are in offering it to God.

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We also give offerings in the worship service. What will Jesus say when Jesus sees our offering? The widow offered her offering with all of her heart. Today, I hope you can become faithful friends who can give the offering sincerely with all of your hearts. I hope you can do that so that Jesus can applaud you like how Jesus did to the widow.