The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on November 7, 1982. The title is, The Widow's Mites, and the scripture references Mark chapter 12, verses 38 through 44. 

Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark. I'm reading from the 12th chapter beginning at the 38th verse. and in his teaching Jesus said beware of the scribes who like to go about in long robes and to have salutations in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers they will receive the greater condemnation and he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury.

Many rich people put in large sums, and a poor widow came and put in two copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance, But she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, her whole living.

The Gospel of the Lord. I want you to picture the scene that we have just read about. A public poor box in one of the porticos of the great temple in Jerusalem.

One of many, probably. The archaeologists and historians have described it. and as I've read that description for all the world, it looks like a mailbox.

It was a metal box with a slot in it and sort of a funnel that came down into the containing area where the money ended up until it was collected. There are probably 12 or 13 or 14 of these boxes in various places around the temple just as there are poor boxes in many narthexes and vestibules of churches today so that on your way to worship you could hardly avoid coming past one of them. And every now and then, sure enough, somebody would step up and put some money into the poor box.

And we read that the wealthy especially went out of their way to do so, so long as somebody was watching. They wanted to be sure that their generosity was noted by all. And so in this particular scene, we can imagine one of the great landowners of Judah coming forward, somebody who owns tremendous flocks and herds, and in the middle of the crowd, he steps up to the poor box and he stuffs his money into it.

And of course, with that long metal funnel-like throat, the money rattles and calls a great deal of attention to itself, and everybody takes notice. A little ripple of appreciation goes through the crowd. and then not to be outdone, one of the innkeepers, a fellow with a virtual monopoly on the tourist trade, coming up from the Jericho Road, he steps forward and he stuffs his money into the box and the crowd gasps at the amount of it.

Wow. And just then, a tax collector elbows his way through the crowd. Now, he wasn't any more popular than tax collectors are today.

in fact probably a good deal less so because he not only was considered a turncoat having sold out his own people he's working in the service of the Roman oppressors but in addition it's widely rumored that he's taking his own fat slice of graft right off the top but there's no criticism of him today because he comes and he stuffs his money into the poor box and people can hardly believe how much he has to stuff. And just then as the crowd begins to thin out there comes this little lady not too much attention is being paid to her she's obviously quite poor her clothes have been patched and sewed and there are patches on the patches and she waits her turn and one of the priests elbows another and he says you watch I bet she asks me to open it up and give her a handout. But instead of that, she reaches inside the folds of her garment and takes out two little tiny copper coins.

They add up to a total worth of a penny. She drops them into the slot. You can hardly hear them.

Just ting, ting. But it catches Jesus' attention. You are aware that nothing escapes his notice.

and as she drops those two little tiny coins into the box Jesus himself says glory to you Lord God for her spirit of generosity and his disciples look at him so he explains it and he says she has given more than all the others put together this is just one of many instances in which Jesus contrasts the way that God measures things with the way that we measure things see we're impressed with the size of some of those other gifts I mean that's astonishing the amount of money that those other folks put in there but you see God measures things according to how much was available to give the size of the gift over against the backdrop of how much there was all. And some of those other folks who gave such a large number of dollars gave it without even noticing its loss. But this lady, Jesus says, gave everything she had. Now, that's supernatural knowledge.

That's a word of knowledge that he could have only by revelation from God. And we see every now and then a little evidence that Jesus has exactly that kind of knowledge of us. And so he commends her.

Now, we read a moment ago about another widow in Zarephath in the days of Elijah. This one is just like the other. This widow gave literally her last meal.

She didn't know where her next meal was going to come from. This other widow, back in the days of Elijah, was cured for by the power of God. There was a continuous miracle that went on.

And we read that the cruise of oil didn't fail, the meal didn't run out, and if you cross-reference it to the book of James, you discover that that went on for the next three and a half years. As she not only cared first for Elijah, but then for herself and her son, there was a continuous miracle out of that little tiny bit of meal that she thought was enough to make one cake. It was food for three and a half years.

And so it may well be that this widow as well was cared for by God supernaturally. Jesus himself said, consider the ravens. Your heavenly Father feeds them and you're of much more value than they.

But I want you to be very aware that that is not the point of the story. Jesus does not commend this widow because of her trusting God and finding that she can't outgive God. That's not the point of the story.

I get very nervous when I hear some of these preachers, particularly on television, and they're talking about giving in a way that sounds like it's an ironclad guarantee that if you give X number of dollars, then you're not going to have to worry about anything more. That's not the way that Jesus commends this lady. It's not because she hedged her bets, but because she gave out a spirit of generosity.

we usually call this the story of the widow's mite but that's inaccurate if you want to use King James language it's the story of the widow's mites with an S on it because there are two of them and unless you notice that you may well miss the point of the story the widow gave two little tiny copper coins probably perutas and as it suggests, each worth about half a penny. Two of them, not one. It's not that she gave the smallest coin available.

It's that she gave all she had. A friend of mine rather cynically remarks that we would increase some people's weekly contribution five-fold if we did away with the one-dollar bill. It's not that she gave the smallest coin available.

She had two of them. And she gave them both. Stop and think about it.

If she had kept one of those for herself, she would have still done five times what the law requires. And who could fault her for keeping the other half? The law says tithe.

10%. times over. You follow what I'm saying?

But she gave everything. I don't want us to miss the point of that. We've made a very great deal out of the subject of tithing here at Toro over the last few years.

We backed away from that for a long time. We sort of skirted around the subject and then finally we said, no, it's time to declare forthrightly what the scripture has to say on the subject and let the chips fall where they may. And the whole vestry came out with a public statement and all their names were attached to it.

We published it in a little booklet called Bring in the Full Tithes and See, a quote from the book of Malachi, because that's what God says. Bring in the full tithes and put me to the test and see whether I won't open the windows of heaven and pour down an overflowing blessing. And lots and lots of folks here have begun to discover that God means what he says.

He means what he says. He's the one who gives us that challenge not me he says bring it in and see what happens and so we've begun to respond to that and people have struggled their way up to a tithe and for some of them it was really a hard struggle but they went up to three percent and then five percent and then seven percent and finally made it and lo and behold they hit tithing and discovered they were managing their money better than they ever had before god was providing more abundantly than they'd ever known His blessing. They had more left over than ever before.

You see, God keeps His promise. God meant what He said. If you've not thought this thing through, I really encourage you to do so.

We have the booklet out in the North X and I commend it to your interest. And it is the Word of God, you see. But one thing I want you to be very clear about, that tithing is not the goal.

Tithing is not the finish line, the end of the race, so that when you finally get there, you say, I made it, now I can relax. No, tithing is the starting block. Tithing is the beginning point for the Christian.

Do you ever stop and wonder why it says bring in your tithes and offerings? Because biblically, the tithe is required. It's like taxes.

You don't have any choice in the matter. If you're going to be obedient, it's 10% off the top. And it's not considered that you have given an offering until after that.

Then you begin to give, you see. 75% of the people who made pledges last year checked off on the little pledge card that they were either tithing now or they were committed to getting there. and that's very exciting.

Very exciting. But that's just the beginning point. Just the beginning point.

When you finally got to tithing, then you begin to give, you see. And I know that for some folks sitting right here, right now, getting to tithing is going to be a struggle. God will help you get there if you want to take seriously what He said.

So much of the church has not done so. The Episcopal Church in the 60s came out with a statement that we believe in the modern tithe. You know what that means?

5%. And that was the official position of the Episcopal Church. That's like saying, we believe thou shalt not commit adultery except on weekends.

I'm absolutely serious. Who did we think we were to set aside the Word of God and give some other standard. And you know what happened to the finances of the Episcopal Church in the last 20 years?

Well, they reversed themselves this year. General convention declared again forthrightly God means what He says. And tithing is the minimum standard.

And I'm grateful for that. But you see, for the Christian, 10% is not the goal. Let me read you this statement that we find in the words of David.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom and you are exalted as head over all. In the same place, David used some other words that we often quote when we bring forward our gifts to God's table.

All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee. Do you know what we're saying? We're saying that we recognize that the standard is not 10%, it's 100%.

Everything belongs to God. And Christians who understand that recognize themselves to be stewards, which means God has entrusted some of what still belongs to Him into our management. We handle it for Him but it's still His.

You see, and so even the part that we spend upon ourselves we're still accountable for. And one day we'll give a reckoning. He's going to say, how did you handle that money?

And you and I are going to give an answer to that question. And it's still His even when we spend it on ourselves. so while it may be tough for some people in the light of commitments that they've made to come up to 10% I want to speak to the others among us for whom it might be possible to come up to 20% or 30% or 45% or 50% or 70% you know we had one man in the congregation who a few years ago hit 60% he wasn't able to stay there.

But there was a period in his life when God was so blessing his finances that he was living on 40% of his income and giving away 60%. And I have to ask you, is there any credit in that? The answer is no. Because that's the purpose of wealth.

One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that we would be so blessed with abundance that we would be able to extend a spirit of generosity to others. That's the purpose of wealth. I want to bring myself under this teaching, myself and my family, under this word of God, and I want you to come under it as well.

And mind you, it is His word, it's not my word. This is a lovely passage three weeks before Stewardship Sunday. But I did not pick it.

It's there in the lectionary. And what we need to see is that this is what God would have us wrestle with. It's not how little can I give away in order to qualify, meet the test, you see.

It's how much can I possibly give to bless others, to meet the needs of the poor, to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ. How much can I possibly do? Some of you can do much more than you've ever dreamed of doing.

Now, I am not talking about giving to Toro Church. I do hope you'll consider that but that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about responsiveness to God for all that He's entrusted to you and to me and the standard is 100% Lord, how much can I do to bless Your name to meet the needs of Your people if You can give away 80% do it to the praise of God's name. C.T.

Studd, one of the great athletes who was a great cricketer in England, was called onto the mission field, became one of the all-time great missionary giants. And C.T. Studd said, if Jesus Christ be God and died for me, no sacrifice I can make for Him is too much.

Do you believe that this morning? Jesus told the rich young man whose problem was money, who had made a god of his possessions, he said, sell what you have. Get rid of it.

Give it away to the poor and come. Follow me. But we read that that man went away sorrowful because he had the opposite opinion from C.T.

Studd. Then we read another story about Jesus visiting the home of one Zacchaeus, a tax collector, and he wasn't too well liked. And when Jesus paid him a visit, he was so overwhelmed that the Son of God should grace His home that He stood up and made a little speech and He said, Half of everything I have, I give away.

Jesus commended him. But His words of highest praise are for this little widow lady whose name we don't even know. She didn't give away half.

She gave away everything she had. She understood stewardship. Let's bow our heads together.

Lord, Your Word says that to give you less than 10% is to rob God. Lord forgive me forgive us for ever thinking we've done enough Lord when we look at our lives filled with the abundance of things and comfort we consider the comfortable clothing that we wear the warm, dry, safe houses in which we live appliances and lights at the flick of a switch any hour of the day the ease of getting around with available transportation possibility of picking up a telephone and talking to anybody in the country books and magazines and newspapers television and radio bank accounts many suits of clothing Lord when we consider our lives we confess to you this morning that we live more luxuriously than most of the kings and queens who have ever lived. That the poorest among us live better than 95% of all the people who have ever lived on the face of the earth.

Lord, I pray that You would help me and my family and you would help my brothers and sisters this morning to think far more deeply than we ever have about the matter of stewardship. Thank you for the example and the encouragement of this little lady. We confess this morning that all things come from you and of your own have we given you.

let a spirit of generosity well up in us for your great name's sake Amen Thank you.