Closing the Generosity Gap
Jesus is talking about the scribes again. He gives them a hard time. He says, "Beware of the scribes who like to go about in long robes, have salutations in the marketplace, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at feasts." What's he getting after? Is he getting after the scribes? I mean, yes, in one sense, but there's a more universal theme here. He's getting after the pride. He's getting after arrogance. He's drawing our attention to the ways we elevate ourselves that are incongruent with reality. The next piece of reading is truly fascinating to me. It says, "Jesus sat down opposite the Treasury and watched the multitude putting money into the Treasury." I must have read this reading 100 times and I never picked up on this, but this is like Jesus sitting in church on Sunday, watching people putting money in the plate. Literally is fascinating to me, because I don't think we ever think of Jesus like that, right? We think of him-- I don't know why we don't think of him like that.
He says, "Many rich people put in large sums and a poor widow came and put in two copper coins which make a penny." Then what happens? It says, "And he called his disciples to him." Saying, "Hey, guys, come on, we've got a good lesson here." Calls his disciples to him. He says to them, “Check out this widow. Truly, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all those together who had contributed to the Treasury," and then the lesson, "For they contributed out of their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had her whole living."
I think most of us like to be generous. I think most of us like to be generous. Most of us like to think of ourselves as being generous. And one of the things I love about America, one of the things I notice about America when I first came is a lot of generosity in America, a lot of it, more philanthropy in America than anywhere in the world. It's a very generous culture. But the reality is I can be very generous and it absolutely does not impact my lifestyle at all. And I suspect that's true for many of us. We can be very generous and it doesn't impact our lifestyle, and that's what we're seeing here in this reading. We're seeing a woman, widow, doesn't say how old, but what is a widow? A widow is vulnerable, right? A widow's socially vulnerable, she's financially vulnerable. She's vulnerable. But there's a great trust in God there. There's a great trust that God will provide. It's beautiful, arresting on many, many, many different levels, but I just keep coming back to Jesus sitting there watching people put money into the Treasury. For some reason, I never saw it. I never saw it. And that is the scriptures, right? They just keep revealing layer after layer, after layer, after layer. How generous are we? How generous do we think we are? How generous are we actually? And how do we close the gap and go beyond the gap and live lives of staggering generosity?
