Tithing

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

 

Today’s story, where Jesus speaks of a widow tithing, is quite extraordinary for the lessons it teaches. See, widows were not required to tithe — on the contrary, they were to be provided for. God has a soft corner in his heart for widows and orphans, and the psalmist puts it beautifully when he says, “A father to the fatherless, and a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling” (Psalms 68:5). He warns people against taking “advantage of the widow or the fatherless” (Exodus 22:22), and he constantly exhorts people to provide for them along with the poor (see Deuteronomy 14:28-29). 

 

The woman that Jesus saw putting her coins into the treasury was not only a widow, she was also poor. That put her in two “special protection” categories! She was fully entitled to receive; however she gave! And she didn’t calculate percentages before she gave: she gave all! How was she able to do this? Well, one reason was knowing that God’s favor rested upon people like her. A second was a total and complete trust in him. She KNEW she was safe in his hands. How did she know this? From the Scriptures! They told her that God was her provider, and she believed it! She also believed that everything she had came from him.

 

How do we fare in comparison? Do we believe that God is our provider? Do we believe that everything we have comes from God? Or do we believe that whatever we have is because of our efforts, our experience, our expertise? If our answer is the former, we need to put our money where our mouth is; quite literally in this case. This means we need to tithe. It isn’t because God needs our money — he owns the entire universe — it is to acknowledge: one, that God is the one responsible for whatever we have; and, two, that we are responsible for others.

 

But why did the widow put everything she had into the treasury when she wasn’t required to put in more than the obligatory ten percent. A tithe, incidentally, simply means “a tenth”. She did this because she believed that God’s providence in her life would continue. It is an illustration of amazing faith. Now consider this: if we believed that we had a purse that would never empty, would we still be reluctant to tithe? Or would we be reluctant to share our money with others? Those who truly believe in God really have a “magic” purse! 

 

I wish we all understood this. We’d lead lives of such freedom and blessing!

 

Watch the video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/HCXmvIaHfj8



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