Mark 12:44 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.
We live in a “give and get” economy which is to say that you put something out there and you get paid for it. You get something back. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with that. In fact, I think it is a wonderful thing that we can make a living by making and selling things. But, you are really in trouble if you let God out of that economy. If you are merely living for what you can get out of life, then you end up manipulating your way through life instead of trusting God through life.
Mark 12 tells us about a group of people who had nothing in common save their resistance to Jesus. These people were the leaders, the ruling class. You had the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the Herodians, and the lawyers who knew the Mosaic Law. These people had great power and were under the illusion that what they had made them successful. They had money. They loved titles, salutations, chief seats, uppermost rooms, long prayers, and arguments.
There is an important contrast between this group of people, who thought their success was in what they had, and a group the Bible calls “the common people.” Mark 12:37 says, “And the common people heard him gladly.” Now the scribes had literally every sign in the book, but they rejected Jesus. The common people “heard him gladly” and learned because they did. Jesus says in the next verse, “Beware of the scribes.” So, you have a contrast between the common people and the scribes.
In verses 41-42 you have the contrast again, different names, same contrast. The rich gave a lot of money to the offering for the temple, and a poor widow threw in just two mites. In other words, what she gave was nothing. It was just a mite. Jesus told His disciples, “Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury.” Now obviously Jesus was thinking about a different economy than most people do. Did this poor widow put in more money than the scribes? Did she have as much to give as the scribes did? No! But did she give more? Yes, she gave more because she gave everything.
You can never give more than a hundred percent. The way we think about economy is flawed. We think, “What do I have? What can I get?” Jesus is thinking, “What have I given you? What will you give?” What I have is an indication of what God has given me, whether it is by my hard work and ingenuity, by birth, or whatever else. There is a sense in which we are given what we have. We can be good stewards of that, but everything I have is a gift of God.
So, what I have is God’s to give. What I give is my decision. That makes it a little more important in the sense that I am responsible for that. Jesus goes on to say in verse 44, “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.” The bottom line is that success is found in how I give, not in what I have. What I have is given me by God. How I give is my responsibility. If you give a hundred percent of yourself, money is just a way in which you can give. If you have given a hundred percent of yourself, you have nothing more to withhold and nothing more you can give. That is where the rub is. People never feel offended about hearing Bible instruction on giving money when they have already given themselves.
Who gave you what you have? God did. Who decides what you give? You do. The religious leaders built a life on what they could make, money, a name, an argument. This dear widow was part of the “common people.” She heard Jesus gladly and gave generously.