41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Mark 12:41-44

Periodically we see on the news that a celebrity has given money to a charitable cause. Perhaps a pop star has paid for a high-tech wheelchair for a fan. Maybe an actor donates some cash to save a regional theatre from closure. Sometimes we might even hear that a well-known ‘worship leader’ from a big church has just paid for a new school in some far-flung country. Of course, it’s always great when a good cause benefits from a sizeable donation, but in my cynicism I often wonder when the pop star’s next album is coming out, or if the actor is starring in a film opening soon. I even find myself asking if the ‘worship leader’ has a concert for which tickets aren’t selling as fast as he would have hoped. Too often these gifts, seemingly an act of generosity, are given for ulterior motives. Often these motives are more about raising the profile of the giver than benefitting the recipient. And if we hear about these gifts on the news, or read about them in the paper, then they have served their purpose as far as the celebrity is concerned. Sometimes the actual gift can even be written off against tax, so cost less than we might think. Perhaps I’m being cynical. Maybe I should be rejoicing in the generosity of people such a these. After all, gifts such as these can often transform the lives of the beneficiaries.

In today’s passage, we benefit from Jesus’ teaching on giving. We see him once again in the temple, watching as people drop their gifts into the offering box. Jesus sees the rich bringing their large gifts, and a poor widow bring her seemingly insignificant copper coins. Yet it is not the rich that Jesus commends, but the poor widow.

Jesus recognises that the gift of the poor widow is far more significant than that of the rich people, for she gives everything she has. Her gift is sacrificial. Whilst the rich will go home and not notice that they are a little poorer than they were when they set out, they will still tuck into fancy food in their comfortable homes. The poor widow, however, will really feel the impact of her gift, even though it was small. She gave all she had, and may well go hungry that evening as a consequence. Jesus recognises this, and reserves his praise for the widow. She has shown the extent of the love that she has for God by giving him everything.

Are we more like the rich people or the poor widow? Do we give everything we have, or do we just drop a few coins into the plate on Sunday? We have even more reason to be generous than the poor widow. Jesus gave quite literally everything for us. He left heaven to be with us on earth. He died for us on the cross, taking the punishment that should have been ours for disobeying God. He withheld nothing and gave everything. In return he wants our lives: our money, our time, our gifts, our intellect, everything we have. It is our attitude that is important. Is our attitude one of complete dedication to following Jesus, or are we Sunday morning Christians, turning up to church once a week but otherwise neglecting our relationship with Christ? Do we give for attention, or so that we’re seen to be giving, like the ‘generous’ celebrities, or do we give because we are dedicated to following Christ, to serving him in all that we do?

The poor widow holds back nothing in her gift to the temple. She could have kept one of the coins back in order to buy something to eat on her return home, but she gave everything. As Christians, do we give everything to Jesus, or is there some element of our lives that we hold back? Is there something that we do that we know Jesus would not approve of, or something that we know that we should be doing that we don’t? Perhaps we engage in pre-marital sex. Maybe we gamble. Perhaps we don’t love our neighbours. Maybe we hate our boss. By committing acts that we know displease God, or failing to do things that we know he demands of us, we are holding something back in our relationship with Jesus. We’re not honouring him fully. We’re like the rich people in the temple, creating an illusion of serving God, whilst ultimately we’re holding back. We need instead to be like the poor widow, giving everything we have to God. Until we do that, it will always feel like our faith is lacking something. Of course, honouring God with our whole lives is difficult. It requires a complete shift in focus, but ultimately it will be worth it. Our lives will feel as if they have purpose. We’ll know with certainty that we are destined for heaven, to eternal life in God’s new creation. So let’s strive to be like the poor widow, giving everything she has, rather than like the rich people, holding back so much of what we have to give.

Of course, sometimes it can seem futile bringing our particular gifts to God. We see people who have given everything that they have and think that their “everything” is worth much more than ours. Perhaps we listen to a preacher and think that we could never do that, or read a book and think that nothing we write could ever be that good. If we play a musical instrument maybe we feel inadequate when we listen to people playing at church because they’re so much better than we are. Surely it’s better to leave serving God to people who are better than us?

This is the wrong attitude to take, tempting as it may be. Look back at the widow in the passage. She could have thought that her two copper coins were worthless compared to all that the rich were giving, but she gave them anyway. She knew that, though she had little, God could still use it. I know of a preacher who I regard as superb, from whom I’ve learnt a great deal, who really struggles because he thinks that he is useless. He still preaches, though, and God uses him. I’m sure I’m not alone in having been touched by his words. I certainly wouldn’t regard myself as a good writer, but I know that God can use my wafflings and perhaps if I allow myself to be guided by the Holy Spirit as I write, there’s a possibility that something I write could help someone in their faith. God can use us all, and everything we do, no matter how useless, poor or inadequate we feel ourselves to be. Let’s not hold back anything, therefore, but give ourselves entirely to the service of our God.

I bet when that poor widow dropped those two coins into the temple offer box, she had no idea that we would still be talking about her two thousand years or so later. She knew that if she gave all she had, though, that God would use her gift for the glory of his kingdom. And that’s exactly what has happened, because she has been held up as a role model for generations of Christians. Jesus gave everything he had for us, so let’s endeavour to give everything that we have back to him. It may be hard but the reward for doing so is immeasurable.

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” 32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Mark 12:28-34

Do you see yourself as a revolutionary, striding out to radically alter the world we live in?  Do you see yourself as a messenger, bringing a message of hope to the world?  Do you get excited about your faith?  If you’re a Christian, then you should!  The world may see the Christian message as dull, dry and boring.  Some may see the Gospel message we proclaim as irrelevant and pointless.  Many may mock us for what we believe.  The truth is, though, that the Gospel, the good news, that we believe is earth-shattering.  It is immensely powerful.  If every Christian sought to faithfully follow the teachings of Christ as they went about their daily lives, there really would be a global revolution for peace and love, respect and kindness.

In today’s passage, we see Jesus, in a few simple words, teaching one of the most incredible messages of the entire Bible.  We see here Jesus announcing a “love revolution.”

At the beginning of this passage, Jesus is asked by a scribe, an expert on the Jewish law, “which commandment is the greatest of all?” Many over the generations had found themselves tied up in knots trying to decide what the most fundamental of God’s rules is.  Jesus replies with great simplicity that the most important commandment is, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Jesus neatly wraps all of the teaching of the Old Testament, the entirety of God’s message for the world, this simple commandment: just love God. That’s it. Just love him. If you do that, then all the other laws and commandments will be fulfilled.

Of course, loving is not always that easy. If we say we love another person, we put them first in everything, we place their needs above our own, we do everything within our power to make them happy. We certainly don’t betray them, lie to them, cheat on them or neglect them. This is the same attitude we should have with our relationship with God. Do we put him first in everything, or do we neglect him? Is every fibre of our being, our soul, our mind and our strength, dedicated to loving God? Or is loving God something that we do on a Sunday morning, and then forget about the rest of the week? If we really love God, if we really do make loving him our first priority, then our relationship with him will underpin our entire lives; what we do, what we think, what we say. Every waking minute should be dedicated to displaying our love for God; listening to him, talking to him, and striving to live out his commands in our lives.

How do we do this, though? How, practically, do we show that God is our first priority? Jesus addresses this point in the next section of this passage, when he says that the second commandment is, “you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” If the best way to serve God is to follow his commandments, we can demonstrate our love for God by loving those around us: not just our literal neighbours, those who live near us, but also our friends, our family, our work colleagues, people at our Church, people we see in the gym, people we see as we pay for our parking. In short, we show our love for God by loving all those we encounter.

Sometimes, it can be hard to love our neighbours. How do we love that irritating person in our office? How do we love the person who cuts us up whilst we’re driving? How do we show love to the person in the supermarket who grabs the last bag of Braeburns? At the most basic level we love them by liking them, by not getting irritated or angry, by seeking to serve them. Go for a coffee with that irritating guy at work. Let that driver who is trying to cut us up pull in in front of us. Offer that last bag of apples to our fellow customer. These are all small things, but if we all based our actions on loving our neighbours, if we all sought to demonstrate love in everything we did, the world would be a remarkably different place. Homes would be happier. Offices less stressful. Wars would be a thing of the past. A world in which every action taken is based on love for other people seems like a pipe dream, but as Christians, we are called to be the vanguard. Even if we are the only people in the world who live this way, we can transform it with our actions. There are two billion Christians in the world. That’s a lot of us to bring about a love revolution!

Within this verse, there’s an assumption that is often overlooked. Jesus says, “you shall love your neighbour as yourself,” the assumption being that we love ourselves. Sadly, this is not always the case. Over the last few years, I have met so many people who not only don’t love themselves, but actively hate themselves. They feel inadequate, useless, worthless. They hide themselves away, they tell themselves that they are a burden on those around them, and that no-one could possibly love them. Sometimes they cut themselves, and sometimes they even consider taking their own lives. This is one of the greatest sorrows of the world today.

Perhaps you feel this way about yourself. If you don’t, then I will guarantee that at least one of your close friends does. You’d be surprised at how many people do. The truth is, though, that God loves every single person on this planet. When he created the human race, he saw that his creation was “very good;” everything else he made he thought was simply “good.” He loves us so much that, even though throughout our history we have demonstrated hate towards him, he sent his son to die for us, for you and for me, so that we could once again be brought into his arms. God doesn’t see us as worthless, or useless, or hateful; he loves us, and that is a remarkable thing. It’s also true that, despite what we may think, there are people around us who love us passionately. Our lives have touched the lives of others more than we will ever know. We matter to our family and our friends. We have value and worth in their eyes, even if we can’t see it ourselves.

Sometimes we can get bogged down in theology. We wonder whether women should be allowed to be vicars or bishops. We struggle with how to deal with our best friend who has just come out as gay. We worry about whether we should allow a yoga class to use our Church hall. When we dwell on issues like these, being a Christian can seem really hard, if not impossible. In this section of Mark’s Gospel, however, Jesus condenses all of the teachings of the Church into just two commandments; love God, and love each other. That’s what is at the heart of our faith. Sometimes even fulfilling these commandments can seem hard, but if we all strived to live them out in the world, if we put love at the heart of our lives and everything we do, we could transform the world. If all two billion Christians sought to live out the message of this passage, we really would start a love revolution. So let’s do it!

“Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”

13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him. 18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third.22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” 24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

Mark 12:13-27

Last summer, on August 13th to be precise, I married my beautiful fiancee, Claire, at Ballynafeigh Methodist Church in Belfast.  It was the happiest day of my life.  Not only was I marrying the woman of my dreams, but all my family and friends were gathered around me, and, to cap it all off, the weather was stunning, which was certainly not a given in Northern Ireland!  Since we got married in a Methodist Church, after we signed the documentation, it had to be taken to the Belfast Records Office within three days for the wedding to be legalised.  Whilst our wedding was binding in the eyes of God and the Church, the state needed to put their stamp on it before they recognised it.  For us, the most important aspect of our marriage was that the ceremony was solemnised before God, but we recognised the necessity of the state making it “official.”

In our current reading, we see both the issue of marriage and the state being raised in an attempt to trick Jesus.  Two questions are posed that are intended to catch Jesus out in the hope that he would say something that would leave him open to arrest, or show him up in front of the many people who were following him.  As we might expect, both questions failed in their intent.

The first question is concerned with the payment of taxes to Caesar.  The unlikely pairing of the Pharisees with the Herodians was without doubt aiming to cause trouble for Jesus.  They approached him in a very crafty manner, calling him “Teacher,” telling him that they knew he was an honest and trustworthy person, and seeming to ask him to settle a dispute that the two groups had.  Whilst the Pharisees, as devout Jews, would have been dubious about paying taxes to their Roman overlords, the Herodians, who were little more than puppets for the Roman control of Judea, would have advocated coughing up.  Behind this question, however, we can see their true purpose; they were trying to catch Jesus out.  If he said that the people should pay their taxes to Caesar, he would lose face with those who followed him, many of whom were strongly opposed to giving anything to the Romans.  If, on the other hand, he said that people should withhold their taxes, he risked certain arrest for treason.  It seemed to them like they had presented Jesus with a question that would implicate him in one way or another.

Jesus surprised both groups with his answer.  He probably did not have a coin to his name, but he asked them to give him one.  They did just that, and Jesus pointed to the face on the coin.  Whose face was this, he asked?  It was plain for them all to see that it was Caesar’s face.  Well, then, Jesus said, give to Caesar what belongs to him.  To God, though, they must give what belongs to God.  By drawing attention to the image on the coin, Jesus also rather neatly drew attention to our own image; if taxes have to be paid to Caesar because coins are created in his image, what should we give to God?  The answer implicit in Jesus’ statement is that we should give to God what is in God’s image.  Genesis 1:26-27 states:

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

We are created in God’s image.  We need to give ourselves to God.  All around him, people were coming to the temple to offer sacrifices to God, but things were changing, that was not what God was interested in any more.  He wanted people to turn to him, obey him, and give their lives to him.  Paul outlines this idea in Romans 12:1 when he states, “therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true act of worship.”

What Jesus is not telling those listening was that they must slavishly obey those who are governing them.  It is true that Paul said:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves.  (Romans 13:1-2).

It is clear from Peter and John’s example in Acts, however, that there are limits to this.  When the Sanhedrin warns the apostles not to speak any more of Jesus, they reply:

“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?  You be the judges!  As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20).

They know that the Sanhedrin has been established by God, but they also recognise that when it is running contrary to God’s will, they need to resort to the higher authority; God himself.  It’s a bit like a department manager at work telling you to do something that runs contrary to the wishes of the CEO – the CEO’s word is final.

So, just as when Claire and I had to follow the law of the land and register our marriage at the registry office, even though we were already married in God’s eyes, since the law did not run contrary to Biblical teaching, we had to obey.

Marriage is the topic of the next question that Jesus was posed, this time by the Sadducees.  The Sadducees had some interesting beliefs.  They based their whole religion on the pentateuch, or the five books of Moses.  Luke records in Acts that, “the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things” (Acts 23:8).  By asking Jesus about the resurrection, the Sadducees were testing Jesus to see which side of the argument he came down on, and, specifically, to see if he sided with their arch rivals, the Pharisees.  The question they asked relates to a levirate marriage, which obliges a brother to marry the widow of his childless deceased brother, as per the instructions of Deuteronomy 25:5-10 and Genesis 38:8.  Surely, the Sadducees imply, if this is an instruction that God has laid down for his people, there can’t be a resurrection?  Otherwise who would the woman be married to?

Once again, though, Jesus manages to confound his audience with the response he gives.  He turns the question right back on the Sadducees and tells them that they are completely wrong and that they have a weak understanding of the power of God, and a poor knowledge of Scripture.  This last accusation would have hurt, since it was Scripture that they believed they had based their beliefs on.  Jesus refers them to the time when Moses encountered the burning bush, and God told him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6).  God didn’t say that he was but that he is. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were clearly long dead, but in God’s eyes they were still in some sense alive, otherwise how could he be their God now?  God is not the God of the dead Jesus said, but the God of the living.

The idea of resurrection that the Sadducees present to Jesus is, Jesus explains, totally false.  They’re viewing heaven in a particular way, but that way is inaccurate.  There won’t be any marriage in heaven.  When the dead rise, they will be like angels.  Jesus does not fully elaborate here what this means, but there is no doubt that this statement would have further infuriated the Sadducees who, as we have seen, not only did not believe in resurrection, but did not believe in angels either!

In this one passage, we see Jesus tackling two questions that were designed to catch him out, but he does not fall into either trap.  In answering the first question, he tells us that we have to give to God what is God’s.  Since he identified the coin as belonging to Caesar since it bore his likeness, he implies that, since we are created in the image of God, we have to give ourselves to God.  Our first loyalty is to him.  When there is no contradiction between God’s commands and the commands of those in authority over us in this life, we also have an obligation to be good citizens, and to respect our rulers.  In the second, Jesus demonstrates the danger of bringing our own, earthly understanding to the ways of God.  If we rely on our own understanding rather than trusting in God, we will generally come to the wrong conclusion.  If we trust in God, we accept that there are things that we do not understand, but, since he wants what is best for all of us, he will not let us down.  I find that rather reassuring; I love my wife, and the thought of not being married to her in the resurrection is a little disappointing.  Ultimately, though, I know that God has great things in store for us, and that heaven will be even better than being married!

 Header image © copyright Eric Jones and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence