I am myopic (nearsighted), which means if something is way beyond the tip of my nose, I need corrective lenses to see it clearly. One of Jesus’ tasks is to give sight to the blind: physical and spiritual. He especially cures His followers of spiritual blindness. As followers of Jesus like His disciples, you and I need to learn to look at our world through the mind of Jesus. Then, through His “corrective lens” we can see reality like God would have us see it. This is what He is doing in these passages with His disciples and what He needs to do with us. Isaiah 55:8 explicitly states why: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
Jesus is giving sight to His blind disciples. He just broke down their trust in their religious leaders by exposing the leaders’ motives, which are self centered and self glorifying (vv. 38-40). Now, He contrasts the “impressive” rich, giving out of their abundance, with a poor widow giving richly out of her lack of resources. The next passage deflates the disciples’ trust in man-made religious edifices, the impressive temple building in which they stood.
God’s thoughts, judgments and estimations are different than ours. He is not impressed when our motive in doing good is to impress people. He is impressed when we give to Him in the costly manner that the widow models. Remember the greatest commandment from a few verses back (vs. 30)? Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Jesus points out what is totally invisible to His blind disciples: the radically comprehensive giving of one of society’s lowliest—a poor widow—and how totally visible her sacrificial love is to God.
Dig Deeper—What misperception of personal poverty prevents you from blessing others? Ask God to help you see who or what impresses you, and where you fail to give because you think it would be to costly.
Family Talk—Ask what you could share to bless or help someone else. Everyone has something they can give. Find someone who might need what you have.
written by Keith Hacker
Crossroads 