An offering acceptable to God (Luke 21a)

Luke 20:41-21:3
Key verse 21:3-4

Suppose that you have only two dollars with you. That is all money you have and you need it to buy a Bacon McDouble for dinner today. Now you are attending the Sunday worship service and it is time for offering. What would you do with the money? The first option may be to ask God’s forgiveness (?) and buy a Bacon McDouble. The second option would be to degrade your dinner to McChicken and offer the difference, probably about 50 cents. The third option is to give all to God and do not worry about what to eat for dinner. There is no wrong answer here. But I think it is good to think about which is acceptable to God? Today, we will talk about a woman who has only two small coins? Let’s what she did with the coins and why. The title of my message is “An offering acceptable to God.”    

As soon as Jesus entered Jerusalem, he drove sellers out of the temple, which led him to a conflict with the chief priests and the teachers of the law who were in charge of the temple. They took Jesus’ action as a challenge against their authority and tried to kill him. Jesus told them the parable of tenants to reveal their greed and rejection of Jesus. But they did not repent. Rather, they looked for a way to kill Jesus. They tried to trap him politically by asking about paying taxes to Caesar. Then some Sadducees asked him a very strange question about Levirate marriage to disprove the resurrection and thus discredit Jesus. But Jesus exposed their ignorance of God with lucid answers. In today’s passage, Jesus asks the teachers of the law a counter-question and completely silences them. Then he warns about their hypocrisy. On the other hand, a poor widow stands out pleasantly in contrast with the religious leaders who abused their authority for themselves. I pray that God may enlighten our hearts and minds to see what made the teachers of the law and the widow so different.

41 Then Jesus said to them, “Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? 42 David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ 44 David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

In 2 Samuel 7, God promised King David that he would raise the Messiah from his descendants. So Jewish people used “the Son of David” as a title for the Messiah. When Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (18:38) Matthew also introduced the Messiah as the Son of David. (Matt 1:1)  However, in Psalm 110:1, King David, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, “The Lord says to my Lord.” The original text reads, “Yahweh (The LORD) said to Adonai (my Lord).” Yahweh is the name of God. (Ex 3:14) Who was the one David called Adonai (my Lord) then? The rest of Psalm 110 describes “my Lord” as follows:

·         He would sit at God’s right hand.

·         He would triumph over all his enemies and rule over them.

·         His troops would follow him in holy splendor.

·         He would be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

·         He would crush kings and judge nations on the day of his wrath.

·         He would be exalted.

No doubt, “my Lord” here referred to the Messiah and Jewish people knew it. They called the Messiah the son of David. Why then did David call his son “my Lord?” By asking this question, Jesus meant two things.

First, the Messiah should be greater than David and actually he is a divine being. When David prophesized this, the Messiah already existed and was with God. Actually, he is the Son of God. In other words, the Son of God came to the earth in flesh through David’s line. So the Messiah is the son of David but in nature he is the Son of God. To Jewish people, it was inconceivable that a father called his son Lord. They never imagined that the Messiah would be the Son of God. But the Scripture said that the Messiah would be both the son of David and the Son of God.

Second, Jesus revealed that he himself is the very Messiah. Jesus expounded clearly the divinity of the Messiah based on the Scripture. Jesus’ keen insight into the Scripture was far beyond what any human could understand. It is because he is the author of the Scripture and the Son of God. By asking the question, Jesus implied that he is the very Messiah and he was standing in their eyes.

It was likely that Jesus was speaking to the teachers of the law. Just before In 20:39, some of the teachers of the law concurred with Jesus regarding the resurrection. In fact, the teachers of the law and Sadducees were against each other, particularly regarding to the resurrection. (Acts 23:8) The teachers of the law were glad to see Jesus defeating Sadducees their opponents. But now Jesus turned to the teachers of the law and exposed their ignorance and unbelief too, citing Psalm 110 they knew very well. The Scripture clearly said that the Messiah is the Son of God, but they did not believe it. Though they heard and seen Jesus’ divine knowledge and power, they still saw Jesus only as a human and did not believe him. They rather tried to kill him.

45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

Now Jesus turned to his disciples and warned them about the teachers of the law. The teachers of the law were originally the people who lived by copying the Scriptures. So they were also called Scribes. Since majority of them were Pharisees, they were also called Pharisees. During the intertestamental period, they were regarded as the experts in the law. They expounded the Scripture and acted as judges. Because of that, their influence with the people was so great. However, in Jesus’ time they were so corrupt.

As Jesus pointed out, they liked to walk around in flowing robes. Here the robe referred to the garment Jewish people wore. Their garments told you who they were and how religious they were. A longer garment meant that the person was more pious. The teachers of the law wore garments that were longer than what was necessary, in order to show that they were important. (Matt 23:5) Wearing long robes, they went to marketplaces. Then people greeted them with respect. They enjoyed it a lot. They also took the most important seats, which was the highest seats in the synagogues, so that they might be seen as important by the people. They made lengthy prayers to show how pious they were. But all this was for show. Even worse, they devoured widow’s houses, harassing and extorting money from widows, who were the most vulnerable in the society and so were to be protected according to the law.

They looked religious outwardly but they sought people’s recognition and their own interest. They knew the Scripture more than anyone else did but they did not live up to it. They were hypocrites. Their hypocrisy was so notorious that even the Talmud recorded the warning given by Alexander Jannaeus to his wife on his deathbed against them. (Ven, F. W. Farrar)

What made them hypocrites? According to what Jesus said here, they were concerned about how they looked before people but not before God. Though they believed the resurrection, ironically they were very earth-bound, pursuing their self-interest. They had the knowledge but no fear of God who would judge them. God would not overlook their hypocrisy. Jesus said that they would be punished most severely. In the next passage, Jesus prophesized that the temple would be destroyed and they too would be punished with the temple. We should live with fear before God who knows all our sins and judges us according to what we have done. We can deceive people but cannot deceive God. He hates hypocrisy and judges us accordingly. It is a great warning for church leaders and Bible teachers like me. That is why we must live before God not before people.

1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.

In the temple, Jesus saw rich people offering gifts into the temple treasury. In the court of women, there were 13 collection chests, which were called Trumpets (Shopheroth) because they were shaped like trumpet. These chests were used for different types of offering, such as voluntary offering and the temple tax. Since the area was open, people could see who was giving and even how much. Some rich people offered a big money for show. Jesus was not impressed by such people.

But one person caught his attention. A poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins. The Gospel of Mark specifies that two lepta (12:42), which were worth 1/60 of a denarius a day’s wage for a laborer. It was too small an amount of money. She might have felt shame on that and lingered around there until people did not see what she was going to do. She quietly approached the chest and dropped the two coins into it. Then she slipped out of the temple. But Jesus saw her. He saw how much she offered. And he saw more than the two coins in her offering.

3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Surprisingly, Jesus said that the widow put in more than all the others. Why? It was because out of poverty she put in all she had to live on. The rich gave some of what they had out of abundance but the widow gave all she had out of poverty. To Jesus, the value of the widow’s offering was much greater than the others.

Let’s think about how she could offer all she had. Probably the coins were the minimum offering required but they were all she had. She probably could buy some flour with the two coins to bake bread. She needed it so badly for living. Yet, she first gave what was due to God and respected God by giving all she had. To her, devotion to God was more important than anything else, even the bread she needed so badly for her life. She also knew that her life was in God’s hand and Sovereign God would take care of her. The widow believed the living God and acknowledged his sovereignty over her life. So she could willingly and happily give all she had to live on. Jesus saw her sincere devotion and her faith. He must have been very happy to see her. To Jesus, the value of our gift is not in proportion to the amount of offering but to the amount of our devotion to God.

Years ago, my youngest daughter gave me a Christmas gift, which was a scarf she knitted. It was kind of small for me. But I wore it around my neck and went to the Christmas party and proudly showed it to my friends, “Look at this, my youngest daughter made this for me!” Their response was not that great though because it was just a small scarf to them. But to me it was more than that. I knew she made it for several days. I felt her love for me. Though I don’t wear it anymore, I have still kept it in my closet because I don’t want to trash her sincere heart and love for me. How much more with God then when we give him our devotion and sacrifice in honor of him?

Someone saved his lunch money to give offering to God. Someone even sold his blood to make money to give it to God. Someone gave her first wages to God. Worldly people may not understand this. They rather think it is crazy. But whatever it may be, God is pleased with our sincere devotion and accept it.

The widow was seen in contrast with the rich. But she was much more with the teachers of the law. They tried to show off their knowledge and human authority. But they did not live up to their knowledge of the Scripture so they became hypocrites and dishonored God. In contrary, the widow looked insignificant but she gave back to God what was his though that was all she had.

Basically, I think that the difference between them was in how they accepted God’s sovereignty. The teachers of the law and Sadducees failed to see God’s sovereignty in their lives and in Israel. So they put their human authority and knowledge first rather than God’s sovereignty, which made them hypocrites. Ironically, they were earthbound though they believed the resurrection. Most of all, they failed to see Jesus the Son of God even though he stood in their eyes and rejected him and killed him. But the widow put God’s sovereignty first over her. Her hope and faith was in God. So her life was heavenward.

Let’s get back to the question I asked at the beginning of my message. Which one do you think is acceptable to God, offering the whole money, offering some portion of it, or asking God’s mercy and skipping it? It depends on what is on your mind. God is not in need. God can live without your offering. But he is pleased and happy if he sees your sincerity, devotion and your faith in his sovereignty. An offering acceptable to God is not about the amount of our offering but about the amount of our devotion and our submission to his sovereignty. Whenever Felix comes to the Sunday worship service, he tries to offer to God somehow though he sometimes has only coins. But to God it is precious. I am sure that God is pleased with his devotion and sincere heart and will bless him.

Let’s honor God by acknowledging his sovereignty in our life and devoting ourselves to him. Then you will see more of God and love him and want to give him even all you have. Try God by giving him your devotion and what is his and you will see how much you are blessed. God will bless you and provide for you always. He wants to see your devotion to him and your faith in his sovereignty over your life. Remember that he has already given us himself, by sending his son Jesus and let him die on the cross.
By David Yun