Day 31: Go with truth
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Mark 12:43-44
Recently, I’ve had several conversations with people who try to show me that they are doing okay spiritually because they were raised in an environment of religion. They believe themselves to still be religious. At the same time, they speak of consulting with psychics, and proudly share anecdotes from their lives of empty worldliness and sin. They, like millions of others, are confused and deceived about religion.
We are not surprised by this, for Satan, the enemy of souls, has deceived minds and filled this world with every imaginable false religion. This is nothing new, it was happening in Jesus’ day too. The leaders of the false religion that Jesus faced off against were the very men who should have been protecting God’s truth and leading the people to him. It was a classic case of the blind leading the blind at best, or at worse, of savage wolves devouring innocent victims.
Today’s passage takes us further in to Jesus’ activities on Wednesday of passion week: from his teaching the greatest commandment (to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength - v28-34), to a conversation about his identity as the Messiah (Son of David, Lord of David, God in flesh, worthy of worship - v35-37), to a scathing rebuke on the scribes (who ‘devoured widows’ houses’ - v38-40).
As Jesus and his disciples sat opposite Jerusalem’s temple treasury, watching how the people were putting their money in, he gives them a poignant illustration of this ‘devouring.’ After observing many rich people putting in large sums, money they could well afford to give, along came a poor widow who offered two small copper coins. This was the equivalent of 1/64 of the daily wage at that time.
Jesus said that out of her poverty she had placed into the offering “all she had to live on.” Is Jesus stating that we must place into the offering box all that we have to live on? Certainly not. We must consider the context.
Jesus has just rebuked the scribes for their self-glorification and greed: “Beware of the scribes…who devour widows’ houses” (v. 40). Here was the perfect example. The false religious system, run by sons of the devil (John 8:44), took this poor woman for every last penny she had, causing her to believe that God’s favor would be won that way. What a tragedy. Yes, we are to financially give to support our church and the Lord’s work, but here we are dealing with greedy and hypocritical leaders (Matt. 23:15) who deceived those who trusted their words all the way to utter ruin, both physically and spiritually. The Light of the World stood right before them, but they would not come to the light because they loved their evil deeds (John 3:19). So two days later, they had him nailed to a cross.
Purveyors of false religion are instruments of Satan who knowingly or unknowingly lead souls to hell. We, as those who love and serve Jesus, must “fight with faith and valor”, with love, and with confidence in him as we reach out to a world in need of the truth. Remember, we go in the power of the Spirit to carry his message to the lost. They desperately need it. The world is filled with false voices, but we are the voice of the truth. Go out and take it to the lost.
Written by Gracie Eddins
Passage for today: Mark 12:28-44
A thought to remember: Jesus came to bring truth to the lost world.
A question to ask: What’s stopping you from giving your all to going out with the truth of the Gospel?
A song to sing: O Church Arise