June 05 2025

Thursday June 05

Luke 21:1-4 – She Outgave Them All

1 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all;

4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."

Today, we're looking at Luke chapter 21, but we need to remember how chapter 20 ends. Jesus had just asked the Pharisees and scribes about who is the son of David in Psalm 110, and they refused to answer because they would have had to acknowledge that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is indeed the son of David. The people had already recognized that. Then he gave a scathing rebuke to the disciples in front of these Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, elders, and leaders of Israel about their religious hypocrisy. He finished chapter 20 by saying, "Beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, love the greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive the greater condemnation."

Then chapter 21 starts. As he makes this statement about the scribes and Pharisees being devourers of widows' tables, he looks up and sees the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. Here are the elite, the people with money who own vineyards, orchards, and businesses, sometimes even the tax collectors, trying to be religious now, putting their money and gifts into the treasury. At the same time, Jesus saw a certain poor widow putting in two mites, hardly anything at all, a couple of pennies. He said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all, for all these out of their abundance have put in their offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had." Jesus is making the statement that she outgave them all because God is not looking at the portion, how much we give, but the proportion, not only how much we give but how much we keep for ourselves.

He's also teaching that everything is the Lord's. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, and we are his stewards of his resources that he has given us. He gives us the breath we breathe. The book of Deuteronomy says it is God who gives us power to get wealth. In the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, there’s a stinging rebuke of the people of God who were back in the land, yet they were bringing offerings that were not the kind God wanted because they were just practicing outward religion while inwardly robbing God. He says, "You have robbed God." They respond, "Well, where have we robbed you?" In Malachi 3:7-12, God says, "You've robbed me in your tithes and in your offerings." Again, he's teaching that he owns it all, and your offerings are beyond the tenth, the tithe, that you give off the top as an act of worship to remind yourself, as the Old Testament teaches, that God gave you everything you have, and the least you can give is a tenth back to him.

Some people say, "Well, the tithe is under the law, we're under grace, we don't have to tithe." But I remind you that Abraham paid tithes before the law was given, and Jacob said, "I'll give you a tenth," before the law was given. Tithing is a spiritual principle in the scripture that teaches us we are worshiping God when we recognize and set aside the first fruits at the beginning of every week of all that God has given us the previous week, showing him that we honor him.

Jesus said of this widow, "She gave more than them all because they gave out of their abundance, but she gave all her living." God doesn't want just a part of our lives; he wants 100% of our lives. Men see what is given, but God sees what is left, and by that He measures the gift and the condition of our hearts. Winston Churchill said, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." He may have learned that from Jesus (Luke 6:38) or perhaps from Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:1-15.

That's what I believe the Lord would have us know today. If you get an opportunity, be sure to read other passages of scripture like 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, which teach us powerful lessons of the blessings that come with giving the Lord our best.

Let's start off chapter 21 of Luke by knowing God is the Lord, it's all his, and let's keep him first in every area of our life.

God bless.