As I spent time with this week's Bible readings, three general things struck me.
First, Elijah might have been surprised to find out that the woman God said would feed him didn’t have hardly any food! After already making the trip to Zarephath based on faith, the prophet had to trust God’s word hard again when he seemed to face the opposite of what God had promised.
Next, Psalm 146:5-9 serves as a great divine mission statement and promise to us about who God is and what God will do. It includes the law-gospel thing of announcing judgment against wrongdoing and lifting up the lowly.
Third, in the Gospel reading, Jesus invoked the sad cases of mistreated widows. But instead of making it seem like an entire class of people is without agency or selfhood, he commended the integrity, generosity, faith, and power of this woman who added her two copper coins to the treasury.
Finally, because I’m a preacher, I can’t help but share the story of a time I was preparing to preach on the widow’s mites. As I prepared, I remember asking Jesus how it could be possible that such a small thing could have any great value in light of the world’s needs. And then it struck me that the widow’s mites are a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus’s lowly and apparently meaningless death on the cross. As St. Paul heard Jesus tell him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Blessings to you this week.
Brokenness
“But she [the widow] said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die” (1 Kings 17:12)
“They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation” (Mark 12:40)
Grace
“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24)
“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26)
Love
“A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny” (Mark 12:42)
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:43-44)
Encouragement
“I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long” (Psalm 146:2)
“For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth” (1 Kings 17:14)
First, Elijah might have been surprised to find out that the woman God said would feed him didn’t have hardly any food! After already making the trip to Zarephath based on faith, the prophet had to trust God’s word hard again when he seemed to face the opposite of what God had promised.
Next, Psalm 146:5-9 serves as a great divine mission statement and promise to us about who God is and what God will do. It includes the law-gospel thing of announcing judgment against wrongdoing and lifting up the lowly.
Third, in the Gospel reading, Jesus invoked the sad cases of mistreated widows. But instead of making it seem like an entire class of people is without agency or selfhood, he commended the integrity, generosity, faith, and power of this woman who added her two copper coins to the treasury.
Finally, because I’m a preacher, I can’t help but share the story of a time I was preparing to preach on the widow’s mites. As I prepared, I remember asking Jesus how it could be possible that such a small thing could have any great value in light of the world’s needs. And then it struck me that the widow’s mites are a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus’s lowly and apparently meaningless death on the cross. As St. Paul heard Jesus tell him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Blessings to you this week.
Brokenness
“But she [the widow] said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die” (1 Kings 17:12)
“They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation” (Mark 12:40)
Grace
“For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24)
“But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26)
Love
“A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny” (Mark 12:42)
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:43-44)
Encouragement
“I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long” (Psalm 146:2)
“For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth” (1 Kings 17:14)