As Jesus was sitting in the temple, he saw and heard people putting their money in the treasury. Some were putting in large amounts of money. But Jesus saw something that others didn’t see. He saw a poor widow putting in two little coins. It wasn’t very much money at all, but Jesus said that it was more than what everyone else put in. Not that it was actually more than others put in, but it was everything that this widow had. The little bit of money she had, she gave. The rich people had put in lots of money, but they still had a lot more; however, this widow had no money left after giving those two coins. She gave from her heart. She gave in faith, trusting in the Lord to look after her. She gave the kind of sacrifice that pleases God.

In a way, she pointed to Jesus Christ himself. Jesus gave up everything. He made the biggest sacrifice ever by giving up his life for us. Even though Christ had the glory of heaven, he gave that all up to come down to earth. And then at the end of his life on earth, he made the ultimate sacrifice by dying on the cross! He did that for us, so that we can have salvation. He was the great High Priest.

We know from the Bible that we too are to be priests. We share in Christ’s anointing as priests. And so, God calls us to respond to his love and grace shown in Jesus’ sacrifice by giving our whole life to him. Jesus could see into the heart of that widow and knew that she gave from the heart. Her gift was precious and beautiful to God because she gave it because she loved the Lord. In the same way we have to serve the Lord with our hearts. We have to use our time, our money and our talents to worship God. God wants our hearts to be hearts that truly love and worship him.

Reflection with your child:

Why did Jesus say that the widow gave more than everyone else?

Source: Sermon by Rev. W. Bredenhof