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Mar 09, 2025

Rich Poverty

Passage: Mark 12:35-44

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Mark

Keywords: faith, trust, generosity, poverty, love of god, rich, messiah, riddle

Summary:

From the people who should have fulfilled the Greatest Commandment best yet utterly failed, Jesus turns to an unnamed poor widow. Her love for God outstripped everyone but Jesus in the Temple that day with her worship. God, the primary audience of our worship, loves to watch people's hearts as they worship.

Detail:

Rich Poverty

Mark 12:35-44

March 9, 2025

Morning Riddles:

  • Riddle: What goes up but never comes down?
    Answer: Your age
  • Riddle: A man who was outside in the rain without an umbrella or hat didn’t get a single hair on his head wet. Why?
    Answer: He was bald.
  • Riddle: I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for five minutes. What am I?
    Answer: Your breath
  • Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
    Answer: A candle
  • Riddle: What question can you never answer yes to?
    Answer: Are you asleep/dead yet?

So, how did you do on today’s riddles? 

We’re in a text today that seems to have a few riddles of its own.  In fact, now that Jesus has answered all the “gotcha” riddles of those in Jerusalem trying to trap him in their words, Jesus brings out a riddle of his own that is going to challenge not only the smartest minds in Israel but the most fundamental misconception the nation and its leaders have about what God is up to when it comes to the Messiah, the Savior of their nation.

            Mark has just finished telling us that the smart people in Jerusalem had run out of gotcha questions for Jesus.  Vs. 34—“But after that no one dared question Him [Jesus].”  [“That” = the scribe who had asked about the greatest commandment and gotten Jesus’ answer about Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength…and loving your neighbor as yourself.]  So, now it’s Jesus’ turn to ask questions.  We pick up His apparent riddle in…

Mark 12:35-44

35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

37 David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight.

Jesus’ “riddle” is about the long-expected Messiah.  Israel had been waiting for God to send His anointed One, the Christ, the chosen Messiah who would set up a new, triumphant and dominant kingdom.  He would be a world ruler who would punish injustice, bring health to the nation and world dominance to the Jewish people…or so they thought. 

Jews understood that the Messiah had to be a physical, hereditary descendant of David due to the multiple prophecies about him in the O.T. being of the lineage or offspring of David (Is. 9:7; 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5-6; 2 Sam. 7:12-16).  In their view, he would certainly be a gifted human leader.  But they failed to see that he would actually be divine—a supra-human figure—like that prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6—“…Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

To pose this little riddle for everyone, Jesus goes to what will become THE most quoted O.T. passages in all the N.T., Psalm 110.  It’s the Psalm the writer of Hebrews will refer to when talking about Jesus as our heavenly High Priest “in the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 5:4-10, 7:15-17, 20-21).  It’s the passage Peter will appeal to in his sermon at Pentecost in Act 2 (vss. 34-36).  Here is how it reads.

“The Lord” [lit. Yahweh] says to my Lord [Messiah]…” and then he quotes the rest of the first verse.  Now Jesus poses the riddle:  “David himself calls him [his own offspring] ‘Lord.’  How then can he be his son?”

In Hebrew patriarchal order, it was beyond imagination that anyone would call his own son, “Lord.”  Sons were always to be subservient to their fathers, not the other way around. 

ILL:  Having a conversation last week with Bruce Anderson’s dad, Neil, who is a linguist who spent 3 decades translating the N.T. into a tribal language in Papua, New Guinea.  He was talking with us about the difference in various passages of the Bible between speaking about or even to God as “God” and speaking TO God using the title “Lord” or “Father.” 

He commented that the title “God” is what is called “a term of reference”.  A "term of reference" is the way someone is referred to by others, often in a third-person context, rather than how they are directly addressed. 

ILL:  Most people who know me call me “John”.  That is my “term of reference”.  It refers to me in a way that people can identify who I am as opposed to Bob or Andrew or Sandy.

            But a “term of address” would be what I trained my children or grandchildren to call me, i.e. “Dad or Daddy” and “Papa or Papi”.  The “term of address” defines the nature of the relationship between me and my children/grandchildren.  I don’t want them to call me “John” because that is a loss of the particular relationship I have with them. 

ILL:  When Andrew is up here leading, it is perfectly appropriate for him to refer to me as “Pastor John”.  That would be my term of reference.  He can also call me “Dad” and he usually does.  That tells even a visitor that he has a unique relationship with me.  But when he talks with me, he never calls out, “Hey, Pastor John!”  That’s a term of reference.  He always says, “Hey, Dad,” because that is how he relates to me. 

            This is why many times the Psalmists will start by talking about God or even using His title “God” but when they get to pouring out their heart or praying to God, they will often shift to “Lord”.  They are recognizing that the relationship between them and God is one of superior to inferior, master to servant, Sovereign to subject.

            The only time Jesus addressed God the Father as anything other than “Father” or “Our Father” was on the cross when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”   

            How does that relate to what we’re looking at here?  Well, David is essentially saying, “God said to my Lord…the Messiah I am in subjection to….”  Then Jesus poses the problem:  “But how can David call the Messiah whom we know must be David’s offspring, ‘Lord.’?”  The only way that can happen is if that Messiah-offspring is actually greater than David, is actually Lord. 

            Peter uses this very same argument when he preaches to thousands at Pentecost in Acts 2.  He is arguing that the recently-resurrected Jesus is, according to Psalm 110, both Lord God and the Messiah.  Listen.

32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
35 until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

WHY is this such an important last question for Jesus to ask before he leaves the Temple for the last time?  This is God’s last attempt to reach out to hard-hearted religious leaders.  Jesus is, again, saying to them, “I’m the Messiah you’re looking for!  More than that, I’m the Lord you should be loving with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  If you really want to love God first and with all you are, you need to come through me.  Even David knew that…and longed for this day.” 

            None of the Gospel accounts record that any of them had an answer for him to this riddle.  But Mark goes on to draw a stark contrast between these pompous, self-pretentious leaders and the woman Jesus is going to point to next.  Jesus talks about how these “teachers of the law” loved to dress so as to be noticed, wield titles so as to appear important, and be honored with important head-table seats at banquets…because their spirituality was really all about THEM.  They weren’t loving the Lord their God with all they had; they were loving themselves.  Their dress, their prayers, even their presence at parties was all about them, not God. 

38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 

40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

            Mark is going to contrast this with the very next thing that Jesus did in the Temple.  But before we look at that, let’s ask the application question:  how can I guard against falling into the same trap of making my public persona, spiritual life and interactions about me rather than about God?

  • Dress normally…humbly. Don’t get your sense of worth from your clothing.
  • Pray normally…briefly…passionately focused on God.
  • Choose the background rather than the foreground whenever possible.
  • Relate to the needy/powerless/poor/abandoned as prized by God.

Jesus ends by taking these leaders to task for how they were really taking advantage of the poorest and most powerless—specifically widows—rather than serving them. 

APP:   All this points to how our interactions with others actually reveal the level of our obedience to the Great Commandment—whether our hearts are loving God fervently, first and foremost.  Our very presentation of ourselves to others speaks of who or what is God in our lives.  Merely trying to make ourselves appear as something that we’re not internally, in the heart, will leak out before others…just as caring most about our heart-relationship with God in every aspect of life will leak out in Christlikeness—humility, love, compassion, consuming devotion, modesty, sexual purity and faithfulness, meekness and service. 

Learning to love God with all we are, all we do, all we think, and all we have is THE most daily, life-long calling of our souls.  This is why loving God must be our preoccupation if we are to hope to have healthy marriages, healthy friendships, healthy families, healthy neighborhoods, and healthy churches.  “The main thing is that the main thing always remain the main thing.”  And that “main thing” is loving God with everything I’ve got. 

            To illustrate that kind of love for God and what it will do to you, Jesus now moves over to the area of the Temple known as “The Court of the Women.”  That rather small, roughly 200 sq. ft. area got its name, not from it appropriation to the exclusive use of women, but because women were not allowed to proceed farther, except for sacrificial purposes.  It was a place of worship for everyone which had a raised gallery along 3 sides of the court that was reserved for the women. 

            Against the walls were the 13 chests for offerings.  They were shaped like ‘trumpets’ so that the offerings could be cast into them and would make an obvious sound cascading into the offering box.  This was not your padded offering plate or bag.  It was designed to make evident who was giving, particularly those who brought lots of coins.  Different ‘trumpets’ were for different offerings: Temple-tribute (1-2), burnt offering money, sin offerings, incense offerings, offerings for wood used for the fire, trespass offerings and voluntary or free-will offerings. 

            From talking with people who were all about the public show of their supposedly private relationship with God, Jesus slips over to this area where offerings were made, The Court of the Women.  I can imagine that he found a rather quiet, inconspicuous corner from which to watch the goings-on. 

41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Just a word about those two coins.  The “two small copper coins” were called lepta.  The word literally means “peeled” or “”fine”, expressing that this was about the tiniest, thinnest coin imaginable.  It was worth about 5 minutes of a day-laborers earnings.  It made absolutely no difference whatsoever to the Temple budget or treasury.  But it was, in the eyes of God who was watching all the givers that day, the biggest gift of the day—worth more than all the other massive amounts of money put together that were given that day.

            Apparently all the offering horns were against one wall.  Perhaps tired from teaching, Jesus sits down to watch the unfolding worship.  There is no indication that he is the least bit critical of anyone in that crowd of giving worshipers.  Most of them were probably rather poor commoners.  There were some rich people.  The latter group, we are told, pitched in significant amounts of cash.  But again, Mark indicates no criticism of any of that from Jesus.  As God in human flesh, he’s watching the outward expression of people’s hopefully inward desire to express their love to God. 

Financial giving has always been an important aspect of worship for lovers of God.  From Abraham to the New Jerusalem, God’s people have looked for tangible ways to express gratitude and love for God.  That’s one reason why God established so many different kinds of offering in the O.T.  It certainly isn’t because He needs our money or animals or food or goods.  It’s because WE need ways to worship, to express how much God means to us.  We were created with the need to worship.  And unless we worship God well, we will worship other thing/people first.

APP:  from this one incident there are several important take-aways for us.

  • Worship is much more than singing. When we come together out of our shared love for God, everything we engage in should flow from our one driving desire to live out our love for God.  That could be…
    1. praying,
    2. humbling ourselves by getting on our knees out of reverence for God,
    3. putting money in an offering box,
    4. using my voice to sing praise to God,
    5. sharing what God is doing in my life or listening to others about what He is doing in theirs,
    6. seeking to understand God’s word and apply it to my life,
    7. being still and quiet before the Lord
    8. loving someone else by serving them in some way.

God is most interested in how our presence, our interaction and our actions in His temple, the church, reflect what is going on in our hearts in relationship to our love of Him. 

  • God takes interest in watching us worship. How many of you like watching people when you’re in an airport or at the park or in some public place?  There is just something interesting about the diversity of people that exist on this planet.  But my interest really has nothing to do with what attracts God to worship.  When I’m people-watching, I’m not interested in having a conversation with every person I’m seeing.  I’m not trying to figure out what’s going on in their heart.  In fact, I’m aware of very little about them other than what I can observe outwardly in a couple of seconds. 

Not so with God.  He knows everything about every one of us no matter where we are.  According to Psalm 139, He knows every word I say and thought I think before I know what I’m going to say or think.  But He still likes to watch us. 

      Repeatedly the Bible talks about people either doing evil or good “in the eyes of the Lord.”  It’s anthropomorphic language about how God watches our actions.  Ps. 33 talks about the eyes of the Lord being on those who fear Him. 1 Peter 3:12 says, “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”  Like a parent watching a child play ball or perform music or participate in a speech meet, God loves to watch His children use what we have to worship. 

ILL:  Dad coming home from work while I was practicing before dinner and just sitting in the chair across the living room to listen and watch me practice.  It was a bit unnerving sometimes but I knew he wasn’t there to critique but rather just enjoy.  (In fact, I don’t think he ever critiqued a single note I played.  He just seemed to enjoy listening.  And I played better knowing I had an audience.)

How would my worship change if I knew Jesus was watching me worship…because He is?!

  • God measures worship/giving, not by amount, but by percentage.

That doesn’t mean that anything less than 100% giving in worship is meaningless or useless.  God loves 1% or 6% or 25% or 90%.  But he also knows that percentage in worship is probably a better measure of love and trust than quantity.  At least that is what this passage seems to indicate. 

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

God hadn’t asked her to do that like he had asked the rich young man in Mark 10 to do.  She just wanted to.  She was convinced that it was more important to express her love for God than to have food to eat…or rent to pay…or doctors to consult…or anything. 

What produces that kind of giving?  Giving to God like that only comes when there is a deep, ongoing, whole-heart-and-life love.  Nothing else can explain that kind of giving. She wasn’t responding to some health-wealth preacher who promised God would pay her back 100 times over.  She had no such promise.  But she had love.  And she wanted God to be the object of her love.  Her extravagant love expressed in her extreme poverty made her the richest woman in Jerusalem that day.  And I’m guessing it made her one of the richest women in eternity too. 

Nobody else’s giving that day had very much effect beyond sustaining a Temple that would be destroyed in just about 40 years.  But this woman’s offering of two of the smallest coins available has become the standard for worship giving for the past 20 centuries for millions of Christ-followers. 

I have a hunch her story may have been behind what Paul commended about the Macedonian Church in 2 Corinthians 8 when he said,

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.

            Paul goes on to say that the Macedonian Church’s giving flowed out of the same heart that this woman’s giving came from.  They had so given themselves to the Lord that an offering out of a place of poverty was simply an expression of loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. 

            I must confess, I’ve never given like that.  Does that mean my love is less than whole-hearted?  I hope not, but I’m honestly not sure.  But it should cause me to ask some hard questions about my worship through giving:

  • Am I trusting in my bank account more than God? My retirement?  My paycheck?  My Social Security more than “the God who sees?”
  • Does my love ever reach to expressions of extravagance? If not, why not? 
  • Practically speaking, do I think that giving 5 or 10 or even 15% of my income, let alone my wealth, is a representative expression of my love for God?

This woman probably didn’t give “everything she had” every time she came to the temple.  But she did that day.  She was at least open to the leading of the Spirit to do something out of the ordinary to demonstrate her love of God…and God was there to meet her.

Stack this kind of giving and worship up against the reality of just one pastime in America today:  gambling.  Between legal and illegal/unregulated gambling and lotteries, Americans spend over $600 billion/year.  That is six times the $100 billion that was given to churches.  The average Protestant church attendee gives about $70/month to their church.  The average giving unit (family, couple, individual) that gives to a church gives 4.35% of their annual income. 

Again, I’m not criticizing anyone’s giving.  I don’t think God is either.  And I hope that the vast majority of Christ-followers have little-to-nothing to do with the gambling numbers in our country.  But clearly more people in our nation seem to love gambling more than love God.  A spiritual revival and awakening would definitely change that. 

Now, we don’t know what happened to this widow women after this story.  She probably died not knowing that Jesus was watching her that day.  She may never have escaped poverty.  She may have missed a few more meals that week.  She may have had to depend on family or friends more.    

But I think we can safely say that God took care of this woman.  I’m sure He walked with her in ways that just kept growing her love and gratitude to God.  And I’m pretty sure that when we get to heaven, this little woman is going to be one of the wealthiest women we’ll ever meet.  Her joy will be unending being able to see what that one day’s simple, extravagant act of love for God did to help free millions of us from a miserly mentality in worship.   

Aren’t you glad that a heart of love for God doesn’t depend in the least on your financial condition.  In fact, the less you have the more your giving may mean.  The more faith it may express.  The more love it may show.  The more joy it may produce.  And the more praise of God it may generate. 

What it won’t do is leave you poor. 

CLOSE:  Philippians 4:19-20

19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.