Email from Church of the Redeemer

Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost

November 27, 2023

Invitatory

The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: Come let us adore him.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Reading - Luke 21:1-4

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

Meditation - Winnie Smith

Oh good: another example of Jesus seemingly favoring a poor person and criticizing rich people. If you’re like me, you might be feeling guilty or implicated. “Rich” and “poor” are subjective terms, of course, but one cannot deny the wealth of the Church of the Redeemer and of the Main Line, so passages like this can tend to feel a bit personal. It is far too one-dimensional, though, to make assertions or assessments about any individual or group based solely on their social status. That may be how we hear this kind of passage, but as usual, Jesus is thinking with a bit more complexity.

Jesus commends the woman for having given two copper coins (of little monetary value) into the treasury knowing that that may have been most or all of the money she had to survive on. Her donation truly cost her - she felt the significance of that financial loss in a way that the wealthy people who matched her donation did not. They were capable of giving much more, but chose not to. She made a real sacrifice by contributing to the betterment of many (the treasury was a bit like our offering plate, with the contributions to it being used for a variety of services and in the interest of everyone.)

This brief parable is a testament of the woman’s faith. Her donation of a mere two coins meant that her own security and safety was put in jeopardy, but she made it anyway because she believed in the greater good, the bigger picture. What is remarkable is not how much she gave, but how much she gave relative to how much she had. The wealthier people who gave only a fraction of their wealth away lacked the trust she had; they calculated just how much they could stand to lose so that they wouldn’t really feel that loss. They acted out of fear; she acted out of faith.

In this season of abundance, let us all act similarly, out of faith. Let us try not to get hung up on the stuff of our lives, but instead recognize the value of our lives, themselves, and of a God who will always provide to those who trust in Him.

The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.