Worship for the Week Beginning 7th November 2021

Time to Reflect

Do you like ‘people watching’, I do, studying their gestures and mannerisms, imagining their journeys and destinations, or their reasons for being in that place. If you are one of those people, you have something in common with Jesus. Jesus was a great watcher, not just of people but of all that was around him. And he often drew on what he saw to teach his followers about God’s kingdom. He would use something familiar, something that everyone could see if they cared to look. 

In today’s story, Jesus was watching people as they made their money offerings to the Temple. And among them he saw a woman who was careful and thoughtful in her offering – it was not much, but it was pretty much all she had.  

Jesus was drawn again and again to vulnerable people, to outcasts, to those who had little or no status or wealth. Perhaps he saw a heart of faith and trust revealed in their actions, despite the circumstances and challenges that faced them. Perhaps he wondered whether the disciples saw the same as he did, and whether they understand what sacrifice the woman was making. Here in what looks like a simple act of giving is a lesson in real giving.

Jesus points out that real giving must be sacrificial. The amount of the gift never matters so much as its cost to the giver; not the size of the gift, but the sacrifice. Jesus points out many times in the Gospels that real generosity gives until it hurts and it is not just limited to money, it could be our time, or our possessions.

I find it strange and lovely at the same time that the person whom Jesus hands down to us as a pattern of generosity was a person who gave a gift of so little value in monetary terms.
We may feel that we have not much in the way of material gifts or personal gifts to give to Jesus Christ, but if we put all that we have and are at his disposal, he can do things with it and with us that are beyond our wildest dreams and imaginings. In the context of the Climate crisis, it could be the way we live, are we prepared to make sacrifices in these coming years in order to combat the present problems in order to spur on other countries to respond in a positive way.  Live simply, so that others can simply live!’ I encourage everyone to think on a global scale, as well as on the personal and local scale.
What is the difference, if any, between simple living and generous living?

If you do watch people, perhaps they remind you of events in your own life – some good, some less so. Perhaps they encourage you to reflect on your own circumstances, choices and actions. If you saw an action of overwhelming compassion or generosity, like that of the widow, would that stir you to do something similar? But there’s more to it than just the doing of the action itself. You never know when your life, your actions, will stir something in someone else. If that ‘someone’ was people watching you, would they see something to inspire them?