Mighty Mite!

It is stewardship season and (as it happens) tonight's message on Mark is the familiar story of the widow's mite in chapter 12. Here is a little snippet from it:

"What possible motive did she have for giving her “lepta duo” ["two small copper coins"]? Was there an urgent call because the temple was in vast need of repair? Had some priest suggested that God would reward her in heaven if she would give money to the temple treasury?

No! I get the impression this was a spontaneous gesture that flowed from a heart bursting with love for the Lord! Charles Simeon, the famous preacher of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge for over fifty years, said that if the Bible didn’t commend this woman we would condemn her. Maybe not her specifically, but we’d condemn the system that extorted money from impoverished and susceptible, impressionable women! And we might even say something like, “All she did was make herself dependent on the generosity of others the next day.” And we’d talk about “tough love” and “mercy ministry with integrity” and warn of the dangers of a dependency culture. "

You can hear more later on the web site.