Jesus is all I’ve got to live on …!
Does that statement ring true to you? In Luke 20.45-21.4 we have a short, powerful passage that isn’t hard to explain, but will become for us (if we accept its challenge) bottomless in its application potential.
Jesus has just put down a combined attack from those who oppose Him—Pharisees, scribes, priests, Sadducees. Now He and His disciples are camped in the Temple’s Court of Women. In observing what comes to pass around Him Jesus will turn from theology to the practical matters of serving God. Three kinds of people appear in this passage.
Those who live on self-dependance (20.45-47). Beware the scribes … Jesus will warn (:45). These establishment theologians and professors liked to walk around in the stolea—the long, tassled robes of their station; they liked the special greeting of “Rabbi”; they liked the best seats at synagogue, sitting near the ark where the scrolls were kept; they liked to devour the estates of widows who, destitute, had thrown themselves on the mercy of the Temple establishment; and, they liked to pray long for show.
Don’t be like them! Jesus warns. They will receive their greater condemnation. They’re living in dependence on themselves.
Those who live on their own abundance (21.1a). As Jesus speaks the disciples’ attention is drawn to the rich, who enter the Court of Women and unburden themselves of a year’s worth of offering (it being the annual Passover). The coins must have made a clatter as they were thrown into any of the 13 trumpet-shaped offering receptacles!
These rich aren’t exactly a new group of people. They are, in fact, the outward expression of the same group to which the scribes belonged. Both groups—the professional scribes and the rich laymen—give out of their excess. Both keep plenty back for themselves. And, doubtless, when the rich have made their offering, they’ve done their bit for God. Nothing more is said of them.
But then, a new figure enters the scene.
Those who live on what they lack (21.1b-4). A solitary woman approaches one offering receptacle. She’s recognized as one of the destitute widows who probably lives in the Temple, at the mercy of the scribes. She’s “very poor”. She casts two coins into one of the receptacles—two leptas, worth 1/100th of a day’s wages; both copper, soft metal, neither weighing enough to make a sound. Except for those keenly watching, she attracts no attention. Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, Jesus says. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on (:4).
What has this woman done? She’s put in MORE. And what is MORE? MORE, according to Jesus, is “all she had to live on.”She’ll now subsist on what she lacks, her scarcity, her poverty. Or, will she? Won’t she be trusting in God?
Two points from the wider plan of redemption help us understand why this solitary widow is so dear to Jesus.
- In a matter of days Jesus (like the widow, but more profoundly) will throw Himself by faith on God’s mercy, and for God’s provision. Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done (22.42). At this offering of MORE in the garden, Jesus doesn’t yet know what it will take to satisfy the Father, but He throws Himself on God’s mercy. This is what He’s all about in His incarnation. He’s taken on flesh. Now He’ll humble Himself on the cross. And, we know the story, God will accept the perfect life and sacrifice of Jesus! The widow, in casting herself on God, becomes a picture of living on Jesus!
- Jesus’ sacrifice becomes the pattern in which all His followers will live the Christian life. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness, God will tell Paul the Apostle (2 Cor 12.9). Paul will become a picture of living on Jesus! Then Paul will tell the Romans … present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Rm 12.1). In other words, you’re to become a picture of living on Jesus, you Romans!
What do we do with this? My feeling is that we fall far short of Jesus’ intended application, if we only use this passage to think about giving and money. As it turns out, there’s LOTS of scarcities that help us “live on Jesus,” trusting in God’s provision to make up for our weakness and different poverties. There’s scarcities of physical ability, when our bodies don’t work anymore, but we give what we have to Jesus. There’s scarcities of natural ability, when we feel charged to step up, but must trust in spiritual gifting and equipping from God. There’s mental and emotional energy scarcity when we haven’t got more in the tank, but we trust Jesus for the strength to go on. And then there’s time scarcity, when we place our time at God’s disposal, trusting it will be redeemed for Jesus’ purposes.
Each of these scarcities gives us opportunity to remember that … Jesus is all I’ve got to live on!
Questions to discuss with others
- How about you? What “scarcities” are you dealing with? What does it look like to give Jesus MORE in those areas?
- Who are some people you know who have modeled “living on Jesus” for you?
- How about you again? What are the tell-tale signs that you’re, however slightly, falling into the pattern of the scribes, or those who “gave from abundance”?
- When we “live on Jesus” we don’t get to actually decide how things will turn out in this life, short of Jesus’ coming. Why still trust Jesus this way?
Now, have a great week, in the LORD.