(A Meditation on the Story of the Widow’s Mite)
I recently learned that many who watch sermon videos online watch the introduction, then skip to the end for the conclusion. … (I’m sure no one here does that!) … But it’s understandable. I mean, everyone has too much to do and not enough time to do it in. So, why not just skip all that stuff in the middle … get done quicker?
In conclusion…
Well, before I get to the conclusion, I’d really like to talk a bit about this morning’s readings. The story of the Widow’s Mite teaches us that God honors faithful gifts, no matter how small, no matter what they are, no matter what size they are. It’s the size of the faith that matters, not the size of the gift.
Another point we sometimes overlook is that the Widow’s two tiny coins mark the end of her life. She had almost nothing left to give; but she gave anyway. After that, there was nothing left not even her life. Her journey had reached its conclusion.
This story also marks the closing of Jesus’ ministry. He never taught in public again. He had given everything he could. He also had nothing left to give except his life. They were both done, both at the end of their journey, both ready for the next step. And, they both knew it.
And yes, these are important lessons. But Luke is teaching us about more than just this. He shows us that all that we have, all that we can give, already belongs to God. He teaches that we are called to bless and support others with what God has blessed us with.
We’ve all heard that lesson many times, it can be found everywhere in the Scriptures. Our willingness and motivation for giving is what matters. It’s not about how much treasure we give, or even whether anyone notices.
Luke speaks of the magnificence of the temple. But, it is the widow’s action, done in good faith, that matters – not the temple.
Building great institutions and mountaintop edifices like the Temple shows what WE value, not what God values. Faith is not a trophy we can put on a shelf. Faith is not a magnificent structure built so our names are remembered forever, as Herod intended his temple to be. We cannot buy God’s favor, nor earn it – no matter how generous we are. Faith is not transactional.
But, there’s even more to the story. (Otherwise, why would I be up here preaching about it?)
The Widow is paying a tax demanded of all faithful Jews in that time, wherever they lived in the world – not just in Jerusalem or Judea. … The Temple Tax. She gave in good faith that which was being demanded in bad faith.
Just as men still do today, the powerful in her time devoured widows’ houses with thoughtless avariciousness, with no concern for the devastation they inflict upon others. To attain and retain positions of honor and power is their only goal. … And, they conveniently forget how they got there. They declare (and sadly, some may really believe) that might makes right. That those whom they have oppressed deserve it. They blame the poor and hopeless for being poor and hopeless even though they were the ones who made them poor and hopeless. That story is the same now as it was then, it hasn’t changed.
But, why did the widow have just two coins? Why did the leaders demand she pay a Temple Tax she could not afford? … … She wasn’t the only one.
In that era, multitudes of people in the Holy Land were homeless, desperate, and starving. Many had been forced-off the small plots of land they and their ancestors had nurtured for centuries. The land was being cleared to make way for the grand estates and vineyards built by those prospering under Roman Rule. …The same estates and vineyards that the homeless now worked as day laborers if they were lucky. The same day laborers, estates, and vineyards that were the subject of many of Jesus’ parables.
Modern research tells us that those who became homeless in that time survived perhaps three more years. Today, the homeless in the US have a lifespan 18 to 30 years shorter than they would otherwise expect.
Those with wealth and power have failed to do as the faith they share with The Widow and us commands. Otherwise, she would have had far more than the two almost worthless coins that were in her hand that day. She would have had food. She would have had shelter. She would have had hope. She would have had life.
As I said in the children’s message, the temple treasuries, as they were called, were giant brass urns. They were designed to amplify and broadcast the noise of coins dropped into them. The more you put in, the greater the clatter. When the rich presented their tax, the cascade was heard by everyone. They wanted it to be heard by everyone. … … The widow’s two tiny coins were probably heard by no one, except Jesus.
That raucous clanging was deliberate. The men who built that temple and collected that tax catered to the rich. They wanted the rich to give every last shekel they could. Those treasuries, and the temple, were built by and for the rich, not the poor. The temple was there to awe everyone with its magnificence and with the generosity and power of its patrons.
The widow knew that those who built the temple cared nothing for her, or her coins. She didn’t matter to them at all. If she and her coins had mattered, those brass urns would not have been there. Or at least they would not have been brass. The temple elders saw just a poor widow. A woman of no account – forgotten the moment she turned away after depositing her tax, if she was noticed at all.
And yet, knowing all this, she gave anyway. Why? She knew they didn’t care. If anything, the barely audible clink of her coins must have been a huge embarrassment, as was intended.
But she knew something the temple elders had forgotten. It wasn’t what they saw that mattered, but what God saw. She gave those coins not because it made a speck of difference to the temple. Not because anyone there cared for her – no one did. She gave those coins in spite of the temple and all it stood for, not because of it. She gave because she knew she mattered, regardless of what anyone else thought. And, because she and what she did mattered to God.
She defied those men through her gift. It was her way of saying: I AM HERE, GOD CARES – YOU DON’T. She made their failure clear with her two tiny coins. She showed that their narrative of their own greatness and magnificence mattered nothing to her, or to God. She seemed powerless, and yet she: a poor widow of no account, changed their story.
It wasn’t about their greatness any more, but about their failure. Their failure to act as they knew the faith of their fathers demanded. And, watching as she dropped her coins into that urn was the man who sees with the eyes of God.
God knew what she did. God knew why she had done it; and through God, it mattered. It is her story that we remember. She proved that faith needs works to live.
She showed us that it isn’t great displays of faith or generosity that matter. It’s the little things – the things that others often don’t see. Things we all can find space and time to do in our hectic lives. Things like sharing a word or a hug, or a cup of coffee. Making time to listen and to see. Giving out of our love for our neighbors. And even if we can do only one tiny thing, like the Widow did, it’s enough. By doing so we change the story. We change our story: it becomes part of God’s story.
The Widow’s Mite is not about the end of a journey, it’s about a beginning. She proves that no matter how high and mighty we see ourselves to be; if we are living a lie, we will inevitably fail and be forgotten. By ministering to those whom God loves we make their journey possible; and our own.
Early Christians called themselves the Followers of The Way. They knew that what matters is not achieving the goal of climbing to that temple up there on that mountaintop, but the journey itself. The journey is the whole point.
So, let us not rush to the conclusion of our story. Let us not be so fixed upon the goal that we fail to see or appreciate God’s many lessons and blessings to be found along the way. We are called to treasure and nurture God’s gifts that we find as we walk the path, narrow and difficult though it may be.
And that’s the thing about this congregation. I see all these things present and active here. We take our covenant and mission statements seriously. We are determined to embrace everyone for who they are, no matter where they are on life’s journey. We do not capitulate to the stories imposed by others upon us or upon our neighbors. Ultimately, we are also changing the story, continuing the journey begun by the widow so long ago. It doesn’t take much to do that, just time, work, and determination. With God’s help we walk the long path of making the Kingdom of God a reality here on earth: one minute, one hug, or a couple of coins, at a time.
Amen.
Scripture references:
Luke 20:46 – 21:6 [NRSVue] – The Widow’s Mite and Jesus Denounces the Scribes
James 2:1-9, 14-17 [NRSVue] – Faith without works is dead
Delivered at Memorial Congregational Church UCC in Sudbury MA, April 26th, 2026 (the 4th Sunday of Easter).
Copyright 2026, Allen Vander Meulen III, all rights reserved.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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