TOPIC:"The Admiration of the Observing Christ"
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Mark 12:41-44
"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the Temple treasury" (Mark 12:41, NIV).
The incident before us, I believe, is without equal in the whole history of human giving. Here we find Jesus sitting near the collection box in the Court of the women at the entrance of the Temple where He could watch as the Passover crowd dropped in their money. There were thirteen trumpet-shaped boxes where money could be dropped. Some of the boxes were for collecting the Temple tax and others for collecting money to support the teachers of the Law.
According to verse 43 Jesus called His disciples to Him and directed their attention to a poor widow who dropped into the box the sum total of two small copper coins. The smallest Jewish coins then in circulation in Palestine which together equaled about half an American penny. As a people-watcher, observing the attitude with which people gave and the amount they contributed, Jesus believed the act of this poor widow was like what Paul S. Rees called "a shaft of light streaking through an overcast." Give ear to the solemn words of Jesus in verse 43: "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others." And thought this widow did not see Jesus, I want you to note that Jesus saw her and He outwardly admired her sacrificial giving.
I want to divide this message into three parts - the presence of the divine Savior, the pronouncement of the divine statement, and the presentation of the Dedicated Standard.
I.
Consider, to begin with, the PRESENCE of the DIVINE SAVIOR. Notice the words of verse 41: "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put." The Temple treasury was something that all dedicated Jews were familiar with. It had a long and sacred history back of it. When the Tabernacle was built under Moses and the Temple under Solomon a special treasury box was opened for God's people to bring their gifts. And even way back then God took notice of the gifts of the Israelites. So you can see it was no ordinary thing for Jesus to be looking that day as He watched the rich and the poor casting their money into the treasury box. Such was a part of worship and Jesus both approved and appreciated it.
So Jesus "sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put" looking on eagerly, searchingly, and discriminatingly. G. Campbell Morgan in his commentary on this verse writes: "He was not only watching, He was appraising with a discerning eye." He observed the simple . . .