Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Mark 12)

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Mark 12)

Mark 12.42-44 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. [nkjv]

Just last week a Queensland couple and a man from Adelaide won $53m dollars each in Oz Lotto's biggest division one prize. To a lot of Australians, winning the lotto is a dream come true. The chance to get ahead in life. But for those lucky few, the dream can quickly turn into a nightmare.

"Winning the lottery isn't always what it's cracked up to be," says Evelyn Adams, who won the New Jersey lottery not just once, but twice, to the tune of $5.4m. Today the money is all gone and Adams lives in a trailer.

Jack Whittaker won a record $314.9m Powerball jackpot in 2002. But life for him has been anything but perfect since that day. There has been a long list of arrests, lawsuits and broken relationships. In 2007 his wife admitted she wished she had torn up the ticket.

William Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery in 1988. He was sued by a former girlfriend and his brother hired a hitman in the hope of inheriting his winnings. Post invested badly and within a year was $1m in debt! Today he gets by on social security payments and wishes the whole thing never happened.

Janite Lee won $18 million in 1993 but filed for bankruptcy just eight years later.

Michael Carroll won $9.7m in 2002 and after 30 court appearances and being jailed for drug related offenses, admitted to only having $500,000 of his windfall left just six years later.

Willie Hurt won $3.1m in 1989 and spent it all on divorce and cocaine within two years.

I could go on and on...

Jesus watched as this poor widow gave her two mites. According to custom, she had an obligation to pay something into the treasury. One coin was expected. But she gave two!

And even though what she gave was so small in comparison to other's gifts that day, Jesus highlighted the fact that the value of a gift is determined by what it cost the giver. This is what made the widow's offering so valuable.

It cost her everything!

Most of us haven't won the lotto. We have debts, mortgages, and bills. We are pulled in a thousand different directions by things wanting our time and attention. We have to get up each morning, go to work, to earn money to live. Even though it may seem like we have very little, we can't use our lack as a reason not to be generous.

Generous with our time, our money, our words and our life.

The poor widow challenged the mindset, "I'll give more when I have more". And Jesus noticed her out of everyone else!

I wonder if I were in that line that day, would my offering have caught Jesus' attention?