In the previous two posts we have looked at the poor widow who gave her last two coins to the temple, and what Jesus thought about this. He was saddened that the temple leadership had degenerated into stealing from the poor, rather than helping the poor as they were supposed to be doing.

The widow should not have given to the temple. The temple should have given to her.

Can the Rich Give to the Temple?

If this is the case with the widow, what did Jesus think about the wealthy people giving to the temple? It seems that Jesus did not want the rich to give to the temple either.

Jesus is not too concerned about their wealth (except that maybe some of them had gained their riches through devouring widow’s houses), nor even with how much they are giving to the temple. Jesus is primarily concerned with the fact that they are giving to the temple.

Here is this poor widow in their midst, who has no home, and has only two pennies left to her name, and all the wealthy people are generously giving to the temple, but should be giving some of their money to her.

I think that Jesus would say that this widow is more important than any temple.

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Yesterday we looked briefly at how most people understand the passage about the Widow’s Mites, where a poor widow gives her last two coins to the temple. Most people today believe that Jesus praised her for such sacrifice, but the context indicates otherwise.

I think Jesus was actually saddened by what He observed.

Devouring Widow’s Houses

The surrounding context of this passage sheds light on how Jesus felt about what was going on in the temple that day. In Mark 12, right before Jesus observes and comments upon the rich giving from their wealth and the widow giving from her poverty, Jesus condemns the religious leaders for their pride, arrogance, self-prominence, and greed. In highlighting their greed, Jesus says that they “devour widows’ houses” (Mark 12:40). According to the Law of Moses, the spiritual leaders were supposed to be taking care of the widows and orphans in the community, and providing for their needs (Deut 26:12). But here they are doing the opposite. They are taking away from the widows what little they have left, leaving them destitute, without even a home to live in.

Could it really be that only three verses later, Jesus is now praising the sacrifice of a widow for giving her last two coins to the temple? How can it be? The temple should be giving to her; not her to the temple! They have already taken her house, and now they take her last two coins as well! Jesus is not happy and encouraged by what He sees, but saddened. He is not upset at the poor woman. Far from it! He is upset and saddened at how far the worship of God in the temple has degenerated that the priests and Levites are teaching and even demanding that poor widows who have no homes and no income give up their last two coins to support the work of the Lord.

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By far the most famous passage in the Gospels about tithing is the account of the widow’s mites.

The account is found in Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4. Jesus and His disciples are in the temple, observing people bring their tithes and offerings. They observed the rich giving large amounts of money, and then saw a poor widow giving two mites.

Mites were very small copper coins, which today, would be equivalent to a few pennies. She did not give much at all. And yet, Jesus says that she gave more than all the rich, for they gave out of their wealth, but out of her poverty, she gave her last few coins.

This is a popular passage in sermons and teachings on tithing, and is often taught with two main points. First, we are told that this passage teaches that Jesus is not so concerned with the amount a person gives, but with the percentage. It is likely that the rich people in the temple were tithing a full 10% of their income, and as a result, were giving huge sums of money to the temple. However, they still owned 90% of their wealth. The poor widow, on the other hand, though she only gave two mites, gave 100% of what she had, and left with nothing. So, we are told that the amount we give to God is not as important as the percentage.

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Matthew 22:21 is sometimes used to defend the practice of tithing. In response to a question about whether the Jews should pay taxes or not, Jesus says, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” It is sometimes taught that since in the first part of this verse Jesus affirms the responsibility to pay taxes to Caesar, the second part of the verse affirms the responsibility to pay “taxes” to God in the form of tithes.

This application, however, is not the best way of understanding what Jesus says.

Jesus is Faced with a Dilemma

The passage begins with the Pharisees wanting to tangle and entrap Jesus (Matt 22:15). So they send some of their disciples and some Herodians to ask Jesus a trick question (Matt 22:16).

These two groups represent two of the many factions within Israel at this time. The Pharisees were often sympathetic to the segment of Jewish people who wanted the Roman occupation of Israel to cease, and thought that no law should rule in Israel except God’s law as found in the Torah. The Herodians, however, were supporters of King Herod, who was a vassal king of the Roman Emperor. King Herod was placed into power by the Emperor, and was given numerous privileges in Israel as long as he upheld the peace and worked to maintain Roman governance over the region. As supporters of King Herod, the Herodians also received some of these privileges.

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Jesus didn’t talk a lot about tithing, and when He did, it was usually in a negative context.

For example, in Matthew 23:23 (and Luke 11:42), Jesus indicated that the Pharisees and religious leaders were overly concerned with giving an exact 10% of everything, even down to measuring 10% of the spices of mint, anise, and cumin. Jesus goes on to encourage the leaders to continue giving, but tells them to focus more of their devotion and energy to things that matter more, like justice, mercy, and faith.

The only other time that Jesus specifically mentioned tithing was when He contrasted a self-righteous and legalistic religious leader with a humble and repentant tax-collector (Luke 18:11-12).  It was the religious Pharisee who was concerned with giving the exact 10% of his income to God who was criticized by Jesus, while the repentant tax-collector received the praise of Jesus. It is unknown what actions this repentant tax-collector performed as a result of his repentance, but if he was anything like Zacchaeus, he may have given away 50% of his fortune to the poor, and returned 400% of any money he had taken from people through extortion (Luke 19:8). Notice that Zacchaeus doesn’t give the money to the temple, but to the people who needed it and to the people he had stolen from.

Jesus Isn’t Concerned about Tithing Ten Percent

From these passages, it appears that Jesus is not so concerned about people giving to the temple, or how much they give, but with the more important matters of justice for the oppressed, mercy to the repentant, and faith toward God in all things. When religious groups and leaders focus on making sure everybody tithes 10%, they are showing signs of legalism and self-righteousness, and are often guilty of things God really is concerned about, such as justice, mercy, love, and faith.
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