Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, where people came to bring their offerings, and He watched as they came and went. Many rich people threw in large sums of money, but a poor widow came and put in only two small coins worth only a fraction of a cent.
JESUS (calling His disciples together): Truly this widow has given a greater gift than any other contribution.I can just see the disciples scratching their heads. "Huh? She only dropped a couple of worthless coins in. How could her gift be greater than the larger gifts we witnessed?"
Have you ever seen a Dad or a Mom receive a gift from a young child?
When I was young, I wanted to buy my Mom something really special for Christmas! I went into an expensive gift shop in Beaver Falls. For some reason, my eyes fell on a horse's head. I thought it was beautiful! I just knew my Mom would love it!
[Now, notice, my Mom had no affinity for horses whatsoever!]
It was a difficult decision; but I paid the dear price of $10 and bought the horse's head. [No Godfather comments after this, please]. I wrapped it and couldn't wait for Christmas morning!
She opened it and loved it! After Christmas, she called me into the living room after school one day. She had decided to place it on the bottom level of one of her end tables. She explained that it made it look like the horse was in a stall! I was pleased that she had chosen a special place of honor for my gift.
I only realized much later that this was Mom's ingenius way of getting the horse's head almost completely out-of-sight! :-)
BOTTOM LINE
Folks, it's not really the gift. It's the love that motivates you to buy or make the gift!
Jesus honored the woman because He knew her heart! He knew she wanted to give! He knew her sacrifice! Her gift had meaning!
Keep that in mind as you prepare gifts for Christmas this year...
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