Pastor’s Column. There is an advertisement related to our New Testament Lesson today. I haven’t seen it, but others have. It reads, "Now you too can own a Genuine Coin From The Time of Jesus: The Widow's Mite. It’s a minor miracle that this coin has survived, and now people of faith can study, cherish, and protect it for future generations. It’s yet another miracle that they’re so affordable."
Then, the ad goes on to quote our scripture this morning, “He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.” And it finishes up with, "While our limited supplies last, you may order the 2,000 year old Widow’s Mite for only $39.95 plus shipping and handling. Remember this is the genuine coin mentioned in the Holy Bible and it makes a perfect gift for your child, grandchild, or favorite clergyman."
The advertisement makes it sound like you’re buying the actual coin the widow dropped into the temple receptacle. This rip-off reminds me of Wolfman Jack in his younger days. He broadcast from an incredibly powerful radio station in Mexico, just across the border from Del Rio, TX. And he offered hard to get items for sale to people in the Southwest, like autographed pictures of Jesus Christ, not to mention Bibles signed by King James himself. Sometimes he wasn’t so religious. He also sold genuine imitation pearl necklaces.
At the beginning of our New Testament lesson today, Jesus warns about the sort of scribes who “devour widows’ houses.” (We’re dealing with Mark 13: 38-44.) It wasn’t enough that widows in Jesus’ day were almost all poverty stricken, those that had a few coins were on the radar of rip-off artists trying to get them. If Jesus says elsewhere, “The poor will always be with you,” he could also have added, “And so will those trying to rip you off.”
Although taken out of context, these words fit the world in which we live. “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” -DJ
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