TUESDAY of PASSION WEEK -- The Cost of Discipleship

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.  Many rich people threw in large amounts.  But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”

-- Mark 12:41-44

Tuesday was a very busy day for Jesus.  He spent the entire day in the temple courts, arriving early in the morning.  He spent most of the day teaching his disciples.  A few times he was recognized and confronted by the priests and teachers of the law.  Looking for a reason to arrest him, they tried to trap him in his words.  It must have been a stressful day for Jesus. 

Jesus was increasingly using parables to make his point.  They had the double advantage of making the students work to get the message, and always a bit cryptic, they kept his enemies guessing at what he actually meant to say.  Jesus talked a lot about investing in the Kingdom of God.  He was confronted on the issues of paying taxes to Rome, the concept of the afterlife, the true character of the Messiah, and the meaning of the Law.  At one point he goes into a pointed tirade against the sinister machinations of the Pharisees.  He exposes the hypocrisy of the religious leadership.  He reveals the signs of the end of the age.  Jesus covers a lot of ground in about ten hours on Tuesday.

Late in the afternoon, as the crowd at the temple mound began to swell, Jesus positioned himself, sitting near one of the clay pots placed at each entrance to the court of women, where the people would enter and deliver their offerings.  This was the act of almsgiving. It was a special offering for the poor, always collected at the festival.  Almsgiving was one of the three most important outward manifestations of the inward spiritual life.  The other two were prayer and fasting.  Jesus taught that in each case we are not to engage in these spiritual acts ostentatiously.  At the temple he is witnessing the very thing he taught against – the ostentatious giving of the religious elite.  They give “to be seen by men” (Matt. 6:1-4).  Jesus is turned off by that kind of show.

Jesus makes two important points when he sees the widow give her offering.  He was comparing the “takers,” with the “givers.”  His first point was about the takers.  In fact, he had just finished teaching about the “takers.”  Jesus said, ‘Watch out for the teachers of the law.  They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.  They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers’ (Mark 12:38-40).  In the very next verse Jesus was watching the people give and he saw the poor widow place in the offering plate “all she had to live on” (i.e., her whole house).

On the one hand, Jesus wants us to see the horrible violation of the “takers.”  Even when they give, they are taking more than they give (they do it for the honor, fame, and adulation).  They “devour widows’ houses,” means that their insatiable appetite for more strips the truly spiritual ones from their last ounce of dignity in this world.  They “devour widows’ houses,” is possibly the worst indictment that Jesus every issued against a group of people.  It is the most shameful act.  And it is reserved for those who are constantly taking and never really giving. 

Of course, in contrast to the religious elite, Jesus pointed to the poor widow.  She is the epitome of one who gives without reserve.  She invests in the Kingdom of God without hope or expectation of receiving anything in return.  She gives everything she has. All of it is spent on God.  She holds nothing back.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic work, “The Cost of Discipleship,” explains the difference between what I have called the “takers,” and the “givers.”  It is the difference between what he calls, “cheap grace,” and “costly grace.”  Here is what Bonhoeffer says:

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.  Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.  It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.  It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. 

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son … Costly grace is the Incarnation of God (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p.47-48).

The religious elite of Jesus’ day knew only cheap grace.  The poor widow with her two copper coins understood costly grace.  So did the woman with her alabaster jar.  So did Jesus with his cross.

Reflection and Action

• What is God’s call on your life?  Why did he create you?  What did he fashion you to do?

• Undoubtedly, you will spend some money this Easter – Easter clothes; Easter baskets; Easter toys; Easter candy; An Easter meal.  What will you spend on God?