Picture that – Simon’s boat and that of James and John, filled with fish to the point that they had been in serious danger of sinking, pulled up to shore and abandoned. Leaving their families with even worse prospects, as not only was there no income that day, but there would never be again. What would be the equivalent for you? What would it mean to have everything you ever wanted handed to you on a plate (totally legally and morally). What would it take for you to give it all up?
What would cause the widow in Mark 12 to give everything she had to live on into an offering box at the temple?
What would cause fishermen like Peter, James and John to walk away from the biggest catch of their lives and leave it to rot – or to profit their rivals – on the shore?
Andrew Haslam preached on the Mark 12 passage last Sunday, and explained that there were 13 offering boxes in the temple courts, twelve of which were designated for the different types of offering required by the Law. The thirteenth was for freewill offerings, given out of the overflow of people’s hearts. It seems that this was the box the widow was giving into, in this Passover week.
The rich were giving out of their plenty, but she gave abundantly out of her lack. It was a sacrifice, but Andrew pointed out that when we are sacrificing with the right attitude, when we are giving as a response of thankfulness for God’s goodness to us, when our sacrifice is truly worship, not just empty ritual, giving all we have doesn’t feel like a hardship. It feels like joy.
This reminded me of the passage in Luke where Jesus called the first disciples. God brought it to my mind a few months ago, and it has just been hovering there without really finding a place to land until now.
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