Have you ever filled up a cup with liquid, set it down for a minute, and when you picked it back up you found that some of that liquid had leaked out onto the table or counter? And you didn’t remember spilling as you poured, so you pick the cup up and begin to search all over for a leak…eventually discovering a small hole in the cup, almost invisible to the naked eye, yet clearly the cause of the leak. But then what do we do? We either have to get a new cup, patch the hole, or learn to drink really fast.

I titled this sermon “A Hole Where the Rain Gets In,” which comes from the Beatles song Fixing a Hole. The lyrics for the song go like this:

I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in

And stops my mind from wandering

Where it will go

I’m filling the cracks that ran through the door

And kept my mind from wandering

Where it will go

And it really doesn’t matter if I’m wrong I’m right

Where I belong, I’m right

Where I belong

There’s been a lot of debate about the meaning of this song. But the songwriter, Paul McCartney, explained its meaning this way: “When I wrote it I meant if there’s a crack, or the room is uncolorful, then I’ll paint it.” But for me, this begs the question, “What if we can’t fix it? What if we don’t have the means to do so?”

In our passage for this morning, Jesus was teaching in the temple court. And he talked boldly about the scribes who “like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!” These scribes are pridefully accepting, perhaps even demanding, praise and honor. They are focused on themselves rather than on the principles of loving God and loving neighbor, which Jesus says is the greatest commandment in the law. And Jesus takes his criticism even a step further by adding, “They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” These scribes are taking advantage of those who are weaker and without a voice. And then they are building themselves up to be all pious and holy. But Jesus says that they will be judged.

Then Jesus moves over near the treasury in the temple court. The treasury was where worshipers came and gave their tithes to God. These tithes were used by those very scribes for their expenses. And Jesus watches as many rich people came and put large sums of money into the treasury. Now, the treasury consisted of 13 trumpet shaped receptacles. And people would drop their coins into the receptacles with a loud, uproarious clattering. Some of the rich folk would even receive a trumpet fanfare to announce their offering. Can you imagine that? It had to have been quite the scene. But in the midst of all that, a poor widow approaches one of the receptacles with her meager offering. Two small copper coins was all she dropped into the treasury. I imagine it hardly made a sound compared to the offerings of those rich men. It was only two coins, worth only about 1/64th of a day’s wage for a laborer. But this widow was not a laborer. Those two coins were probably the entirety of what she had to live on. Yet she gave it, without any fanfare or praise, and slipped quietly away.

Now, we could look at this widow’s poverty as a hole in the cup, a leak in the system that needs fixing. And it is. Wherever there are injustices in our world, we should work to fix them. Some of you attended, either in-person or online, the presentation by Darryl Burton on Friday night at the Methodist Church. And you heard his story about the injustice he faced, not only in his wrongful conviction, but even more so in the system that kept him imprisoned for 24 years. That should not be. Jesus saw the injustices being wrought upon this poor widow and he spoke out against it.

Yet in the midst of that injustice, Jesus also saw the generosity of the widow in giving all that she had. And so he lifted that up as well. Jesus called over his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” The rich men had money and possessions to spare. So, despite giving large offerings to the treasury, their gifts did not affect their ability to live. Whereas the widow gave away everything she had. That meant she could no longer buy food and would soon go hungry. She gave out of her poverty, while the rich men gave out of their abundance.

As I contemplated this story this week, I began to think about what perhaps is the “poverty” of the rich men. Yes, I realize that statement sounds contradictory, but hear me out. The rich men were rich in resources: money, clothing, food, etc. But that is not all there is to life. Perhaps, though being rich in money, they were poor in their love for others or poor in humility like the scribes or perhaps they were poor in righteous living. And maybe we can relate to that a little bit. Maybe we aren’t poor when it comes to finances either, but there are other areas of our lives where we are severely lacking. What would it look like to give God an offering out of those areas of our lives? Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we should stop giving out of our abundance. But perhaps we need to find other ways to give that “hurt” a little more.

I once had someone tell me that if you give an offering to God and you don’t even notice it’s gone, then you didn’t give enough. But perhaps it’s more that we didn’t give of the right thing. I don’t think it is wrong for us to give out of our abundance. So much good can be accomplished when we share those abundant blessings with others. But we must also consider where our holes are, where our poverty lies, where we are weak. And then we need to give to God out of those areas as well.

So I want to suggest to you two practices to engage in over the next week or month or year. And as you do these things, it is my hope that you will discover those areas where God may be calling you to give everything…and not just the leftovers. So, firstly, take a deep look at how others are giving. No, I’m not suggesting you follow people up to the offering plates to see how much their checks are made out for. What I mean is not that we should watch how much others are giving, but the WAYS in which others give. There are so many ways we can care for others and love God. If we pay attention to the ways others are serving, it will help us learn more about ourselves…our strengths, our weaknesses, and where God may be calling us to give of ourselves. So, take a look at how others give of themselves. And pay specific attention to the ways in which others give, not out of their abundance, but out of their poverty, out of areas of their lives where they seemingly have very little.

And secondly, consider for a moment the holes in your life, the places where you may be weaker. Are those places to be fixed? Or are they opportunities for the living water of God to flow out of you as you commit them to the service of the Lord? This is not to say that all of our weaknesses are opportunities, or that our weaknesses should be ignored rather than worked on. But rather that all of our lives, our strengths and our weaknesses should be given in service to God. And that generosity is not about how much we give, but about how big of a sacrifice that giving is.

And then, let’s celebrate every gift, no matter how big or how small…unlike in this story I heard recently. “There was a man who called at the church and asked if he could speak to the Head Hog at the trough. The secretary said, ‘Who?’ Then she gathered herself and said ‘Sir, if you mean our pastor you will have to treat him with a little more respect than that and ask for the ‘Reverend’ or ‘The Pastor.’ But certainly you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough.’ The man said, ‘I understand. I was calling because I have $10,000 I was thinking about donating to the building fund.’ She said, ‘Hold on for just a moment — I think the big pig just walked in the door.’” The story of the widow and her meager offering teaches us that it is not about the size of our gifts, but about the heart with which we give them.

So, let’s open ourselves to God and let God fill us up. And let us serve as much out of our poverty as out of our abundance. And may God always be glorified.