He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. – Luke 21:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 16, 2017): Luke 21

In 2012, a unique project began; The Fix the World Organization. According to their website, they are unique because of their independence. Headquartered in Morocco, they are not tied to a government or any religious organization. And they are not a non-profit, which hopefully makes their goals sustainable. They simply present a different way to do business, one that focuses on Clean Energy and Humanitarian concentrated business ideas. They also offer a subscription so that others can help them with their goals.

Can they fix the world? Probably not. The cynic among us will probably wonder if that is indeed even their goal. There always seems to be groups that want to take our hard earned money to line their own pockets. Maybe this is just another example of a gimmicky way of making money. But part of the problem is that even if the intentions of “The Fix the World Organization” are honorable, fixing the world is such a big task, and we are so small. We are helpless against such a big challenge, and so often, we look at the size of the job ahead of us and decide to do nothing.

So Jesus tells the story of the widow at the Temple. The situation of a widow in ancient times was not a good one. Often they were very poor and without support. Organizations like the Jewish Church would attempt to feed them, but the task was usually beyond their ability to fulfill. In Acts, which tells the story of the early Christian Church, there is a disagreement about how the responsibility of taking care of the widows was being carried out. Some argued that the church was playing favorites with Jewish widows and leaving the Gentile widows to starve. The task was huge, and a group of men was chosen and given the authority to find a solution.

But the story of Jesus tells of the other side of the situation. In this case, a widow comes into the temple. It would have been easy to argue that she should just forgo the offering box. Everyone would understand. But instead, she approaches the offering box and gives two small copper coins. The coins are virtually worthless, but they are all that she has. In the grand scheme of things, those two coins will get lost in the shuffle, but the widow has given what she has.

None of us can fix the world, but we can offer what we have. In the face of tragedy after tragedy, with news channels telling us the story of unprovoked gun violence and terrorists using vehicles to cut down people, we can all give what we have – even if it is not much. We can choose to share love when hate comes too quickly. We can decide to be a healing presence in this world with what little we have, trusting that it will make a difference, just like the copper coins of the widow made enough of a difference at the Temple that Jesus felt he needed to make an example of her in front of his disciples. The task is always too large, and yet, we all have our everything, even if our everything is just a couple of copper coins, to offer to make a difference.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew 26