41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Big faith, little change. That is not to say that big faith can't come with big change. In fact, most of the time it does. But we're talking about two different kinds of change here. One is the little bit of money that the widow put in the offering; merely coins. The other is a kind of change is the kind that drastically alters your life; like seeing a poor widow put all that she has into the offering for others. Both require faith.
This faith may not always be something that we think about or are aware of, but when you see something like Mark is describing, that is faith. For it takes the faith of the woman to speak to the faith, however small it may be, of the people watching. You've heard the expression, takes one to know one. Well, it takes one person's faith to recognize the faithfulness of other.
Through our faith we may not always have understanding, but as Anselm (an early church Father who argued that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine) says, we have faith that seeks understanding. As we are all on a journey, we must open ourselves up to Jesus' teachings. When Christ speaks to those who merely watch on the sidelines, we must ask ourselves, do we have the change of the widow? Are we willing to give what we have to God? How much faith do we really need to know? As we grow in faith, we grow in God's graces. Our little change takes big faith.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, move in me and help me make the changes in my life that will grow my faith in you. Amen.
G. Thomas Martin
