Give Of Our First Fruits
- Deacon Dan DeLuca
- Nov 21, 2022
- 4 min read
When you have excess, giving is easy. Giving from your surplus requires no discomfort, no sacrifice on the part of the giver. However, we are not called to give from our excess but rather are sustenance. The Lord commands us to give of our first fruits, “We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord.” (Nehemiah 10:35) Yet how many of us do not do this? How many of us give to God, give of our time, talent, and treasure, only out of our excess? As we read the story of the Widow’s Offering from the Gospel, let us pray to have her faith, faith that allowed her to give to God first even when it meant giving all she had.
The Widow’s Offering
He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. And he said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had.” Luke 21 : 1-4
Scriptural Analysis
In the Court of the Women in the temple, there were thirteen collection boxes known as Trumpets. They looked like a trumpet with the narrow part on top and the wider part at the foot. Each was assigned a specific purpose. For example, one was dedicated to the wood used to burn the sacrifices, another for the incense used, another for the upkeep of the golden vessels, and so on. It was near this area where Jesus was sitting. Jesus spots a poor widow as well as some wealthy people depositing their monetary offerings into the trumpets.
The widow gives too small coins into the treasury. The actual word translated as a copper coin is lepta. A lepta was the smallest coin in circulation at the time. It was worth one-fortieth of a new penny and so her total offering was one-twentieth of a new penny: a very small amount. Jesus recognizes that, although the amount is small, it represents all of her means, her livelihood. A literal translation of the Greek here would be, all the life that she had. Contrast that to the wealthy who give out of their abundance. Jesus praises the widow’s true generosity and piety.
Daily Application
All of creation belongs to God: all of it. The little bit that we possess still belongs to him. He has allowed us to use it expecting us to be good stewards of it. He also commands that we give back to him, give back of the first fruits we produce, not from any excess that we may have. That is a critical point to understand and a mindset to adopt. Giving is easy when it requires no sacrifice on our part. To make matters worse, a gift that is given out of a desire to impress or win esteem (as was the case with the wealthy mentioned in the Gospel) is not a true gift. Only a gift given from an outpouring of love from the heart is a true gift.
In the Gospel, the widow’s gift was greater because it came from her heart and not out of her excess but out of that which she needed to survive. It required true sacrifice on her part. She gave with utter reckless abandon until she was capable of giving no more. Giving only reaches its full potential when it hurts. It should require sacrifice on the part of the giver: should force the giver to go without.
This is the kind of giving to God we are called to engage in: to give with reckless abandon like the widow. How many of us do this? This rule does not just apply to financial giving but also includes our time and our talent. One of the most simple areas to consider is prayer. Do we make time each and every day to give to God? Is it the first priority of our day as it should be? This may require us to sacrifice. Perhaps you have to miss the big game you have been wanting to watch or perhaps you need to wake up 30 minutes earlier each day. However, financial giving matters as well. Consider what you may be able to go without to ensure that you are giving to God first.
The widow is the perfect example for us. She has reason to be stingy, to not give and it is likely no one would have blamed her for not giving. Yet she is the most cheerful giver, freely offering God all she had. In that offering, she found the greatest riches of all. The riches that come from your heart being right with God.
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