Luke 21:1-4 | The Castell Brothers | Jesus saw a poor widow putting in coins

Luke 21:1-4   Jesus saw a poor widow putting in coins

The Kindly Robin,  Issued by The Castell Brothers, Late 19th century, Victorian Christmas Card, Lithographic process As Jesus looked up, he saw rich people putting their offerings into the treasury; then he happened to notice a poverty-stricken widow putting in two small coins, and he said, ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in more than any of them; for these have all contributed money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in all she had to live on.’   READ MORE     Reflection on the Christmas Card We see Jesus here as a master observer. Seeing the poor woman giving alms, showed him how generous she was inside her heart. Luke states that she gave 2 coins. She could have easily kept one coin, but no, she gave two coins. It also shows how humble a person she was; if we are aware spiritually how little we have to offer, then maybe it might make us more generous at heart too… We also see Jesus as being non-judgemental. He doesn’t condemn the temple officials for taking advantage or being greedy, no, He simply wants us to see the poor widow’s generous actions… We are looking at a Christmas card today where a well dressed robin is giving alms to a poor little robin. A very sweet late Victorian Christmas card (and yes, some of you may be writing some Christmas cards already now?) we are looking at here by the Castell Brothers, who specialised in Christmas cards initially, and also later on card games. They received most fame for releasing a card game 1936 after the success of the Disney film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. As Christ can see what is going on in our hearts and what the motivation is behind the almsgiving, He knows if we gave these in generosity of spirit or out of pride to be seen to be giving or out of selfishness. Yes for those who receive the charitable donations, the result is the same, but for the person doing the giving, it can come from a very different mind-and heart-set. Christ sees this and knows this. So if we are aware that maybe our almsgiving isn’t coming out of the right place, let’s certainly continue to give, but work away and fine-tune our generosity of spirit and mindset… what counts is the heart with which the alms are given… by Patrick van der Vorst