Tuesday - Two Very Expensive Gifts

We are still in, as we have been for some time, our series on the life of Christ in the last week of our Lord's life, and we are still on Tuesday. You're beginning to think Tuesday will never end, and it is the day of our Lord's life, the last week of his life, that does have the most material in the gospels. But we are drawing near the end. There are only two more events that we'll look at. I know we'll get through one of them tonight, and may get started into the second one, I'm not sure. We'll just see how things go. But remember what has happened on this Tuesday. Jesus has been in the temple. It has been a tumultuous day in the temple where he has been teaching, but there has been a lot of give and take, a lot of questioning on the part of the religious leaders, the Pharisees and scribes and sagacies. And other groups that have come forward to ask him questions seeking to discredit him among the people or to trap him in an answer that would be unpopular politically or religiously or whatever, and so that they might be able to arrest him if they could. Following that give and take that went on for some time, Jesus pronounces this thunderous denunciation upon the Pharisees. Seven was where eight times he calls them hypocrites. A number of times he calls them other names, blind guides of the blind, vipers, brutus snakes. He's just a thunderous denunciation of the Pharisees and their hypocrisy and really rips the mask off of their religious hypocrisy. Well, obviously after that they are even more incensed and so they would love to put him to death, but they're fearful of the crowd. We may get to a passage that describes that a little bit more this evening. Before Jesus leaves the temple, however, there's one other thing that will happen in the temple. We're going to look at that tonight. It's recorded for us in Mark's Gospel, chapter 12, also in Luke's Gospel. We'll look at Mark's account tonight. Mark chapter 12. What Jesus does is he goes to the area of the temple before he leaves to go back to Bethany for the evening. He goes to the area of the temple where hearts are most revealed. And that is the temple treasury. It's the place where people came to give their gifts in the temple. It is the place where better than any other place in the temple, the phony hypocrisy of the Pharisees will be seen and also put into bold contrast with the simple love of the Holy Spirit. And both of the hearts are revealed in their giving, not the amount that they gave, but the motivation and manner of their giving. So Jesus takes up a position near the temple treasury where he can watch people giving. Now that's a bit of a daunting thought, isn't it? That Jesus would be watching as people are giving. I don't think he was standing right there, you know, where they were giving their gifts. The Bible says that he was standing opposite of that area, opposite of that place, but he could see what was happening. And so he watches, he observes, and then he talks to his disciples about what he's observing. And what he says in these four short verses that we'll look at tonight, what he says is in this short little sermon really speaks volumes to us about our hearts. So that's what I want us to focus on this evening. The gift of a poor widow in Mark chapter 12 beginning in verse 41. Look, if you will, first of all, at the observation of Jesus, verse 41, Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched, watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents, calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, truly, I tell you this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in everything all she had to live on. Okay, we're going to look at the observation of Jesus and then we'll look at the evaluation that Jesus makes the observation in verses 41 and 42, his evaluation of what he's observing is found in verses 43 and 44. But let's look at what Jesus saw first the observation of Jesus. He saw three things. Verse 41 says, first of all, he saw the temple treasury. You see it there. He sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put, watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Now, I wish we had the benefit of the PowerPoint tonight because I would love to show you a picture. We may, if I remember, stick it up next week just to, so you can see what the temple treasury would look like and what the receptacles for these offerings would look like. Here's the temple treasury. It was, it was a part of the temple in the court of the women, which was one of the outer courts. So you find both women and men here. There were a certain point beyond which women could not go in the temple. And this is in an outer court where, where men and women both are able to worship and, and give their gifts along a wall, there are 13 receptacles. 13 receptacles along a wall like an inverted trumpet. Most, most people who describe them, and there are varying opinions on this, but most people who describe them believe that there was a large round trumpet like opening, which narrowed down a neck through the wall into several chests, where the money would actually be gathered. But there were 13 of these receptacles and people would come in and drop their coins in those trumpet shaped receptacles. There were 13 of them. Seven of them were designated for particular kinds of gifts like for purchase of wood or gold for the temple or for the temple tax or something like that. And then the other six were just for free will offerings. You just gave an offering because you wanted to, to the Lord's work there in the temple. So there were 13 of these boxes. And obviously there would be a lot of activity during the Passover because of the huge number of people in Jerusalem at this time for the feast, Passover in the following feast of unleavened bread, which lasted for seven days after the Passover day. So there would be a lot of people there, a lot of people in the temple, huge crowds as we've already noticed. And so this would be a very busy place as people would come by and give their offerings while they're in Jerusalem. So he sees the temple treasury, but then second thing he sees, look at it there in verse 41, he sees the giving of the rich. Many rich people through in large amounts. Now Jesus is going to contrast the giving of the rich with the giving of this poor widow. Is the problem here that rich people gave is Jesus criticizing rich people for giving. You don't think so? Okay. What do you think? Is Jesus being critical of the fact that rich people are giving in the temple? Okay. Is it how they gave the do it in a showy way? All right. We're on to something there. Any other thoughts? You know, the story of the stewardship made it by the sacrifice that made God come by the mountain again. Okay. All right. And that's going to be the real contrast here. At least one of the contrasts is the sacrifice of the poor widow in contrast to the gifts of the rich. But it's not really the gifts of the rich. That's the problem. What is the problem? What do you think Jesus is driving at when he will be critical of the giving of the rich? Is Jesus discouraging giving large amounts? You don't think so? I don't either. I don't think that's the point here. It could sound like and it could appear as you move through this that Jesus is critical of the giving of rich people and commands the giving of poor people. That's not really the point. The point is the motive and the manner of giving as we'll see is we'll see in just a moment. There are there are many people that are wealthy that give and that give with pure hearts that give not to be seen. Do not want to be recognized. Do not want to be noticed and do it in such a way that it is designed to be unnoticed and that is certainly approved by God. God does not divinely disapprove of the giving of the rich just because they give much. That's not the point. It's not like everybody that gives much must be doing it for a show. That's not the point. There are many people who give much who do so with pure hearts and with no desire to be noticed or recognized or even known for what they give. There is a word there in verse 41 that seems to indicate that that's not the case with the people that Jesus is picking out and watching in this case. What do you think that word is? Through. Through in large amounts. You almost get the picture. I hope I'm not reading too much into that word but you almost get the picture of somebody ostentationally ostentatiously for a show bringing a large amount of money. Maybe a large bag that they're having trouble lifting up. They can't quite get it up and so they just start taking money and throwing it in. It makes a lot of noise in those metal receptacles. It's very obvious and there's probably a gas from the crowd as they see what is taking place. It is really quite a show. I think this is the point. Being able to do something on a scale that others are not able to do. Can lend a sense of superiority and showiness. Let me say that again because I think it's a critical part of the story here. Being able to do something that others are not able to do. The wealthy are giving. Nothing wrong with that. That's fine if it's done in the right motive and so forth. But being able to do what others like the poor widow are not able to do. Can lend itself to a sense of superiority and showiness. And that evidently is what's happening here because Jesus is watching people who are literally throwing money in evidently in a fashion that that makes it very obvious what they're doing and that they're throwing a lot in there. I think God for people of means who give in a non-showy way. Certainly that is just as commendable to God as what he will commend the widow for. But what he's taking to task, who he's taking to task here, are people who give in a very showy way a way that is designed for other people to see. That's the giving of the rich that he sees. Any comment further about that? The question about that? Didn't that build? It was Roman currency which was coins or it would be changed into Jewish currency when they got there which was coins as well. So you might have to have a lot of coins to make a lot of noise in those receptacles. Okay, then notice what else Jesus observes? He sees the giving of the poor widow and look at that in verse 42. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents. Now you can tell this woman is poor no doubt by her clothing. It does not take much of a look at her to recognize by her appearance that she's lived a very hard life. She is a widow. In that society and that culture and that day being a widow almost automatically meant that you were poor. There was just no way for a widow to fend for herself. She was pretty much at the mercy of the help of her family. And if she did not have much family then she could be in very very dire straits. Don't you wish you knew a little more of her story? You know, don't you wish you knew her background? What had happened? How she lived, where she lived. What she's doing there in the temple with these two very small copper coins. Don't you wish you knew more of it? It's just it's just indicated that she gives a very meager offering. Just gives two coins. And the word used for coin here is lepton or the plural lepton which basically is a very small coin. It was a miniature thin coin. I have one that they still give out in Israel that is designed to replicate the kind of coin this would be. It's smaller than our dime which is our smallest coin. It's about half the size of a dime. It's about like the size of a button or a little smaller even than a button. Very thin. Each of those lepton would be worth about an eighth of a cent. And so she gives a quarter of a penny in our currency. The NIV text says worth only a few cents. A very small amount of money that she she's giving. I wish I could have seen the site. Here are people throwing in fairly good amounts and sums of money. And she's got these two tiny little coins. The smallest piece of currency that was available in that day. I can almost see her walking toward the receptacle with her head bow. Maybe ashamed. A little bit ashamed that if anybody's going to see her they're not going to see very much. Maybe with a head bowed and trying to make as little noise as possible because in contrast to the coins that are being thrown in. Her's in going to sound like much. And so maybe as unobtrusively as possible. Probably completely unaware of the fact that Jesus was watching. Jesus is offered a distance. There are many people giving 13 different receptacles. She probably has no clue that Jesus is observing this. And she drops in her two little coins. But it's clear from what Jesus will say that she is doing this as a sacrificial gift of love. She's not doing it for show. She's not doing it to be recognized. I mean nobody who's doing what she's doing would want to be recognized. It would be embarrassing if people saw what she was giving. And so she's doing it obviously out of just a pure heart of love. We know from what Jesus says that that's that's the case. She really is living out what Jesus has just taught in the temple. That the greatest commandment is what? She, I remember the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. She's really living that out. She's not giving for anybody to see. She's not giving for show. She can't. That's not what she's about. She's giving out of love for Christ out of love for God. And so that's what Jesus sees. When I read this, what I think about is the fact that Jesus is a people watcher. You ever thought of him that way? You know, folks who like to watch other people in the mall or in the airport or whatever, you know, people are interesting, aren't they? And I'm sure some people say that about me. What an odd looking guy. What, you know, what a weird character. People are interesting just to watch, aren't they? Jesus is watching people. And the amazing thing to me is he's watching us today too. He's observing. He's observing what we do is observing how we do it. And when Jesus watches, he watches not only the actions, he watches all the way into the heart. And he sees why we do what we do, what we're thinking when we're doing it. He sees it all. And that's an amazing thought. It's a, it's a, it's a blessed thought, but it's also a very humbling thought. And, Kelly, yes. They might be, although it's a more chaotic setting than really we might imagine. And people are coming as they will and it passed over large amounts of them. And there are 13 receptacles here. And they're just walking up, putting their gift in and walking away. So it's not necessarily an orderly thing. And so there would be some, probably some Pharisees or chief priests or scribes watching what was done. Yeah. Right. Yes. Yes. And Jesus will explain, although it seems to be to his disciples, he explains what's really happening there. But yeah, that, that probably was going on. Okay. That's what Jesus observed. And it's a challenge to think about what he observes today when he watches us, even in our worship. But I, I want to also focus on what Jesus evaluates, what he says about what he saw, the evaluation of Jesus. And there are three things that appears to me from what he says that he's evaluating. In verses 43 and 44. First of all, there's an evaluation of motive and evaluation of motive. Jesus says this truly, I tell you this poor widow, he calls, calls his disciples together. Okay. He's watched. Now he calls his disciples together and he's teaching them. He says, truly, I tell you this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in everything all she had to live on. Now I think there's an implication there. It's not directly stated, but the implication is that she's giving out of love. She's giving out of a willing heart. She, she is not giving to be seen. She's giving because she wants to. And the very fact that she's giving sacrificial indicates that she's giving out of a heart of love for God. That's the reason why she's there in the temple. And God, that's what God is looking for. God is looking for the motive. He's looking at our heart. God does not necessarily look at the amount that we give. It's not that that's insignificant. But God is more interested in what's in the heart. And so it's not the amounts. God doesn't list amounts like we might have a tendency to do of what people give. He's looking at why we give. You know, God's not like the IRS. You know, IRS doesn't care whether you give willingly or grudgingly. They just want it. You know, just make sure you get it to him. But God is not concerned about God is concerned about why we give. You remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 3 said, if I give everything I possess and give my body to be burned and have not loved, I'm nothing. So you see God is not concerned about the amount. You can give everything you possess. But if you don't do it out of love, then God's not pleased with it. You can give very little. But if you give it because you love him, then God is pleased with that. So it's the motive of the heart. And that's true not only with our giving, it's true with everything in the Christian life, everything we do, everything about our service for Christ and everything about our living for him. If we're just doing it and if we're just doing it to be seen, then God says that doesn't count for anything in my sight. But if we are doing it because we love him and we want to give back to him because he's given so much for us. If that's our motivation, then certainly God is pleased with that. Okay. So the first thing he's evaluating is motive. Second thing I think he's evaluating is there's an evaluation of sacrifice and that's very clear here. You imagine someone throwing in a lot of money. It makes a lot of noise as it makes its way down that narrow neck of that little trumpet shape receptacle. Her two little tiny coins probably didn't make any noise. But Jesus says these two little coins as she puts them in. She in his opinion in his math has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The problem is the motive, but notice for her, she's out of her poverty put in everything. All she had to live on. Her gift was definitely sacrificial. Now think about it. If she's giving everything she had to live on, could she have kept one of those coins? I mean most of us would think if she'd given one of them, that's pretty sacrificial. That's half of what you have, but she's given it all. Everything. And so Jesus is commending her for her heart of sacrifice as people look on as he observes what is taking place. She has made a tremendous sacrifice out of her love for the Lord. No doubt the crowd would watch and be odd and would oon at the gifts of the rich. And Jesus is moved in his heart by the gift of this poor widow because he knows how sacrificial that gift really is. You know, there is there is great power in sacrificial giving. This event, this gift has inspired people down through the centuries because it's been recorded in God's word. I don't think she had any clue that was happening, but her her measure of sacrifice and devotion has inspired people through the years. There has been more given to God's work because of this widow than all the people who gave of their wealth. Just think about it in the in the final tally of things, all the people who gave so much out of their wealth that day in the temple, it doesn't doesn't even begin to touch all that has been given to God's work because of her gift because God had this placed in his word to serve as a challenge and an object lesson for us today. It's like God would take this little gift and multiply it down through the centuries and it keeps multiplying. Ruby. Do you think of faith and giving a take on things the lady said she will be provided for even she's a bad mother in a way that she would still be taking care of? Yes, evidently so. Evidently there is there is in this one's heart great faith that God will care for her. I mean she's under no obligation to give what she's given, but she gives everything. And so evidently she's trusting God to take care of her needs because she give everything she had. For someone in desperate streets anyway that does show a great measure of faith doesn't it really does. At first of all we raised this and said, well, I think you were in the Lord's open wide way. You were going to do that for us. Exactly. Yeah, the Lord will take care of her because of her sacrificial giving. And the fact that Jesus is aware of her giving and knows the love and the sacrifice in her heart you just know that somehow he's going to make sure her needs are taken care of. Okay, one other thing or did I see another hand? Anybody else have a comment or question? One other thing I think Jesus is evaluating or at least that we need to learn from this evaluation and that this is not only an evaluation of mode of sacrifice, it's also an evaluation with consequences. An evaluation with consequences and when Jesus evaluates things, it's always with consequences. And here's what I mean by that. There are eternal consequences to what Jesus observes in our lives and how he evaluates it. What Jesus sees in us, whatever we're doing in our lifestyle or our service for him, you know, our giving or serving him and whatever way it may be, whatever we do. Jesus evaluates that and it will show up that evaluation will become clear when we stand before him in judgment. Jesus, those of us who are believers in this age of the church, it will be at the judgment seat of Christ. All things will be made clear there. His evaluation will be produced at the judgment seat of Christ and it will become clear. Now I want you to think for a moment about this woman. I think about this, it just really, really moves my heart to think about her. This poor widow who comes in gives everything she has walks away. Think about what she will hear when she stands before God. I know she's already in heaven. I'm assuming she is, she isn't a believer. There's no evidence that she ever knew what Jesus said about her gift. When Jesus did not go to her, at least there's no evidence in the text that he did, that he went to her and commended her forget. He called his disciples together and talked with them about what he observed. So there's no evidence that she ever knew that Jesus had observed what she had done and his evaluation of it. She gave her gift. She probably went on about her business, whether she was worshipping there in the temple or went on back to her home. She evidently never knew. She probably never knew that it was ever recorded in the Bible. Because Mark wrote this probably 30 years after it happened. Mark was, was Peter's scribe and his gospel reflects Peter's account of the life of Christ. It was probably written in the 60s, maybe a little earlier than that, but probably 20 to 30 years after the event. In all likelihood this poor widow was dead by the time it was ever recorded. So she never knew it had been written in the Bible. But think a step further, she has not yet appeared in judgment. She's in heaven, but judgments haven't started yet. At least if I understand the scriptures correctly, judgments don't begin. The judgment seat of Christ is the first one that's after the rapture when we are taken up. Judgment of Old Testament saints and she's in kind of that transition territory takes place in the second coming. She hasn't been judged for this yet. She hasn't answered to God for this yet. I think it's entirely possible she does not know yet what we know about her. That she may not yet know what is recorded of her and how Jesus evaluated it. Do people in heaven read the Bible? I'm not sure. Maybe she does know. But I think it's quite possible that she still does not know. But it will be brought up at the judgment seat of Christ or at her judgment. The judgment of Old Testament saints. When I think about that, I would love to see her. Think about her. It's poor widow. And there she is in heaven. And then all of a sudden it is known that Jesus saw what she gave. And he taught his disciples a lesson from it. And then he had it recorded in his word. And she's going to hear that millions of believers through the centuries were challenged and blessed by her sacrificial gift. She never knew that. And all of us here tonight will be able to say to her, I read that story. Here she's just a poor little widow in the temple. I would love to be standing beside her when she gets her reward. To think of all the people that her life has touched. And you know what? The same thing is true of everyone in this room because everyone in this room has done something that nobody else knows about. You've given of yourself to someone that nobody else knows about. And Jesus has observed and he's evaluated it. And someday at the judgment seat of Christ it's going to come up. And the amazing thing is only then will you really find out the ripple effects of what you did, the people that it touched. The people that were encouraged or challenged by what you did. And you never knew. You never knew about that. But it's all going to come out. His evaluation is going to come out at the judgment seat. And I just think that's going to be such an incredible time when we understand the full scope of what God was doing with us here. I don't think we have any idea what he's doing. The depth of it, the breadth of it, the scope of it. And through your whole lifetime, people that were touched by you something you did 20 years ago. And the ripple effect of that in their life and other people's lives that they've touched. And you have no clue. You have no clue what that meant to them. And someday at the judgment seat of Christ that's all going to be understood. And Jesus' evaluation is going to be made clear. I mean, that's just to me the most incredible thought of God's grace that he would want us to experience that in heaven. You know, we've heard Ray Bolts' song, thank you many, many times. And it's that idea of standing in heaven and God showing you the ripple effect of your life and your actions and sacrificial deeds. You've even forgotten but Jesus evaluated. And he's going to bring back up and reward you for those. I just love the thought of this lady standing before him and suddenly realizing that her simple deed that she has to do with her life. And the simple deed that she had no clue was even being observed that day in the temple has touched millions and millions of people through the centuries. Amazing, amazing. Okay, questions, comments about this gift of a poor widow. There's another gift that takes place that evening and it is the last event that we know of on Tuesday. Okay, and it takes place as Jesus after Jesus leaves the temple. It is the gift of a dear friend and we're going to look at it in Mark's account. We're going to at least get started for a few minutes on it tonight. Where Jesus is given an unusual gift, an extreme gift by a dear friend. A gift that went way beyond the normal, a gift that shocked everybody who saw it, definitely pushed way beyond the limits of what would be expected. It was extreme in every sense of the word. Now a little bit of the context here. We're going to skip chapter 13 and go to chapter 14. The reason is the Bible says that as Jesus left the temple, you can read about it in Mark 13. You can read about it in Matthew 24 and 25 and Luke 21. The most extended account is in Matthew 24 and 25. As Jesus left the temple, you may recall that the the Olivet Discourse takes place is what it's normally called. As Jesus leaves the temple, His disciples ask Him about the temple, the beauty of the temple, and just are amazed again at seeing just the beauty of that structure. Remember that's when Jesus says, as they're walking across the Kidren Valley and up the Mount of Olives, Jesus is teaching them. He says, there will come a day when not one stone will be left on another. They start asking Him about that and Jesus gives what's commonly referred to as the Olivet Discourse. Matthew 24 and 25, where He describes what will happen in the tribulation time and the second coming of Christ. How the city of Jerusalem will be destroyed and a lot of prophetic events there. We're going to skip that because that's really a huge section that would take us probably a couple months to get through. I actually did summarize Matthew 24 and 25 in a recent series of messages I did on prophecy back in late spring. We're going to skip over that and move on to the next event, the last event of Tuesday, which is at a meal. At a meal where Jesus is given such an amazing gift. Look at chapter 14, verse 1. The Passover and the Festival of 11 Bread were only two days away. Passover meal will be celebrated on Thursday evening. The Festival of 11 Bread will then follow a week after that. For a week after that. That's two days away yet, so we're still on Tuesday evening. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill Him. They're trying to figure out any way they can get this done. Can we arrest Him secretly so nobody sees it and put Him to death? But look at verse 2. But not during the festival they said or the people may riot. So they're afraid of the popularity that they've seen from the crowd. And remember we just saw last week that the people in the temple were delighted at hearing Him teach. And even the fact that He was responding to the Pharisees in a way which unmasked their hypocrisy. The common people were delighted and thrilled by His teaching. And so the Pharisees know that. They know that He's still very popular in the minds of many people. They're afraid to try to move against Him during the festival. Feast of 11 Bread when there are hundreds of thousands of people in Jerusalem. But they would love to be able to arrest Him secretly. And by the end of this evening they will be given their way to know how to do it. Judas will act before this evening is over. But look at what happens. Verse 3 will just introduce this. While He was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the leper. Now let's just get the setting and then we'll stop. Jesus has left Jerusalem now. It's been a very intense day. I mean all that we've seen that's happened in the temple this day. Incredibly intense day with the vows with the Pharisees and so forth. And now He leaves to go back to Bethany. You remember what's at Bethany? Who lives in Bethany? Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived there. Dear friends, right? And so Jesus was going back there in the evenings. Sometimes staying in the garden of Gethsemane as He will on Thursday evening. Sometimes staying evidently with Mary and Martha and Lazarus in Bethany. But evidently this evening has been invited to another home for a meal. And it's the home of Simon the leper. Just makes you wonder is this a leper that Jesus had healed in His ministry? He's obviously not still a leper or He would not be inviting people into His home for a meal. I mean a leper could not do that. A leper was ostracized and separated from society. And so obviously He's been healed but He is still known as Simon the leper. So you just get the sense that He's among friends tonight. John's Gospel, John's account of this in John chapter 12 tells us that Mary and Martha and Lazarus were there. So even though it's not at their home, it's the home of Simon the leper. Jesus is among friends. He's got Mary and Martha and Lazarus there. He's got Simon and a man that he's obviously healed. His disciples are there. Can you imagine the conversation around the table? What a delight it must have been after such an intense day in the temple of battling with the Pharisees. And now He's among friends. And maybe they're asking a little bit more about the Olivet discourse. And what did He mean by this? Or what did He mean by that? Maybe some of the folks there are asking Lazarus some questions about, you know, it's just not been too long since He's been resurrected from the dead. And there's still people kind of asking about that. And you know, it just, I would, you know, love to be a fly on the wall and know what was said at that dinner. But all of a sudden, something happens that nobody who was there that night will ever forget. And it was done by Mary, John tells us. John tells us that Martha was helping to serve. We would expect that because what we know about Martha, she was the OCD when she was the one who had to have everything just right. And every dish just right and prepared and got upset with her sister for not helping her in the kitchen earlier in the gospels. And so even though she's in someone else's home, she's kind of running the show. She's helping to serve. But Mary does something that is shocking, absolutely shocking to everybody there. And we're going to have to go before we get into it. But we'll see next time what this expression of extreme love is and what Jesus had to say about it. What others had to say about it and then what Jesus had to say about it. It is an amazing account that songs have been written about because it is such an extreme demonstration of love. Okay, let's close in prayer. So we know that you see and observe everything we do, even when we're not aware of it. Like this poor widow, we've looked at this evening, probably completely unaware that Jesus was observing what she did. That would have been a barast, if she had known that. And yet you saw not only what she did, but you saw deeper into her heart. Why she did it? What it meant to her? How much of a sacrifice it was? What motivated her to do it? Father, help us to remember that you see everything about us. And you look deeply into our hearts. You know why we do what we do. Even when we're not aware, when we don't maybe think you're looking, you see everything. And help us to remember that that has eternal consequences, that it will. Meet us again at the Judgement Seed of Christ. Thank you for our Savior's love and grace and that nothing escapes his attention that we do for him. Thank you in his name. Amen.