"She Gave All She Had" - Mark 12

A few weeks ago, the ministers and ministry assistants at Central, spent a week dwelling on the passage in Mark 12, where Jesus noted that a poor widow gave all that she had. For most of my life I would blaze through this scripture thinking to myself, "how foolish" or "not in today's world". Until, I met a lady in a homeless shelter early in my ministry who, for this posting, I will call Judy.

After a few months, Judy became a member at Central and began working alongside us in ministry. She acquired Section 8 housing after leaving the shelter, but had little income because of a disability. She would work odd jobs here and there but only enough to have a small amount of change each week for city bus fare or necessities that she could not get at food pantries or helping agencies in town.

One afternoon, as I was going to my car, Judy met me in the parking lot with a noticeable limp and we began to talk about her day. She told me that she had a doctors appointment at the clinic that morning and was on her way home, but that she wanted to stop by the church building and pick up lessons to grade for a prison ministry she signed up for. After visiting for a little while, I gathered that she was walking home from the clinic which in my estimation is about a 7 mile walk. I asked Judy why she did not take the bus home and she told me that she did not have enough to ride the bus and pay her tithe the coming Sunday.

The one way bus fare is 75 cents.