Mark 12:41-44 help

[A_Really_Big_Cat]

This passage is really picking at me. It seems like it’s implying that the goal of charity is to make yourself poor rather than to alleviate other’s suffering. Is that really a good outlook to have?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You’re interpreting it wrong.

Mark 12:41-44 is the story of the widow putting in just a couple of copper coins for her temple offering, while rich people threw in generous contributions. Jesus says the widow’s offering is more meaningful because she has so little money and gave money she actually needed to live on, instead of from her surplus.

Note that it was apparently visible that these rich people were throwing in a great deal of money. Therefore, they were doing it partly to show off - “I’m putting this huge contribution in, look how holy I am”. The widow by contrast gave so very little that no one would be impressed, but she had to do without something in order to give - she made a sacrifice in other words while the rich people weren’t making any sacrifice because they had lots of money. She also wasn’t showing off, she was sincere.

 

[A_Really_Big_Cat]

I understand all that. But the passage makes it seem like the point of charity is to make a large sacrifice rather than to alleviate suffering. It’s certainly not wise nor is it commanded for those struggling financially to give all they have to others, because they have only switched the suffering to themselves rather than giving excess to others. Take the behavior of the rich man out of the problem, and imagine if he were just as humble as the widow. Would the widow still be more generous?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You changed the scenario when you said “Take the behavior of the rich man out of the problem and imagine if he were just as humble as the widow”.
There were plenty of reasonably wealthy, yet humble, people in the early Christian church and Jesus and his Apostles didn’t have a problem with that. They opened their homes for worship, gave money to help the community etc. They didn’t show off about it.
The showing off is what Jesus is condemning. Not donating some money to help the poor.

Also, I believe in this case the people involved weren’t even donating money to help the poor. They were donating to the temple treasury, which from what I’ve read was for the maintenance and the upkeep of the temple and for the upkeep of the temple staff.
So there wasn’t any “shifting the burden” of the poor. The poor don’t even figure into this situation.
This was an offering purely to honor God.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

I think you’re just making it into something it’s not. Take the verses at face value.

 

[Dan_Defender]

Jesus said that the widow gave more than the rich. He didn’t disapprove of alms giving by rich people. It is a comparison not a judgement.

 

[JerryZ]

The point is that is not the amount that counts. Period
It is when we give sincerely no matter how much and yes we should be generous with our treasure, not reckless.

It is the constant teaching of the Church.

 

[De_Maria]

This passage is really picking at me. It seems like it’s implying that the goal of charity is to make yourself poor rather than to alleviate other’s suffering. Is that really a good outlook to have?

I think you’re misunderstanding the widow’s goal. If you were raised a Catholic from childhood, you should be able to identify with this scenario. I was and I clearly remember elderly women praying and offering sacrifices of all types, including donations for the poor. Invariably, they were offering sacrifices for their children, their husbands and their loved ones.

For this widow, as for any Catholic widow, if she had not considered the spiritual value of the offering, she probably would not have made it at all. She knew that her donation would hardly be enough to help anyone. But the spiritual value combined with her prayers is what she was really offering.

Remember that making offerings for the dead was an ancient Jewish custom:

2 Macc 12:42 [g]Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. 43 He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection in mind;