The Currency of the Kingdom

Mark 12:10 Bring me a denarius [11] and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him....

Mark 12:41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. [13] 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

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On first glance one might see a contradiction between these two passages. On one hand Jesus says, "render to Caesar what is Caesar's" and on the other, he praises a woman for giving all of her money to the church. The context, as always, is the key. In between these two teachings there is the famous Greatest Commandment in which Jesus explains the motive and priority which should inform our actions: LOVE. We see that Jesus is ambivelent about money when it comes to taxes and politics - he would just as soon give all the money back to Caesar rather than deal with the shackles that money offers society. There is nothing of love in the exchange of taxes (patriotism isn't the love we're talking about). The kind of love that God exudes and wants from us does in fact demand everything from us, and money is a small part of the package, but the currency of the Kingdom of God "is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" or even a widow's two bits. God wanted her heart and he knew that he had it - which pleased him. Today I am trying to have the same heart with every aspect of my life - my own two bits.