Lesson 3 – The Window’s Offering

The widow gave all she had to God, trusting Him to provide and care for her. Her actions point us to Jesus, who gave His all for us, even though we fail to trust in God for all things.

Opening

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This lesson will use the Bible, the Bible Discovery Guide, and the Lesson 3 Leaflet from the Student Pack. The front cover shows how the artist sees Jesus watching the poor widow giving her offering. Also paper and pencil or crayons will be needed.

Read the Faith Words on page 4 of the leaflet

Listen to a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for all of God's gifts is "We Praise You, o God".

This lesson is about God's great love for us and how we can respond to His love in faith with our offerings and gifts.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for each student viewing this lesson. Please help all of us to learn more about You so that we may be reassured that You provide for us in all situations. Help us learn today that You have given everything for us. Please also keep in Your tender care. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

God Speaks

Looking at the picture on the front of the leaflet:

Where are the people? In the temple.

Where was the temple located? In Jerusalem

The events of this lesson’s Bible story happened after Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, perhaps on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Read the article Offerings and Sacrifices on pages 4 and 5 in the Bible Discovery Guide, especially the final paragraphs about a widow's offering. The "copper coin”, "lepton", “prutah”, and “mite" are all equivalent terms. The ESV text uses “copper coin” with a footnote referring to "two lepta" (the plural of lepton).

The widow's offering was two small copper coins that were quite common at the time of Jesus. Also called "'prutahs" or leptons" they had the least value of all coins used in Bible times.

To what coin that we use today would you compare the lepton? A penny.

Read Mark 12:41-44.

Whom did Jesus gather together? His disciples

Why? To explain that the widow gave more than the rich did.

What did Jesus mean? He meant that she gave a greater portion of her wealth. She gave "everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Why was this a good thing? The rich gave from the extra money they did not actually need to live on. The poor widow gave everything she had, trusting in God to provide for her continued needs.

We Live

In this lesson, we see the gift of the widow, a gift given by faith. She would have nothing left to live on, but still she gave what the Lord had given to her. She gave all her love, her devotion, her mind-her all. She trusted God to provide and care for her.

While the widow was an excellent example of faithful giving, we often do the opposite. God demands that we love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might and that we be willing to hand over to Him all we have.

Do we, or can we, love God with our "everything"? No.

We may start a day telling ourselves that we're going to obey all of God's commandments, and we try so hard to be good, but then our little sister comes into our room and takes all of our stuffed animals off the shelves just after we arranged them just the way we wanted.

What might our response be? We get angry and yell at her or maybe even hit her.

Here is another situation: We try to keep our minds fixed on Jesus while we are sitting in church, but we remember a classmate who didn't agree with what we wanted to play at recess on Friday.

 

What might our response be? Perhaps our minds start to think of ways we can make him or her feel as bad as we felt.

Can we love God with our everything? No

We know that we should support the work of the Church and be generous to others. We know that we should be willing to share all that we have. But most often, we don't want to.

Do you bring all of your money and put in the offering plate when attending church? Have you always shared all of your toys with your brother, sister, or friend? Have you ever suggested to your mom that you sell your PlayStation or some other toy and use the money to help poor people?

God has given us all good things. He demands that we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our might, all our mind, and all our devotion to Him, being willing to hand over to Him all we are and have.

Unfortunately, we fail all the time. We love our possessions and ourselves more than God. We love and hold on to our money more than we love our neighbors.

Why do we do this? We are sinners who do not trust God to take care of us.

Sometimes when we don't give or when we hold on to our things, it shows that we do not trust God. We think we have to hold on to our stuff because God might not provide for us in the future.

Nevertheless, what does God tell us in His Holy Word? One example of God's promises to us is stated in Philippians 4:19 - God will supply every need of ours-not every desire, but what we need.

Read the First Article of the Apostles' Creed and Martin Lutheran’s explanation from the catechism.

First Article: Creation

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true 

Besides all of the temporal blessings listed, what else does God give us? Spiritual blessings of life, salvation, and forgiveness.

God is faithful. He who has given us all things will continue to help us and bless us. God has provided for us and will continue to do so, but even more important, Jesus Christ loves us with all His heart and all His might. He knows our weaknesses and lack of trust. He willingly gave up

 His life and poured His blood out for us to forgive us, ransom us, and make us His own.

Read 1 Peter 1:18-19.

According to these verses, what did Jesus give in order to ransom us, or buy us back, so that we could be saved from our sin of not loving God with all that we have? He ransomed us with His precious blood.

The widow gave all that she had to live on. Jesus gave all He had to live on-His precious blood. Jesus gave His life in order to save us. God's good and gracious gifts are found in small things-in water droplets on foreheads in Baptism and in the little Communion wafer, His body, and a sip of wine, His blood.

Read the Key Point of this lesson from page 4 of the leaflet.

Read the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed and Martin Lutheran’s explanation from the catechism.

The Second Article: Redemption

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Plate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

What does this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true

 What ShallI Render?

 Show students Faith Word Cards offering, stewardship, and thankfulness.

Read Psalm 116:12-19, especially verses 12-13,  17-19.

These words of Scripture that are part of the liturgy in the Divine Service called the Offertory (Lutheran Service Book, pages 159-60 or 176). The Offertory is a liturgical song used in the Divine Service when the congregation's tithes and offerings are presented at the altar.

 The words of the Offertory from Psalm 116 are printed on page 2 of the leaflet. Read or sing the words together.

Match the questions with the correct answers on the bottom of page 2 of the leaflet.

The correct answers are given as the colors in the answer bubbles: (1) pink: (2) blue;  (3) green; and (4) yellow.

What is our response to God's goodness? Because Christ has given to us all we have, including faith to trust in God for our daily bread, we share with others-the poor, needy, and helpless.

We give our offerings out of thankfulness to God for all His good gifts. What gifts has God given you? Along with the temporal gifts such as food, clothing, family, shelter, and the like, emphasize the spiritual gifts of faith, forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Complete the Giving Our Gifts puzzle on page 3 of the leaflet and fill in the blank.

The correct words in the boxes are table, hat, car, nickel, lock, fish, up, leaf, pen, eye, horse, and sun. The final sentence reads, "We give our gifts with thankfulness, as God moves us by His Spirit through His Word and Sacraments

 The All Good Gifts activity on page 3 of the leaflet uses God's Word to remind us that He provides everything we need, spiritually and physically. Follow the directions to complete the puzzle.

The answer is: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.  James 1:17

Closing

Listen to the hymn “We Praise You, O God”.

On page 4 of the leaflet:

• Review the Key Point of this lesson.
• Read the Bible Words.
• Read the Prayer.

In order to save us, Christ offered His life, not riches. In return, we offer our service to the Lord in thanksgiving for His goodness to us.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You for Your sacrifice on the cross, which paid the price we owed for sin. Thank You for saving us, for loving us, and for giving us everything. Help us to be generous with others so that we may share with them the goodness You have shown to us. In Your name we pray. Amen.