Five Minute Friday: EXPECTATION

 Today I'm linking up with the Five Minute Friday community, writing for five minutes on a given prompt.

This week's word is EXPECTATION.

One thing the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us is to hold our expectations lightly. 

Something hopeful in us urges us to make plans, so we do -- but there's always some kind of caveat, spoken or unspoken, in the background, like 

"Assuming we don't have new pandemic guidelines." 

"If things don't change in the meantime." 

"As long as we're still allowed to do that kind of thing." 

"We might feel differently when it gets closer to the time." 

The certainty we used to have about how things will work out is a lot more tenuous now.

We're approaching a second Covid Christmas. (Who would have expected that, a year ago?) Christmas comes with its own special set of expectations around socializing, gift-giving, travel, church ... it can feel overwhelming at the best of times.

This year I think one of the best gifts we can give each other, and ourselves, is the gift of lightly-held expectations. After all, any sense of control we had was an illusion -- surely Covid's taught us that too.

It's hard to accept changed traditions and scaled-back or abandoned plans. But in a way, I think we honour those who have suffered from or lost loved ones to this awful virus, and those working tirelessly to protect us from it, if we stop assuming our plans have to be perfectly executed and just acknowledge that we can't do it all, have it all, be all things to all people. It's OK to release our grip on expectations. And the truth is, other people may not be at all disappointed in us when we do -- they're often relieved and grateful. Sometimes the expectations are really all in our own minds.

Today I was reading this Bible passage:

"When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as his children."
Galatians 4:4-5

Isn't "the fullness of time" a beautiful phrase? God's plan unfolding just as it should, when it should. Expectations fulfilled at just the right juncture in history.

In this Advent season, let's hold our expectations lightly ... and our hope tightly.

The opposite of love

 

The other day I tweeted the following:

"Finish the sentence: ONE word only. 'The opposite of love is _________.'" 

Before posting it, I debated whether it was even correct to use the word opposite in relation to love -- should I have said "incompatible with love" or something else instead? But I decided just to keep it simple.

The tweet got close to 100 replies, and BY FAR the most common response was indifference, followed closely by its near-synonym, apathy. This makes a lot of sense. It's impossible to truly love something or someone if you really don't care about them. Love implies a warmth and a sense of personal investment that are lacking in cool, distant indifference. And on a broader scale, apathy and indifference have contributed to many atrocities: assuming someone else will deal with it, not seeing how it affects me, not bothering to learn more ... as one tweeter, Gabe Posey, put it, "Apathy, on judgment day, will probably carry the highest tally for total deaths." That's sobering.

Another very common answer was fear. Some responders who used this word mentioned the well-known Bible passage: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18) It's true that the Bible tells us to fear God -- but I think that kind of fear is more a sense of reverence and awe, not the terror of punishment that John is talking about. If we know we are truly loved no matter what, then we can live freely without fear of that love being suddenly yanked away. 

Another response that appeared several times was control. That one really struck me: is it ever possible to control another person in a loving way? Parents of young children do have to exert a fair amount of control over their children's coming and going, activities, etc. But that kind of control is meant to be temporary and have a specific purpose -- the child's growth and independence. It's not a wielding of power for its own sake or for self-protection.

There were many other words that appeared less frequently but were very striking:

- malice: It's impossible to take pleasure in hurting someone you love.

- pride: I think there can be a good side to pride (there's nothing wrong with taking satisfaction in your achievements), but having an excessively high view of yourself inevitably puts others below you, which isn't consistent with love.

- selfishness: Always putting yourself first makes it awfully difficult to love. (Though I'd distinguish selfishness from self-care, which Parker Palmer calls stewardship of the gift we were put on earth to give: our unique selves.)

- jealousy: Resenting others for what they have and you don't can hinder love.

- neglect: This is in the apathy/indifference camp, I think, and suggests that there's something specific you need to do or pay attention to -- and you just don't do it.

- tolerance: This is an interesting one. It sounds good, but it's actually kind of passive-aggressive: I'm a good person because I let you (or your ideas) exist! That doesn't sound like love.

- dishonesty: Love and truth are so closely linked; how can one exist without the other?

And there were some fun responses, too:

- evol and vole: Thanks for coming out, guys.

- kale. Sigh. There's always one, isn't there.

I'm sorry I haven't listed every single reply; there were a lot! You can read them all here.

Thinking about all these opposites of love gave me a renewed appreciation for what love is. Love is invested. It cares. It is courageous, and it makes others courageous. It frees. It wants only the best. It sees dignity in the other and acts for the good of the other. It enjoys others' joy. It takes responsibility. It accepts. It is truthful.

That sounds like a tall order. It's truly a life's work to love well and to recognize that we ourselves are worthy of love and are loved.

You are loved. You are a person of dignity and worth and you embody, in a unique way, the love that created the world and holds it together. I'm grateful for you.

 

Image: Unsplash

 

 

What I need to hear from Christian leaders

 

Recently an investigative report was released detailing Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias’s years-long history of sexually abusing massage therapists, soliciting and collecting photos of women, grooming women and exchanging sexually explicit messages with them, and deceiving ministry colleagues about his actions. These revelations have rocked the evangelical Christian world.

One of our church’s leaders shared on Facebook a post by Greg Koukl, head of Stand to Reason, a Christian apologetics organization, in which he addresses the Zacharias scandal: the post is called “When Spiritual Heroes Fall.” His purpose seems to be to comfort and encourage those who admired Zacharias and who are now shaken by the news of his double life and abusive behaviour.

Many people do feel shaken and upset by the news, so Koukl’s post will likely be of some help to them. But I can’t help feeling that his post falls short of what a Christian leader should offer. Maybe he’ll have more to say later; I don’t know. And I want to stress that I have absolutely no axe to grind with Koukl himself: I haven’t read or listened to his material before now, nor have I ever interacted with him in any way. I am really responding more to his arguments than to him as a person – because those arguments are so generically similar to others I’ve seen expressed online, mostly by men in Christian leadership, and to me they seem inadequate to the situation.

So I’m going to address all five of the pieces of advice he gives in his post and then respond to each of them with my own. Please, read Koukl’s article first.

_________________

 

“First, guard your own soul.” Koukl advises that we not look into the salacious details of cases like Zacharias’s: he says, “Steer clear of the details unless you have a genuine need to know … stay out of the skirmish … Let the proper people right the wrongs.” Besides the fact that this was criminal predatory behaviour, not a “skirmish,” I don’t think most people who want to know what actually happened are hoping to charge in and fix it; they simply want to know the facts and find out how this could have been allowed to go on for so long. But as for “the proper people right[ing] the wrongs,” in fact Zacharias’s own board members and friends in ministry appear to have done a very poor job of righting or preventing his wrongs. His board heard reports of misdeeds years ago – but Zacharias denied it, they didn’t believe it, and they didn’t investigate it. 

I’m concerned that for anyone in Christian leadership, Koukl’s advice may come as a relief (“Whew, I didn’t want to know anyway, so I won’t bother to delve any further”), whereas what leaders should be doing is becoming aware of the patterns of deception that Zacharias engaged in so they can spot them if they occur. The suggestion that we shouldn’t worry because someone out there is taking care of this “skirmish” isn’t adequate for either the person in the pew or the Christian leader – and it doesn’t even fit well with the apologist mindset, which is to dig deeply and think clearly and knowledgeably on issues.

So my advice here is “For the average person, if hearing the details seems like it might harm you or trigger your own memories of abuse, take care; perhaps seek a counselor or therapist to help you process. But if you are in a position of spiritual leadership, don’t look away. You need to be informed. Don’t avoid the details out of a squeamish hope that someone else will take action if similar wrongdoing happens on your watch.”

_______________

 

“Second, do not be surprised that sinners sin.” This kind of admonition has appeared frequently since the report was released. Koukl says it is easy for a “major figure” to suffer a “major fall” if he is not vigilant and that “we’re all deeply, radically fallen, even our heroes.” I find terms like “fall” and (elsewhere in his post) “defeat” to describe what Zacharias did strange and inappropriate – but more than that, this point seems to imply that really, all sins are the same and we and Zacharias are all on the same level in the end. And that is simply not true. 

I have lied. I have said mean things to my kids and thought mean things about acquaintances and strangers. I have nursed grudges, gossiped, and portrayed myself as a more faithful Bible-reader and pray-er than I am. I have avoided people God probably wanted me to give attention to. I am definitely a sinner. But I have not used power, money and global influence to purchase spas in which I could assault those hired to give me massages. I have not rented apartments overseas so that I could spend more time with the women I was grooming. I have not solicited photos from women, hired women to travel alone with me so that they could give me massages, or made threats when told I’d be exposed. I have not railed against my accusers, saying I was innocent when in fact I was guilty. I have not allowed the entire world to see me as a morally upright person when in fact I am a liar and abuser. 

We should be surprised when we hear that a Christian leader has done these things, because they are not just evidence of the sin we all share in as human beings; they are heinous criminal acts. Mind you, it would also be a mistake to swing too far in the other direction and say “Zacharias’s deeds are so beyond the pale that we need not worry about anything so unimaginable ever occurring among the people we know.” But it's wrong to imply that the things he did are just the kinds of things all sinners (even saved ones) do on a regular basis.

My advice here is “Don’t engage in sin-leveling. There is the sin and weakness that all of us are prone to, and then there is predatory abuse. Don’t equalize them, and don’t let anyone guilt you into thinking you shouldn’t be angry and outraged because after all, you’re really just as bad.”

_______________

 

“Third, remember truth is still true.” This comment has appeared a lot too since the scandal broke, and it bothers me. It seems to suggest “Don’t worry, the fact that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead on the third day remains factually true despite the terrible actions of Ravi Zacharias who preached about those things.” And fair enough! But who was disputing that in the first place? Who was suggesting that since Ravi Zacharias was an abuser, Jesus might not have risen from the dead and therefore I might not really be saved? It’s a straw man which, in my view, evades the real question of what we mean by “truth.” Truth is not just statements of fact or doctrine that we assent to. Truth is also personal integrity, a coherence between our words and our actions. Not perfection, of course – but wholeness. Ravi Zacharias was not living a life of wholeness, and he was manifestly not a truthful person. In fact, he used the gospel message (“the truth”) to manipulate some of his victims, telling them that if they exposed him, people would go to hell because they would not be able to hear the gospel from him. 

So when Koukl says, “If you benefited from a hero who later fell, take heart. God uses even the worst of men to help the rest of us,” he fails to account for the way Zacharias weaponized the gospel for self-serving, abusive ends. The Lord Jesus, in sharp contrast, said it would be better for a man to have a millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea than to draw others into sin (Matt.18:6). He didn’t tell us to be glad that at least His Father could use the  millstone-wearer's message for good.

My advice here is “Remember that truth can’t be boiled down to factual statements and points of doctrine – however much our faith rests on such proclamations. If love is not present, truth is not present. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s inappropriate to question the teachings of a deceitful teacher, or that the message -- however vital we consider it -- is more important than persons made in the image of God.”

_______________

 

“Fourth, do not become cynical.” Hmmm … I don’t know. While it’s not healthy to become so hard-hearted that we can’t see any good anywhere, perhaps a little cynicism might not go amiss right now. Koukl says, “Trust everyone you have no reason to mistrust, which is most people you know.” But for many years Zacharias’s fans and colleagues thought they had no reason to mistrust him. His board members didn’t investigate the accusations against him because those accusations did not fit with the man they thought they knew – which we now know simply means Zacharias was extremely successful in deceiving people. He was allowed to continue his abuses because people in leadership trusted him too much and didn’t ask the questions they should have. 

Also, under point two above (don’t be surprised when sinners sin) Koukl quotes from Scripture, “Jesus did not entrust himself to those who believed in him since he knew what was in man”; it seems a little strange for him now to tell us that our default should be to trust everyone unless we have specific reasons not to.

My advice here is “It’s OK to be wary, especially if you’ve been hurt before. Don’t let anyone in leadership – anyone at all, really – make you feel that you owe them your trust. And don’t let anyone guilt you into thinking that anger and lament over injustice are signs of cynicism.”

_______________

 

“Fifth, firmly resolve to finish well.” Koukl says it should be our goal to hear God’s “Well done” of approval at our death. He says it is the Holy Spirit’s job to make us holy, but our part “is to be vigilant and to fight sin to [our] last breath.” And he mentions letting trusted friends know about our struggles so they can support and correct us. That’s all good advice on the individual level. But I think it’s dangerous to imply that a scandal like this could be prevented with personal vigilance and an accountability partner. It sounds as if Ravi Zacharias not only did not reveal his secret life to those closest to him, but also used those people as cover for his actions. As Tanya Marlow says in her excellent article “But his books are still good, right? – 5 things Christians must stop saying about sexual abusers”, Zacharias groomed both his victims and his environment, creating a system in which sexual abuse could thrive undetected and uninvestigated. 

So I think we need to focus more on the kind of culture we are creating and not just on personal piety and accountability. Our task is not only to be vigilant so that we as individuals don’t do something as bad as Ravi Zacharias did, but also to participate in making our world (and that includes our Christian environment) safe for women and other vulnerable people.

My advice here is “Remember that the Christian life is not just about me getting God’s seal of approval at the end; it’s also about what I will do now to cooperate with God in seeking justice for the oppressed and victimized.”

_______________

 

I am not a spiritual leader. I’m an ordinary person who heard about the Zacharias revelations like everyone else. And frankly, as an ordinary person, I need more from people who are Christian leaders, especially men. I need more than just platitudes that put my mind at ease. I need to hear things like

• “This is what our church/organization is doing, or commits to do, to ensure that such a scandal will not happen in our midst.”
• “This is what we are doing, or commit to do, to ensure that women are valued, respected, and listened to.”
• “This is what we are doing, or commit to do, to ensure that accusations of wrongdoing, even against people we hold in high esteem, are not hushed up or swept under the carpet, but are investigated and dealt with.”
• “This is what we are doing, or commit to do, to show every person we work with, interact with, and preach to that they are a valued person in the eyes of God and that there are no special, entitled people who are beyond correction or questioning.”

This is what Christian leaders need to be saying.

And they need to say what I as an ordinary person also feel confident saying: 

Jesus is a friend to the hurt and abused. His heart is broken when their hearts are broken. As the words of a well-known carol put it, “He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found” – not to establish a movement in which the strong are given free rein to prey on the weak. He cares for the oppressed, and He is always, always on their side. So if we want to follow Him, we must also be on their side.

“A bruised reed he will not break, 

and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.”

Isaiah 42:3

 

 

 

 

My 2020 reading list

 

 

It's time once again to share my list of books I've read in the past year. My list is a little shorter than usual this year; particularly during the early weeks of the pandemic I found it a challenge to focus on reading. But there is still a lot of good stuff here. 

As usual, I rate my books out of 5 stars.

 

FICTION:

The Difference - Marina Endicott. (This novel was published in the U.S. under the title The Voyage of the Morning Light.) I absolutely loved this novel and would rank it among my favourites of all time. It is about a young girl, Kay, who leaves Halifax in 1911 with her sister and brother-in-law on the ship he captains, to take a merchant voyage to the far east. Kay is angry and traumatized over what she and her sister experienced in western Canada where, we come to learn, her father ran a native residential school. As Kay encounters new places and the people who inhabit them -- foremost among them her friend/mentor Mr. Brimner and a young Tongan boy named Aren whom her sister purchases -- she starts to question what is or is not true about her past and the distinctions people create between themselves and others. (5 stars)

Five Wives - Joan Thomas. This novel is a fictionalized account of the true story of five missionary men (the most famous being Jim Elliot) killed by Auca (Waorani) tribespeople in Ecuador in the 1950s. It explores the conflicted motives of the men, their wives' struggle to understand and support their husbands' ambitions, and the decades-long fallout from the incident. The book -- which weaves together several characters' stories from different generations -- calls into question many of the myths surrounding Christian martyrdom, missions, and colonization. It's complex but riveting. (5 stars)

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke. I just finished this wonderful, highly-acclaimed novel, and I have a feeling it will stay with me for a very long time. Piranesi ("but I do not think that is my name") lives in The House, an infinite labyrinthine structure filled with statues. He spends his days contentedly writing in his journal, recording the tides, befriending the statues, and caring for the dead bones of the only other 13 human beings he believes have ever existed -- besides himself and The House's one other inabitant, whom he calls The Other and sees only occasionally. But Piranesi's loving relationship with the Beauty and Mercies of The House is disrupted when strange messages begin to appear, suggesting that a third person has entered The House. I loved the atmosphere Clarke creates, the page-turning suspense as the story gets going, and the humble goodness of the main character. (5 stars)

The Gown - Jennifer Robson. This is a lovely novel about two young embroiderers in post-WWII London, Ann and Miriam, who are tasked with working on Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress. The story is told from the perspectives of both women as well as that of Ann's granddaughter, who receives some pieces of embroidery when her grandmother dies and who goes to London to find out more about Ann's early life. (4 stars)

All the Living - C.E. Morgan. This short novel is about a lonely young woman who goes to live on an isolated farm with her boyfriend after his family dies in an accident. The writing is spare yet powerful, with echoes of writers like Elizabeth Strout or Marilynne Robinson. Really good. (4 stars)

The Book of Longings - Sue Monk Kidd. This is about a girl growing up in a wealthy family in Israel; she is a seeker who reads and writes about silenced women and longs to find a purpose worthy of her gifts. When she meets and befriends Jesus, they are drawn together and eventually marry. The premise is unique and interesting, and Kidd's level of research is (as always) admirable -- but this was just Too Much Book for me at the time I read it: too slow and too detailed. This may not be others' experience, of course, but I didn't really enjoy it that much. (3 stars)

In Five Years - Rebecca Serle. This novel is about a young woman who has her whole life neatly planned out: the job she knows she'll get, the man she knows she'll marry. But when a dream shows her five years in the future with an entirely different man, her life is thrown into disarray as she tries to figure out -- and hopefully control -- future events. This is quite a lite novel, but it does get you thinking about life choices and how expectations so often do not match reality. (2 stars)

 

NONFICTION:

One Long River of Song - Brian Doyle. This posthumously published collection of essays by Doyle, who died in 2017 at age 60, is just beautiful. Doyle found so much beauty and joy in life and was able to convey that to us with his long, lanky, playful sentences and poignant tone. (5 stars)

Miracles and Other Reasonable Things - Sarah Bessey. After a serious car accident, Bessey (author of Jesus Feminist and Out of Sorts) faced a long physical and spiritual recovery. This journey includes a trip to Rome to meet the Pope and a slow, difficult realization that miracles may occur in different ways than we expect. Bessey's writing is always so warm and companionable, and this book is no exception. (5 stars)

The Color of Compromise - Jemar Tisby. Historian Tisby gives a clear, detailed account of how the Christian church in the U.S. has been complicit with racism at every stage of America's history. An important book that any Christian, American or not, should read. (5 stars)

The Cross and the Lynching Tree - James Cone. If Tisby's book is like taking a history course, Cone's book is like listening to a lecture and sermon at the same time. He explores the connection between the cross and the lynching tree, showing how they symbolize both the worst man can do and the power of hope and salvation. He also shows just how much the church can learn from Black theology, music, and womanist teachings and the experiences of African-Americans. (5 stars)

The Skin We're In - Desmond Cole. This is a series of 12 interconnected essays by Canadian journalist Cole, in which he chronicles a year in the struggle against racism in Canada. He highlights 12 different incidents -- including his decision to stop writing for The Toronto Star when it criticized his journalistic "activism" -- and how each was handled by police, media, and government. Powerful and eye-opening. (4 stars)

Unafraid - Benjamin Corey. I really enjoyed this book, in which Corey talks about how he had to unlearn the fear-based Christian faith he grew up with and move into a more freeing, love-based one. (4 stars) 

How the Bible Actually Works - Pete Enns. Enns insists that far from being a static how-to manual for life, the Bible is an ancient, ambiguous and diverse library of books that unfolds God's wisdom rather than doling out simple answers. I always enjoy Enns' down-to-earth style and his obvious enjoyment of difficult questions. (4 stars)

Out of Istanbul - Bernard Ollivier. Very absorbing memoir about a French man in his 60s who decides to hike the Silk Road. He begins in Istanbul in hopes of making it to Tehran, encountering many external and internal obstacles along the way. (3 stars)

Too Much and Never Enough - Mary Trump. This book by Donald Trump's niece unpacks some of the unhealthy family dynamics that have made Donald Trump into the person he is. (3 stars)

The Naked Now - Richard Rohr. I haven't finished this one yet, so I won't star it. The subtitle is "Learning to See as the Mystics See," and it is about leaving behind dualism and egotism and learning to be present and accept paradox.

Thanks for reading this far! I hope my list has given you some ideas for books you'd like to read -- and if you've already read some of these and have opinions to share, please leave those in the comments! Happy reading in 2021.

 

Five Minute Friday: PRESENT

Today I'm linking up with the Five Minute Friday community, writing for five minutes on a given prompt.

This week's word is PRESENT.

 

If you've read Beverly Cleary's Ramona the Pest, you'll remember Ramona's first day of kindergarten, and all the mishaps and misadventures she experiences as she struggles to adjust to new people, new routines ... and new words.

One of the most memorable moments is when her teacher, Miss Binney, points to a seat and tells Ramona, "Sit here for the present."

Ramona is so excited: she thinks sitting in this seat means she'll get a present.

But she's disappointed when after a lengthy, expectant wait, no present appears. Finally her teacher has to explain to her that "Sit here for the present" doesn't mean "Sit here and you'll get a gift"; it means "Sit here for now."

I think a lot of us can relate to Ramona's disillusionment. We believe that if we just wait patiently, complete the task, make the sacrifice, then we'll be rewarded with a wonderful outcome. In Ramona's case she's mistaken because she doesn't know that the word present has another meaning. In our case I think we are sometimes mistaken because we see life as transactional. "I did what I was supposed to do; I should have received a payoff!"

Advent -- especially Advent 2020 -- is a good time to set aside transactional thinking. This year, and this season, teaches us to hold our expectations lightly, wait in hope, and not demand results or rewards. 

It also reminds us that present has a third meaning besides "gift" and "now"; it also means "close at hand." "Nearby." "Here." 

"The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,

and they will call him Immanuel, 

which means God With Us."

Matthew 1:23

 

Pentecost: the fire this time

I wrote this post on our church's Community Conversations Facebook page, but thought I'd share it here as well.

Today is Pentecost, the day Christians around the world celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the believers gathered in Jerusalem after Jesus' ascension. Acts 2:2-3 describes it: "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them."

Today as we view images of anti-racist protest and harsh police pushback all over the United States, I think about that violent wind and those tongues of fire. An old slave spiritual called Mary Don't You Weep includes the words "God gave Noah the rainbow sign: no more water, but fire next time." (Black American writer/activist James Baldwin took his book title The Fire Next Time from this lyric).

I imagine this fire as the Holy Spirit. We often think of the Spirit somewhat tamely, as our personal comforter and guide -- but the Spirit is also the Advocate for the oppressed, the Truth that comes from the Father, the One who Testifies (John 15:26). Perhaps today God is sending the fire of the Holy Spirit to stand up for the oppressed, to reveal the devastating truth about racism, to testify that God is not pleased when his image-bearers are crushed by generations of violence and hate. 

God, may Your Spirit's fire come to rest on us this time, moving us to repent and empowering us to act for justice. We want to be on the side of whatever You are doing in this world.

 

Five Minute Friday: LESS

Today I'm linking up with Five Minute Friday, writing for five minutes on a given prompt. This week's word is LESS.

(Last week I wrote my FMF post about an episode from the Gospels, so I thought I'd do the same here. There is so much to unpack in the stories of Jesus!)

In Luke 21:1-4 we read,

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury box. He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all offered their gifts out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.”

<sup>This sounds like an inspiring story of generosity: this poor widow had so much less than the other people there, but proportionally she gave more -- "everything she had to live on" -- so Jesus was praising her for her selfless act and reminding his watchers to give generously of their money too, just as she was doing.

But it may be that Jesus wasn't holding her up as an example at all. Instead, he may have been commenting on how this woman was the victim of an unfair and demoralizing system. Quite likely she felt she had no choice but to give to the temple treasury; the religious leaders probably had her convinced that it was her duty. After all, in the verses right before this scene, at the end of chapter 20, Jesus is harshly critical of the religious leaders who "devour widows' houses." And if she was so poor that her small contribution left her penniless, why weren't the religious leaders helping her out?

This probably isn't a "God loves a cheerful giver" feel-good story. It's a reminder that God isn't pleased when those in power take advantage of those who have less, making them feel obliged to perform pious acts without helping them when they need it most.</sup>