Offering (2)

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. (12:41)

Many rich people threw in large amounts. It is in contrast to small amount of money of a widow. Does the rich always give large amount of offering? It does not always hold true. If one becomes rich as a result of one’s careful management of money, he could be mean to make an offering. However, it is very clear that one can throw a large amount of money into the offering box when he or she has abundance of money. What is more, when the amount of offering is revealed it will have greater influence to others too.

Should the rich offer more than the poor? Yes. It is natural that the rich offers more than the poor. In certain aspects, we can say that offering is also a part of re-distribution of wealth. In this context, distribution of wealth does not apply to Korean church whose members are bound to pay tithe as their normal tradition. Those who have bigger income do not have much burden to pay tithe. But paying regular tithe is a burden for those who have less source of income. As tax regulates the proportion of amount to be paid so there is such differentiation of amount of offering from different people with different levels of income.

Christians of Korean give a lot of offering. They offer not only their regular tithes but they also offer the church in kind. Different forms of offering can also be seen in the present age. They give 60th year’s birth day offering and other offerings on some specific events. We can understand the intention of the offering of the old aged-people who acknowledge God’s grace and his protection throughout their lives. However, there are different kinds of offerings and it is hard to understand the real motive of each individual. Even now new items of offering are being developed.

Just as Roman Catholic’s indulgence in the Reformation period raised a great issue the reformation of Korean Protestant church depends on offering matter. How can we restore the real essence of offering?