Offering (5)

But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. (12:42)

In yesterday’s meditation, I mentioned that God exercises his unique and exclusive ability to bring about salvation regardless man’s repeated acts of offering. Then does this imply the act of offering has no meaning at all? No. There are two important implications of offering.

First, offering is a symbol of religious confession that we as creatures absolutely depend on God, the source of life. Worship service is also a doxology of religious confession. Offering is a supplement to a worship service. Of course we can glorify God without formal worship service and offering. It does not matter does if one worships God alone. However, in the case of a big community where huge gathering becomes part and parcel a certain formality is required to be maintained.

Second, offering is a material foundation to maintain the well being of a church community. Offering is not at all necessary for the visible part of the church to earn salvation because the work of redemption has already been accomplished through the shedding blood of Jesus. However, it is necessary on the visible part of the church which still struggles in this temporal world. Practically money is needed to meet the expenses of a pastor or a father who serves the church community and also for the maintenance of the church and other miscellaneous expenses.

In this point, the act of offering could be a sort of a necessary evil. Precisely speaking, God does not want our money. Just as we do not pay anything for breathing or bathing in the sun which are God’s gifts, God does not expect anything from us for what he has done. The problem is that we have not yet entered into God’s complete rule. We are living in the ‘middle area’. Our lives loitering in the middle area is nothing but the temporal way of life. In such tentative world, we even partially use money as a mediator between God and us. In this sense, offering can be called a necessary evil for it comes as a mediator in our relationship with God.