True Devotion
TRUE DEVOTION
LUKE 20:39–21:4
Now Jesus asks a question. This amounted to, “Is Jesus just a descendant of David?” No—he is David’s Lord, the Son of God, to be worshiped!
Verses 39-47. The Lord’s use of Scripture was one with which his opponents and questioners were quite familiar. The Christian authentication of Christ rests on other grounds—his resurrection, and all that which the New Testament has to say on its significance.
The church has the Gospels, also, and the record of his life and death. The prophecies of the Old Testament, with their clear indications of Davidic descent, were much more significant as arguments in a Jewish context (2 Samuel 7:8-29; Isaiah 9:5-7; Micah 5:2; Psalm 110:1, etc).
It is well to remember that a messianic meaning in these places is not precluded by some other or local significance which may have had a place in the Scripture concerned. It is often the case that a passage of Scripture has both primary and secondary meaning. The Lord was also speaking within the context of the Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament, and confounding his critics with their own doctrine and methods of exegesis.
21:1-4. After distasteful conflict on the levels of their choice, the Lord appeared to turn with relief to a spectacle of humble devotion. “He looked up and saw…” He had been sitting, weary, with downcast eyes, and was refreshed to see the poor widow’s sacrifice. She little knew the magnitude of her gift, its vast fruitfulness, the fame it was to win, and the joy it gave to the Lord himself.
Gifts are relative. Legalistic tithing systems, indiscriminatingly pressed by some churches, take no thought of this. Money, like all else, is held in trust. There are priorities in its use. A man’s family must first be properly provided for. Children made unwisely to suffer by a father’s financial sacrifices are more difficult to win for Christ; and to win one’s own family is the first and most essential duty of a Christian parent. And let it also be observed that a tithe is no sacrifice for others.
The New Testament gives no authority for tithing. Christian giving is a far less mechanical obligation.
Notes 20:45-47 may well sum up the condemnation of Matthew 23 (cf. Matthew 22:41-45; Luke 20:41-44). 20:42-43: note the use of these in Acts 2:34-35. 21:2: the temple authorities prescribed two gifts: hence this was a minimum. The “mite” (lepton) rated 128 to the denarius.