Recognizing Greatness in the Shadows

It is hard not to notice. They are the people in the spotlight. Walking down the red carpet. Behind the microphone. Riding around in limos. Holding the MVP trophy or Oscar or Emmy or Tony or Grammy or Moonman.

It’s only natural to think that these are the people who have really accomplished something significant. These are the people that we want to be—or we hope our children will grow up to be.

Depending on how serious we are about becoming like them, we spend hours learning about their habits. What they eat. Where they live. The routine they follow. The clothes they wear. The people they know. We look for anything we can do to improve our chances of earning our place in the spotlight.

With so much attention on the celebrities in the spotlight, we may be missing folks who are making a much more significant contribution. That’s what Jesus wanted his disciples to see the day they were hanging out at the Temple in Jerusalem.

There were lots of rich people coming through wearing long flowing robes. As they walked up to the box to deposit their offering you could see them glance around from side to side to make sure that others were watching them. It was hard to discern exactly how they were able to make such a big deal of putting money into a box; but they were.

The disciples may have been thinking about how they might be able to use all that money to help Jesus in his ministry. They could probably feed a crowd with what just a few of those rich people had dropped in the box. They might even be able to entice a doctor to treat a few of the sick.

If Jesus had not interrupted their reverie, the widow would have passed by unnoticed. She slipped by so unassumingly that she was virtually invisible. The coin she had dropped in the box had made no difference in the running totals they were keeping.

But then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others . . . . They gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on” (Mark 12:43-44).

As we remember those who have lived faithful lives, and who have  now gone on to glory; may we remember all they did—both great and small—as we give thanks for their contribution to the community of faith.