And a little child shall lead them

By Jeff Long

Apologies to Charles Dickens as his classic words are amended here:

"It was the best of people. It was the worst of people."

The best: A young girl, probably no more than eight years of age, approaches the Salvation Army holiday station being manned by my wife and myself in Cape. Her mother and siblings beside her, she pulls out her pocket change purse and empties every bit of currency into the small aperture in the kettle. Lots of pennies but a few coins of higher value. Whatever was in the purse was surrendered in the cold to this red hanging offering box. As the waif put the last of the money inside, she remarked to Lois and me, "I can save more." It's an understatement to say we were stunned to hear this.

As this child headed with her family to their waiting car, my mind immediately flashed to the story of the widow's mite in the New Testament (Mark 12; Luke 21). Jesus had been watching people place their offering into the receptacles in the Temple courtyard in Jerusalem. Imagine how intimidating to have the second person of the Trinity, the One whom the church teaches was present for creation, looking on as you gave. What is he thinking, we wonder, as people open their wallets and share their abundance? Fortunately, we don't have to speculate. Jesus tells us. His comments come as a woman of a certain age, whom Jesus somehow knows has a dead husband, puts two coins into the receptacle -- a goosenecked contraption that traps the money inside. Unlike the plates and baskets of Christian worship today, once the money goes in, it's not coming out easily. A worshipper had to exchange Roman coin for the type acceptable to Jewish authorities; the coin of the realm was viewed as idolatrous due to the ubiquity of the faces of emperors on one side. Likely the widow was shorted by the moneychangers, so she had almost nothing left to give after that necessary transaction. Two mites, the gift Jesus saw put in the offering that day, were equivalent to a Roman quadrans, the least valuable Roman coin. Jesus showed his great esteem for this smallest of all gifts: "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything -- all she had to live on." (Mark 12:43-44/NIV)

It will be awhile before the story of the widow's mite and the gift of that little girl in Cape are no longer conflated in my mind.

The worst: A healthy young man is a contestant on the reimagined "Deal or No Deal" TV program -- back on the air after a hiatus of ten years. The top prize on this game show is a million dollars. There's no skill involved; it's entirely a game of chance. The contestant, competing against a "banker" seen only in silhouette, picks a suitcase in which, it is hoped, a million dollars rests -- the highest value available. But in order to see what's in the case he's chosen, he must pick other suitcases first. One by one, the amounts in each are revealed. After each round, the banker offers the contestant a certain amount to get out of the game. I'm intrigued by "Deal or No Deal" for what it reveals about human nature. Almost no one I've seen quits the game when he should.

The young man in the paragraph above does very well -- and the banker is obliged to offer him a huge sum to withdraw: $333,000. Translated: that's one-third of a million dollars.

He keeps playing -- believing that his case has the cherished amount. Right to the end he refuses all offers. When he opens his case, it contains just $5. He was offered life-changing money; instead, he walked away with just enough money to buy Raisinets at the local cinema.

Is it magical thinking? Is it greed? Perhaps both. As I watched this outcome, my mind went to the Israelites in the desert. The text says they spent 40 years en route to Canaan, the Promised Land. As they went on this long journey, God provided daily manna -- a bread-like substance to satiate their hunger. But they were strictly told they could not hoard the manna; if they try to save some for another day, it will spoil. Some obey this instruction, others do not. The ones who hoarded found that their manna was crawling with maggots the next day. (Exodus 16:14-20)

Great, grand generosity versus greed and magical thinking. I fear the latter notion rules our society today. But fear not. There are little girls out there who continue to show us a different way.