The Tithe, The Temple and the Times

This week, our passage is Luke 21:1-19, where Jesus delivers His final public teaching just two days before His arrest and crucifixion. This long sermon, starting in Luke 20 and concluding here, combines three profound topics: The Tithe, The Temple, and The Times.

(Luke 21:1-4) While teaching at the Temple, Jesus observes the wealthy giving large donations. Then, He sees a poor widow give her last two small copper coins. Jesus highlights her act, not as a lesson on finances, but on sacrificial giving. He shifts the focus from the amount of the tithe to the heart of the giver, contrasting man's economy with God's.

(Luke 21:5-7) The disciples marvel at the Temple's beauty, its stones, and its dedications. In a shocking prophecy, Jesus declares that this glorious structure, the center of their identity and the presumed House of God, would be utterly destroyed—not one stone left upon another. For them, this was the equivalent of predicting the end of the world.

This prophecy prompts the disciples' urgent question: "When will these things happen? And what will be the sign?"

(Luke 21:8-19) Jesus' reply, known as the Olivet Discourse, is a two-part message: it foretells the immediate future (the Temple's destruction in A.D. 70) and the distant future (the End of the Age). He does not provide a specific date but outlines a series of inevitable events and persecutions. His instruction is clear: do not be terrified by wars, natural disasters, or false prophets, but stand firm and endure.