In each of these stories involving Jesus there is another main character. And although the lives of these two characters are drastically different, it seems that they each understand money in a pretty similar way. Both are instructive for us.
The first story is about Zaccheus--and we learn that his encounter with Jesus dramatically affects what he sees as "his". Some context is helpful. He is a tax collector--which means that he, a Jew, receives money from other Jews to pass on to the Romans, who have occupied their nation. And the basic way that the Romans have set it up is that the tax collector must pass on a certain amount to them--but if he (it was always a "he") wants to charge more so that he gets a cut, that is fine. So of course those paying these unwanted taxes to the unwanted occupiers see their fellow countryman collecting them as a cheat and a traitor, because he's getting his "commission" from them--and getting rich at their expense--in league with the hated occupiers. So Zaccheus has gotten rich, but has no friends, since all of his neighbors resent him and see him as stealing from them. What he has done to get rich is perfectly legal, but really makes him an outcast in his own land.
So when Jesus, the popular healer who is consistently on the side of the poor, tells Zaccheus that he wants to go to dine with him at his home--well, Luke 19:7 says "All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’" It seems that the optics are horrible--for Jesus, at least. There also doesn't seem to be an automatic redeeming of their attitude toward Zaccheus just because Jesus wants to hang out with him.
How does Zaccheus respond? Verse 8 says "Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’" It seems that an encounter with Jesus opens his eyes to the problem with what he has, and how he got it, and that a "redistribution" needs to happen. It is possible that he realized that everything he has acquired was God's in the first place--and is still God's now--and not his to hoard? Is it possible that he has heard Jesus teaching about life in the Kingdom of God, which involves the teaching about prayer that says we should say "Give US this day OUR daily bread"--that "I" don't have, but "we" are to have?
The other story, later in Luke, is while Jesus is in Jerusalem that last week of his life. He's watching the rich people putting their gifts in the Temple treasury, and sees a poor widow put in two coins, which obviously pales in comparison to these gifts from the rich people. But she is the one he praises for giving out of her poverty--unlike those who are giving out of their abundance--which clearly she cannot do, since she has no abundance.
There are any number of ways to think about this--this could be an indictment of the society that allows such discrepancies to exist--the society that sanctions tax collectors like Zaccheus to get rich by exploitation. There are admonitions throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, to care for the widows and orphans (patriarchy often leaves widows and orphans without power and needing advocacy, even now, but particularly in societies when women are devoid of rights), so Jesus may be highlighting her faith not only in God, but in the integrity of those whose religious convictions means that she will indeed be cared for, who would see her need since she is in the public setting of the Temple.
But for us, the key in putting these two stories--and these two people in such different life settings--side by side is to affirm that we are to give. For each of them, life includes giving thanks to God by giving, no matter if we have too much, or if it seems that we have too little. All of it is God's anyhow, and God wants us to be cared for, and care for others.
Luke 19:1-10
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ 9 Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’
Luke 21:1-4
1 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’