All these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had

 

 And He said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David?  Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:

'The LORD said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'

Therefore David calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?"

Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation."

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.  So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."

 

- Luke 20:41—21:4 

 

Yesterday we read that some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  And the first took a wife, and died without children.  And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.  Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.  But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."  Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well."  But after that they dared not question Him anymore.

 

And He said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David?  Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'  Therefore David calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?"   Reversing the questioning against Himself, Jesus decides He will question His adversaries.  He cites a passage from Psalm 110:1.  The first reference here to the LORD applies to God the Father, as my study bible explains it, and the second term my Lord is a reference to Christ.  This question is answered in that Christ is the Son of David in His humanity, but David's Lord in His divinity.  To answer properly, one must not conceive of the Messiah, or Son of David, as simply a mortal human being.  But King David would not address another person as "Lord" -- this title would apply only to God.  Therefore, the Messiah must also be divine.  

Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation."   In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus delivers His final public sermon on this subject.  It's a grand critique of the ways of the scribes and Pharisees (see Matthew 23:1-39).  But here, in a sort of condensed version, we're given Jesus' critiques of the religious leaders and their hypocrisy.  The message is all about position and appearance, the "praise of men, rather than the praise of God" (John 12:43).  The outward appearance of honor hides greed, even a willingness to victimize those who are without protection.  The word devour indicates a predatory nature, one that more rightly would belong to a "ravenous wolf" (see Luke 10:3, Matthew 7:15).  Their long prayers are for mere pretense.  And once again, Jesus indicates a judgment that is not of this world (John 18:36), when He speaks of the greater condemnation in store for these religious leaders.

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.  So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."  My study bible says that according to patristic commentary, this passage is traditionally interpreted and understood as teaching that the Lord accounts the value of a gift not by how much is given, but by how much is kept back.  So, the poor widow is counted to have given a great gift, having kept nothing for herself.  Those who give out of their abundance but keep plenty back for themselves are counted by God to have given very little.

Although there is a chapter break between Jesus' criticism of the scribes and the story of the poor widow that Jesus notices putting her two mites, or two coins of small worth into the temple treasury, we really cannot miss the contrast between the poor widow and the scribes whom Jesus describes as those who "devour widows' houses."  A widow is often highlighted throughout Old and New Testaments , and in a noteworthy way in the psalms, who -- together with orphans -- are a group who are of special concern to the Lord.  This is because they were generally considered to be helpless or poor (the two conditions frequently going hand in hand).  For the majority of the world and the majority of its history, a widow is a person dependent either on the generosity of family, especially children, or others.  In an earlier time, before the development of systems of pensions or other kinds of social supplementation of income, and before modern justice systems, one's own potential for self-defense against fraud or other predatory crimes really depended upon clan and kinship, systems of relations who could help get justice or rectify a grievance.  Widows and orphans, therefore, are images of the "least of these," those who are dependent and yet may not have those upon whom they can depend for much at all.  A widow, then, in the image here, would be one who had little social recourse and possibly even fewer rights or means to start with.  With Christ, it is important to remember "the least of these," those for whom resources are scarce, strength or power or any other form of currency is slight or even nonexistent, and justice is hard to come by.  Yet in comparison with the powerful scribes, who are described by Jesus as those who go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, but who also devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers, the widow who has only two mites to give to the treasury is far more generous and by far the more gracious donor to the temple.  I think it is a question of comparison of gifts to God and those who are ostentatiously celebrated for their support of the temple:  penny for penny, hers is the more generous gift.  It is this kind of "equal measuring stick" in the eyes of Christ that becomes the real way to measure justice.  His is an equalizing force that measures all people by true measure, and Jesus is the One for whom there is no falsehood in judgment.  For His is the only eye that sees truly with a lens that carves out all the extraneous falsehood and miscellaneous details that might distract from the real story of what is going on.  Purely and simply, while others grandiosely measure themselves in the eyes of the public by a great show of authority, position, and honor, God sees those who truly give more generously and with, in fact, much greater gifts even in a monetary measure, because they give so much of what they actually have.  All the extraneous details meant to impress fellow human beings don't count for much, if anything, with God, and especially in the eyes of Christ which are given us here in the Gospel.  When all is said and done, we should be grateful that His is the judgment that counts, and His way of seeing the true measure of us all.  We have a hard time seeing what He sees, for even today we fail really to own up to ourselves to what extent there are those around us who might be dependent in ways we don't see, who have very few resources in fact or struggle against hardship we don't know about.  We hear harsh judgments all the time about some person or another, we judge by appearance seemingly more than ever, and we have plenty of those who seek applause in the images they can create for others while they may "devour" what belongs to those who cannot fight back behind the scenes.  We are invited by Christ first of all to understand that He sees what we can't see and don't see, that it is His judgment that will count at the end of the day, and His condemnation that will truly see through all things and measure what is real.  He asks us to practice the compassion that sees the widow's true state, and to aspire to know what God knows about her generous gift.  We are asked not to be fooled by appearances or swayed by whatever it is that impresses the crowds.  Somehow, in our passage for today, we seem to be told to understand that real authority cannot be seen simply by institutions of power, but requires another kind of sight that is willing to see what God is asking us to see instead.  Jesus is telling us that if we really want to see what is in front of us, we need to look with eyes not easily fooled by predators in sheep's clothing, to cling to Him in our dependency and need for good judgment, to remember that the heart is the place of true gifts.  As we enter into the Christmas season, let us keep in mind the power of the small over against the great and mighty, a tiny gift of two mites that is greater than all the generous gifts of others.