Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood

 

 Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:

    'The LORD said to my Lord,

    "Sit at My right hand, 

    Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'

Therefore David himself calls  Him 'Lord'; how is He then His Son?"  And the common people heard Him gladly.

Then He said to them in His teaching, "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."  

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."

- Mark 12:35-44 

 

Yesterday we read that one of the scribes came, and having heard Jesus reasoning together with the Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:   'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him.   

 

Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand,  till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'  Therefore David himself calls  Him 'Lord'; how is He then His Son?"  And the common people heard Him gladly.  My study Bible comments that Christ asks this question in order to lead the religious leaders to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God incarnate.  (In Matthew's Gospel, He directs this question to the Pharisees, with whom, of course, the scribes were closely associated.)   My study Bible further explains that they supposed the Messiah to be a mere man, and therefore the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David.  But David, as the king of Israel, could not and would not possibly address anyone as "Lord,: except God.  Here Jesus quotes from Psalm 110, in which David refers to the Messiah (in verse 1) as "Lord."  So, therefore, the Messiah must be God.  The only possible conclusion is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but is also truly divine, and sharing Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Note that the text tells us the common people heard Him gladly.  Christ's following remarks tell us something about why they did so.

Then He said to them in His teaching, "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."  Christ points out the hypocrisy of the scribes, who put on a show of piety, grasp their positions of authority, and yet harm the powerless.  For a full expression of Christ's condemnation of this hypocrisy, see Matthew 23, and Christ's grand critique of the scribes and Pharisees.

 

 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."  My study Bible comments that according to patristic understanding, the Lord accounts the value of a gift not by how much is given, but by how much is kept back.  Therefore, this poor widow is accounted to have given a very great gift, for she kept nothing for herself.  Those who give out of their abundance, but who keep plenty for themselves have not given as much as she.  In the conversion of Cornelius, my study Bible adds, we learn that God takes note of our giving (Acts 10:4).  

The poor widow is an important contrast to the authority and show of piety and honor so coveted by the scribes.  She is powerless.  In this society, she has likely no protector, no one who is going to fight for her if she needs a judgment or rectification of a harm done to her.  Neither has she the means to hire someone to do so.  Christ's noticing of her generosity, her obviously whole-hearted giving, is an image for us of the God who sees (Genesis 16:13), the same God who cares for the widow and the orphan (Psalms 68:5, 146:9).  He is the same Lord who commands us to "learn to do good":  to "seek justice, rebuke the oppressor"; to "defend the fatherless," and to "plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:16:18).  Here Jesus Himself sets the example, in that He is pleading for the widow before His disciples in the treasury, and to all of us who read or hear the Gospel.  This is a clear example of what is frequently called God's condescension, an example of His compassion.  But it is more than an example, He actually does what He commands us to do; He pleads for the widow.  His action here stands in absolute contrast to the things for which He condemns the scribes.  They, on the other hand, desire to go around in long robes (signifying their place and piety), love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts (signifying their standing in the community), who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. They are antithetical to the image of the poor widow who puts all she has in the treasury (note how in Christ's observation of their behavior, there is no mention of donations or gifts, only accrual by devious means from the powerless).  What we find in their hypocrisy is not only their lack of a sense of justice and of "doing good" in this sense, but of a heart not truly devoted to God.  It is for this they receive their condemnation.  There is a sense in which the real fruits they bear (or lack of them) show who they truly are, whereas the widow's gift is weighed very heavily in the sight of God.  It's not that we're just supposed to "feel" things in our hearts, but rather that both action and faith go hand in hand.  We're meant to be "faithful"; that is, we're meant to really live our faith, not just believe or feel something.  To be whole-hearted is to bear the fruits of who we claim to be.  This is not so for the judgment of others, but it is God telling us the judgment of God here.  If we live only for the judgment of others, this is the very definition of what is commonly called "pharisaism," meaning to behave in accordance with Jesus' description of hypocritical practice.  In John's Gospel we read, "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43).  That loving "the praise of men more than the praise of God" is what hypocrisy is all about.  In that specific example from John's Gospel, let us note they believed what was correct about Christ in their hearts, but nonetheless, they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, and therefore put their trust in the former, and lived out that particular placement of trust.  In Mark's 8th chapter, Jesus says, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38).  This goes directly to which one of these things we love more.  In Christ's repeated warnings about the final judgment, He tells us about living our faith, acting in accordance with it.  This is particularly clear in the parable of judgment, that of the Sheep and the Goats, found in Matthew 25:31-46.  There He names specific actions taken in accordance with compassion, not the mere feeling of such, and therefore a lived faith.  Some might call it a "faithful faith."  But what might always trip us up is the difference between the scribes, as described here, and the poor widow -- and that is in how much we care about making an appearance before others, how much we love the praise of men more than the praise of God.  Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).  It seems that mammon can be understood not simply as wealth or treasure, but even a purely materialistic perspective on life, which naturally translates into a life lived for accumulation and competition, whether that be for clout, power, any form of wealth, or indeed the "praise of men" as a form of currency which displaces God in priority.  Let us remember once again that the whole of the Old Testament, and Christ's most common emphasis and teaching, is the creation of community, and what a community centered around God is supposed to be and to reflect.  The God who sees does not ask us to live in a community where social hierarchy is the only thing that matters, not to emphasize merely the "praise of men," or what looks good to everybody else and gets us social merits.  Christ asks us to live in accordance with putting God first, the God who sees the widow and all that she gives, and asks us to live in accordance with that way of seeing.  Let us consider what it means to be made in the image of that God, and to grow in accordance with that image.