Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all

 

 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 sets 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?"  Here Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110, and quizzing the scribes with His own question now, on the meaning of the Scriptures.  My study Bible explains that the first reference to the LORD applies to God the Father, while the term my Lord refers to Christ.  This question is answered in that Christ is the Son of David in His humanity and David's Lord in His divinity.  David, as king of Israel, could not and would not address anyone as "Lord" except God.  Yet, in the psalm, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  The only conclusion is that the Messiah is both human and 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 sets 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."   After quizzing the scribes, who could not answer, Jesus goes on to criticize their hypocritical practices.  Their outward piety conceals a private predatory behavior upon the poor and those least able to protect or care for themselves.  In effect, they use the trappings of their places of honor in the religious hierarchy as shields for their greed and abuse.

 

 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 comments that, according to patristic commentary, the Lord accounts the value of a gift not by how much is given, but by how much is kept back.  So, therefore, the poor widow is counted to have given a great gift, because she kept nothing for herself.  Those who give out of their abundance but keep plenty back for themselves, by contrast to her donation, have given much less. 

 

If we examine the story of the poor widow, what we find is a woman who is in this sense investing all her livelihood, all that she has, in God.  By putting her money into the treasury, she is entrusting all that she has to God.  She is, in this sense, indicating her full dependence on God, and dedication to God.  When we invest ourselves, in this sense, to our faith, we do the same.  In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, celebrated nearly every Sunday in Orthodox churches, and the foundation for other denominations around the world, we frequently hear repeated, "Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God."  This phrase is also found in the worship of the St. Basil Liturgy which is performed on particular occasions.  This phrase is, in the same sense that the widow invests all that she has in the treasury to God, our way of giving our all liturgically, in repeated prayer.  We seek to direct our lives to the care and service of God, and leave nothing back "for ourselves."  What that means is that as we pray and as we worship, we are seeking not to dedicate ourselves in the sense of performative action such as hides the hypocrisy of the scribes which Jesus criticizes, but to dedicate ourselves to the way, the truth, and the life that Jesus teaches us (John 14:6).  We seek as best we can to follow His way and His commands, but we also entrust that the Holy Spirit will help us to see where we need to change, things we need to give up, and new things we need to take up and make a commitment to.  This is what it is to dedicate our lives to God, to entrust ourselves to God, as this widow does with her donation.  What we find is that all the practices of worship and tradition are aimed to this end, to help us to fulfill this dedication of our whole lives to Christ our God.  When we fast, we are learning to say No the things Christ would ask us to resist that tempt us, when we pray we bow down to the One who loves us and who in turn we entrust with our whole lives, when we venerate icons and share our love of the saints, we do so with this whole community in mind that is encapsulated in this prayer, "Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God."   For our whole lives to be entrusted to God is to go far beyond the practices of the scribes which Jesus so roundly criticizes. In so doing, we find ourselves together with that widow, where we are both part of this community dependent upon and dedicated to God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  And we find the poor widow as our neighbor, whom we are to love as ourselves.  (See, for example,  Mark 12:30-31.)  Christ the Lord who came into the world to reveal Himself to us, to give us His care, and teach us to find the way to His Kingdom -- and this is the way He shows us in today's reading.