{"id":7432,"date":"2025-03-01T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T00:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7432"},"modified":"2024-12-30T06:04:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T22:04:25","slug":"332-the-law-of-the-gift-2-jesus-and-the-poor-widows-at-the-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=7432","title":{"rendered":"340. The Law of the Gift (2) Jesus and the Poor Widow at the Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

38\u00a0<\/sup>As [Jesus was teaching in the Temple], he said, \u2018Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places,\u00a039\u00a0<\/sup>and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets!\u00a040\u00a0<\/sup>They devour widows\u2019 houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

41\u00a0<\/sup>He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.\u00a042\u00a0<\/sup>A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.\u00a043\u00a0<\/sup>Then he called his disciples and said to them, \u2018Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.\u00a044\u00a0<\/sup>For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.<\/strong><\/span>\u2019 [Mark 12:38-44<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a narrative context of mounting opposition towards Jesus, Mark inserts the story of the widow\u2019s mite in the Jerusalem Temple. This story is often associated with the law of the gift.<\/span><\/p>\n

The usual teaching says a poor widow contributes her all into the temple treasury and Jesus praises her action and teaches that her contribution is greater than that of the rich who gave of their abundance.<\/span><\/p>\n

(1) Of trusting faith <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus says by contributing two copper coins to the Temple treasury, the widow has actually put in more than all the others, including the wealthy. In terms of sacrifice, her contribution was a great deal more costly to her than what the others\u2019 cost them. Whereas the others contributed out of their abundance, she gave out of her poverty. The two copper coins represented \u201ceverything she had, her whole living\u201d (v.44). By putting in what she needed to live on, she reminds us of the widow of Zarephath. We get it when preachers draw the parallels between the two stories and raise the two widows as great examples of generosity for the parishioners to emulate in rendering financial support for the Church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whereas the eye-catching scribes went out of their way to attract attention and praise, this poor, inconspicuous and insignificant widow would have gone completely unnoticed but for Jesus. He watches and he sees everything she and the rich people do when they put money into the treasury. In her self-sacrifice, he sees what others do not see – a model of life in the Kingdom of God. He notices her extraordinary but invisible generosity. He contrasts that generosity with the \u201cself-indulgence and false piety of the scribes and the easy and ostentatious giving of the rich\u201d (Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark<\/em>, 336). He points that out to his disciples. What is that telling us today?<\/span><\/p>\n

It tells us in contrast to the ego-driven religious \u201cscribes\u201d, there is a great deal of quiet heroism from ordinary people in our midst. They carry out simple, ordinary deeds for the good of others on a regular basis. These deeds are special, because they come from loving, generous hearts, carried out daily by people with unassuming goodness and generosity of spirit. They live below most people\u2019s radar, unfeatured in any church bulletins. But they are there, in their quiet corner, always overlooked. In \u201ccalling his disciples to him\u201d (v.43) and praising the widow\u2019s quiet but profound sacrifice, Jesus called for the close attention of the managers of the Church he was going to leave behind, to the model manifested in an overlooked poor! The Lord challenges us to discover the poor \u201cwidows\u201d in our community – those nobodies whose generosity of heart and spirit challenge our comfortable world. Value service, particularly invisible service!<\/span><\/p>\n

That this story may be read as praise by Jesus is further justified by a Christological hint. When Jesus said the widow has contributed her \u201cwhole living<\/em>\u201d (v.44, RSV), the word in the Greek text is bion<\/em> which means her life<\/em>. This takes us beyond a mere reference to what she has to live on, for Jesus was here saying that in absolute trust in God, she has freely surrendered her life. The significance is heightened when we recognise that we are at a critical point in Mark\u2019s Gospel. Jesus is now in the Temple in Jerusalem which he has just cleansed the previous day (11:15-19), drawing great hostility from the religious leaders, including the scribes, for doing so. In Mark\u2019s time-line, the poor widow\u2019s story happened on Tuesday of the Holy Week. Jesus is just about to enter into his passion, at the end of which he will give his<\/em> life<\/em>, his all, out of love for God and humanity, \u201cas a ransom for many\u201d (10:45). Is Mark telling us that Jesus has seen something of himself in this widow who literally gave her life<\/em> out of love for God?<\/span><\/p>\n