It’s Always about the Heart


Mark 12:41–44
38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Jesus wraps up His last teaching time in the synagogue in the court of the women. There He observes a widow putting two very small coins in the offering.

It amounted to “two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.” We have no equivalent in our currency. The copper coin was called a lepton, meaning “small, thin, light.” The two were worth one half a kodrantes. This in turn was worth one sixty-fourth of a denarius, the daily wage of a laborer in those days.
Wicke, H. E. ©1988. Mark (p. 178). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.

This is one of those times when the text is unobstructed and simple to understand. Having just spoken about those "who devour widows' houses", Jesus uses this woman’s trust-filled example so that she could live as an example to us all of what pleases God. It’s not about the action but instead about the motivations of the heart. She trusted in a God who was more than able to care for her, putting those who gave from their excess to shame.

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