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 21:1-4
Bible narratives are not like ancient fables. They most often do not include any sort of “moral,” to explain how we are to judge the actions and words that are faithfully recorded. This presents us with a challenge when we are trying to rightly interpret these Scriptures and apply them to our own situation. In some cases, in order for us to draw conclusions from a text, we may have to draw on general biblical principles to evaluate the decisions of the people involved. At other times, a closer examination of the context can reveal clues as to the author’s purpose in including the account. This seems to be the case with the story of the widow’s mites.
In this account, neither Mark nor Luke give us any moral judgments about the widow’s gift or those of the wealthy donors who also gave, and we must note that Jesus does not make a moral judgment either, only a statement about the relative value of the widow’s gift in comparison to rest. He does not mention her faith, nor does he indicate any lack of faith on the part of the wealthy givers. In fact, the only indication that he gives of his opinion of the gifts in general is that they are all “offerings for God,” both those of the wealthy donors and that of the widow. It seems to be unkind to the wealthy givers to suggest that their gifts were somehow polluted by impure motives when Jesus makes no such judgment himself. Furthermore, while Jesus does say that the widow “put in all the livelihood that she had,” he does not say whether such an action is good or bad, something to be imitated or to be avoided. We ought to be careful before setting up the widow’s gift as a positive example. Does Jesus really want us to give all our livelihood? Should we be going into debt in order to maximize our giving to the church? Or should we neglect to pay our bills or buy food for our children so that we can give extra to the Lord’s work?
Is this really the standard that Jesus is setting up here? An even more fundamental question than those is whether this account is intended to teach anything about our giving at all? When I observe the surrounding context, I am inclined to say, “no.”
Just prior to the story of the widow and her mites, Jesus was teaching in the temple where he was confronted by the Jewish leaders for what they considered to be a thinly veiled attack on their authority. After being questioned by both the Herodians and the Sadducees, Jesus embarrassed the scribes by demonstrating their own failure to understand the OT Scriptures. Having finished with the leaders, Jesus turned to his disciples and spoke loudly enough for all the people to hear: “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” (Luke 20:46-47).
Immediately after this loud denunciation of the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw people bringing offerings to be placed in the temple treasury. He observed a number of rich individuals. How he knew they were rich is not clear from the text, although it may have simply been based on the condition and quality of their clothing. And then he saw a destitute widow put in two small coins which had almost no value at all. Upon observing this, Jesus spoke, presumably to his disciples, and pointed out that the widow had contributed more than all the rest of them combined. Obviously, this statement required explanation, so he went on to say that the others gave gifts out of their excess, while she gave out of her poverty all that she had on which to live. Apparently unmoved by Jesus’ words, the crowd began to discuss the beauty of the temple stones and gifts with which it was adorned, to which Jesus replied, “These things which you see – the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down” (21:6).
This shocking prediction of the destruction of the temple might seem to come out of nowhere, but consider the overall context here. Jesus had warned against the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders who sought attention and influence while at the same time consuming widows’ houses. How exactly were they doing this? By taking the very livelihood from widows to fund the temple treasury, they devoured the homes and families of the poorest of the poor. Jesus’ observations about the relative cost of the gifts to the temple were not meant to encourage us to give recklessly, they were a startling condemnation of the religious leaders who set themselves up as examples of piety while they actively oppressed the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. For this reason, the temple with its expensive furnishings and impressive architecture was going to be destroyed. The context of both Mark’s and Luke’s accounts are consistent on this point, that the widow’s mites are not about her generosity but about the cruelty and greed of the Jewish leaders.
If someone is looking for a passage that teaches the importance of sacrificial giving in faith, I believe there are much better ones to be found. We need to be careful that we do not twist the Scriptures, even in an attempt to teach principles that are biblical and true.