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.”
1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” – Mark 12:41-13:2 ESV
Jesus and His disciples remained in the temple courtyard, where He faced a series of confrontations with the religious leaders who had been trying to entrap Him. In a bold affront to their arrogant sense of superiority, Jesus labeled their self-righteous displays as nothing more than hypocrisy.
“…they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets.” – Mark 12:38-39 NLT
These men were addicted to fine clothes and flattery. They craved recognition and demanded respect from the peasant class, whom they considered inferior. In stark contrast, Jesus directs His disciples' attention to a poor widow. From His position opposite the temple treasury, He silently watched people bring their offerings and place them in one of the 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles arranged around the perimeter of the Courtyard of the Women.
As Jesus looked on, people dropped their freewill offerings into the boxes. Many of these individuals were wealthy and donated large sums of money. Mark suggests they did so to attract attention, intending their contributions to be noticed. Since Jewish currency was in the form of coins, their gift would have made a great deal of noise as it clanged against the metal trumpet topping the offering box. All heads would have turned to see who gave such a generous amount.
But Jesus takes note of a poor widow, who “came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny” (Mark 12:42 ESV). This woman’s small gift would have drawn little attention from the people crowding the temple courtyard, but it caught Jesus' eye. She was exactly the kind of person He had mentioned in His diatribe against the scribes.
“Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public.” – Mark 12:40 NLT
The scribes and other religious leaders would have taken advantage of this widow to line their own pockets. Yet to Jesus, she represented true righteousness. Her two small coins would have made little noise as they descended into the offering box, but to Jesus, her actions spoke volumes. So, He pointed her out to His disciples and said, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box” (Mark 12:43 ESV).
It wasn’t the size of her gift that mattered; it was the state of her heart. She didn't give to be noticed. Her gift was not meant to impress. But Jesus knew her offering was a great sacrifice because she had “given everything she had to live on” (Mark 12:44 NLT). This entire scene visually demonstrates Jesus’ lesson from His Sermon on the Mount.
“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get.” – Matthew 6:1-2 NLT
This woman, though poor, gave God the best of what she had, and she did so willingly. But because the others gave “out of their abundance” (Mark 12: 44 ESV), it cost them nothing. Their gifts, while impressive in size, required no sacrifice on their part. They had actually profited from their efforts, having garnered the praise and admiration of others for their obviously generous contributions.
By pointing out this widow to His disciples, Jesus continued His lesson on greatness in the Kingdom of God. But His disciples remained stubbornly oblivious to what He was trying to teach them. In fact, as they left the temple courtyard, none of the disciples mentioned the widow or her sacrificial gift. But one of them took note of the temple's grandeur and opulence.
“Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” – Mark 13:1 ESV
The temple was a magnificent complex that made an impressive sight from its prominent location atop Mount Zion. The Jews took great pride in this grand structure, and the disciples were rightfully proud of and impressed by its sheer size and beauty. After all, it was God's dwelling place.
The image of the poor widow had faded from their collective memories. Now, as they made their way out of the temple and back to the Mount of Olives, their attention was fixated on the structure that Herod the Great had helped expand and improve. The Babylonians destroyed the original temple built by King Solomon in 587 B.C. Seventy years later, God allowed a remnant of the people exiled to Babylon to return and rebuild the temple. But when it was completed, the new temple was only a shadow of its former glory. Herod the Great, trying to win over the people, decreed a massive rebuilding program that produced the grand structure that now dominated the landscape and captivated the disciples' attention.
But Jesus, always ready to turn every moment into a teaching opportunity, told His disciples, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Mark 13:2 ESV). As will become apparent, this news shocked the disciples. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing. How could God allow His beautiful house to be destroyed? But as hard as this news was to fathom, everything Jesus said eventually came true. In A.D. 70, the Roman army, under the leadership of Titus, besieged Jerusalem to end a long-standing Jewish revolt against Roman rule. After a three-month standoff, the Romans invaded the city, destroying and eventually burning the temple to the ground. They left no stone upon another.
The disciples had been unimpressed with the generous widow, but they couldn’t help noticing the temple's grandeur. But Jesus commended the woman and condemned the temple. To Jesus, she was an icon of righteousness and virtue, while He declared the temple to be the symbol of all that was wrong with Israel. Earlier, Jesus had declared the temple of God to be a “den of robbers” (Mark 11:17 ESV). The dwelling place of God had been desecrated by the ones responsible for its care and protection.
Jesus reminded His disciples of God's words, spoken centuries earlier through the prophet Isaiah and directed at Israel's rebellious people.
“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken!’” – Jeremiah 7;8-11 NLT
Nothing had changed. Just as God destroyed the original temple, so this remarkable structure would come under His judgment, because God’s people had failed to live in obedience to His will.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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