Some of the most important lessons of Jesus were taught in circumstances of controversy and conflict with the Jewish religious authorities and the representatives of the Roman occupation force. His regular clashes with the Pharisees and their Scribes often presented an occasion for teaching his disciples lessons on humility, poverty of spirit and authentic piety. In the Gospel of Mark 12:38-44 Jesus once again condemns the scribes who wear long robes that are aimed at winning people’s attention. He criticises their habit of taking places of honour at religious and social functions and of saying long winding prayers that are not addressed to God, but are only made to impress the people.
In the Jewish society of Jesus’ day the scribes were considered to be very important people. They were also seen as very holy people by virtue of their familiarity with the law. They were thought to be irreproachable. They were proud and self-satisfied. They enjoyed the people’s deference and often exploited it to great advantage. They were very rich and comfortable. They lived in big houses and had more than they needed for their livelihood. While enjoying all these privileges, they were often very hard on those who transgressed even the minutest prescriptions of the law. They despised those they labeled as sinners. But against the self-righteousness and arrogant disposition of the scribes, Jesus presents a poor widow who contributed two pieces of coins into the treasury as the model of authentic piety. He hopes that the disciples will take a lead from the example of the widow and not be guided by the Pharisees and their scribes who are hungry for power and prestige.
Jesus happened to have been in the temple when people came forward to drop their offerings. Rich people made big donations from their abundance. They often made a show of these donations. But Jesus was not impressed. Instead he was impressed by the donation of a poor, old woman who hid two coins in the hollow of her hands. She was a widow. Widows in Jesus’ day were the quintessential poor. In a male dominated society, where women were important only in relation to or association with their husbands, the widows were the poorest of the poor. They had no power, no resources, and no security. They were not supposed to have anything to give. So nothing was expected of them when important people gather to make contributions to the temple treasury. But the poor widow who caught the attention of Jesus in Mark 12 could not keep the two pieces of coins she had to herself. She was too generous to do that. In her reckless generosity, she came up and gave away everything. Keeping nothing for herself, she was rendered totally helpless and totally vulnerable by virtue of her generosity. Jesus somehow saw himself in this woman who gave until there was nothing left to give. The poor widow was a perfect representation of the Son of God who gave away even the last pint of his blood that sinful humanity may be redeemed. The piety of the widow is the authentic Christian piety.
True piety consists in leaving everything behind in other to follow Christ. It consists in giving away all one has in other to become a disciple. It consists in surrendering all one’s will to God. It consists in loving with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul, with all one’s strength. Christians are not called upon to give a fraction of their resources. The tithe which was the Jewish measure of generosity towards God is not enough. Christians are called not just to give from their abundance, but from their very substance. Jesus projects the gesture of the poor widow in the temple in order to challenge Christians to respond to the call of God totally and uncompromisingly, by readily giving away all they are and all they have. This kind of giving hurts the giver. He or she becomes vulnerable, with no security, except God. Yet it is such people that are the subjects of the kingdom of God. Those who have surrounded themselves with material wealth, and whose insurance is in goods they possess have no place in God’s heart.
Part of the message of this story of the widow’s mite is that in responding to Christ there are no half measures. He calls us to love – until it hurts; to give until there is nothing left to give out and to forgive – until there is nothing left to forgive. He told his disciples the story of the prodigal son and the father who was reckless with his love. He challenged the rich young man who desired to follow him to first go and sell all he owned, insisting that it is the poor and lowly and the meek and humble who shall inherit the earth and possess the kingdom. Jesus taught his disciples that there should be no limit to their forgiveness. They should forgive as often as there is some hurt to forgive. He admonishes hid followers to have total faith in the God of providence, even when all they can see ahead of them is emptiness. He calls them to hope even against hope.
In the widow of Jesus, we recognise that the poor are often more generous with the little they have than the rich who most of the time are too attached to their wealth to part with it. This particular gospel passage challenges all those of us who like the Pharisees and their scribes despise the poor and those of lowly class to reconsider our behaviour. The Lord has made a preferential option for the poor. In conflicts that arise between the poor and the rich, Jesus pitches his tent with the poor. He is truly the defender of the widow and the father of orphans. He says in the story of the last judgement (Matthew 25:31-46) that what we do to the least of his brethren, we do unto him.
There is a scandalous disparity between the rich and the poor in our society today. While a few privileged people have accumulated more than their fair share of the resources of the world and are living in offensive affluence, the majority of the population on the other hand are living in abject poverty, their socio-economic conditions worsening everyday. This scandal must be addressed by all who wish to take the gospel of Christ seriously. Our Christianity cannot be simply a matter of slogans. Jesus says that no one can serve two masters. We cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. St. Paul says that greed and avarice are the worship of false gods. He also says that the love of money is the root of all evils.
In presenting the poor widow in the temple as a model to his disciples, he once again teaches the lesson on humility. The proud and arrogant shall be pulled down from their ivory tower of self-sufficiency. Jesus demonstrates that he indeed came to destroy the myth of power and domination, and so he preached the message of humility, poverty, self-effacement, self-abnegation and renunciation as the way to salvation. In Matthew 23:11 he says "the greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted. Again in Luke 18:17 he says: "anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." To be admitted for the eternal banquet of the Kingdom of God, the fundamental condition is childlike humility.
In the logic of the kingdom, the person who thinks himself last and who assumes a lowly disposition, is more ready than the proud-hearted person to receive the gift of eternal life - the same gift of which the person considers himself or herself unworthy. Jesus taught this lesson, not only by word of mouth, but by his entire life, death and resurrection. He was the Son of God, equal to God in dignity, but he did not count on this equality. He accepted to be born into the world as a human being with all its limitations (Philippians 2:6-11).
God accepts only the worship of those who are humble. Only those who acknowledge their powerlessness and helplessness before the all-powerful God may come into his presence. Only those who acknowledge their sinfulness and unworthiness before the all-holy God, and their desperate need for salvation, may be admitted into the heavenly kingdom. Those on the other hand who rely on their own abilities and resources, those who think that they can claim eternal salvation as a right, or those who think they merit salvation as a reward for fulfilling the law, will never get in (see Romans 3:21-31; Galatians 2:16-21).
