This poor widow has put in more than all who put into the treasury.

 

This poor widow has put in more than all who put

into the treasury.

 

Mark 12:41-44『And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw two mites, which made a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples unto her, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance her. of; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.』

The Bible expresses spiritual meaning superficially, metaphorically, and symbolically. A widow means a person who has no one to help her. Also, a widow symbolizes someone who has left God. This means that everyone living in this world has left God and is a spiritual widow. In Jewish society at the time, the helpless and pitiful Jewish people would be referred to as spiritual widows. Jesus, too, left God the Father, was born in the world, and had to die on the cross to atone for sin. He was a sinner, poor to the world, and a widow to God.

On the surface, the scribes are said to have had a negative influence on the widow. It is said that the leaders of the temple at the time of Jesus actually robbed widows of their property. Although scribes were prohibited from receiving money from widows, they legally helped widows and received money. In accordance with the wishes of their late husbands, scribes were entrusted with the work of lawyers and embezzled property without the widows' knowledge. The scribes mismanaged the property of widows entrusted to them, causing damage. The scribes received money from foolish women in return for their intercessory prayers, and took widows' houses as collateral under the pretext of debts that were realistically difficult to repay.

However, on the other side, it is a slightly different story. Jesus depicted the Jewish leaders using the temple and the name of God to forcibly plunder the powerless people based on legalism. So, Jesus cursed the fig tree (Israel), saying that the temple in Jerusalem, full of hypocrisy, would soon collapse and a new temple would come. And it is said that the Jewish leaders occupy high positions in the synagogue and that they swallow up the property (oikas οἰκίας) of the widow (cheron χηρῶν) (catesdiontes κατεσθίοντες). In Mark 12:40, 『Which devour widows' houses(οἱ κατεσθίοντες τὰς οἰκίας τῶν χηρῶν), and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.』

Rather than a specific widow, Keron refers to the poor Jews who suffered under the Jewish leaders while carrying the burden of the law. Oikas is translated as mountains, but it is houses. House means temple. This stone temple was built by Herod with the blood of the people, and the people's outcry must have been high. Catestiontes means to swallow or eat, and the legalism pursued by the Jewish leaders is like dragging the people into a net and shackling them.

Jesus said this widow, “she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on.” Here, the word poor (hystereseos ὑστερήσεως) means lack or deficiency. In other words, this widow had absolutely nothing to spare. After giving her the money to buy half a sparrow, she was left penniless. In relative terms, the widow's money was nothing, just a penny. However, in light of her own livelihood, it was money so precious that it could not be exchanged for anything in the world, and she dedicated this money to God.

The reason Jesus brought up the story of the widow who gave all her possessions was not to urge the disciples to give all their possessions like the widow, but rather to show that there were people who were robbed of all their property and even faced threats to their survival due to the corrupt Judaism of the time. I meant to say something. The message is that corrupt religions that abandon their duty to protect the weak, such as widows, according to the law, and conversely rob them of their property, will surely be judged and destroyed.

And Jesus foretold that the stone temple would collapse and a new temple would emerge through the Parsha of the Mount of Olives, following the poor widow's donation. These words do not emphasize donations, but rather are a warning to Jewish leaders who have become an aristocratic class in society, and are also a warning to many churches today who have become an aristocratic class. Jesus predicted that the stone temple would be destroyed and a new temple (the kingdom of God in the heart) would come.

Jesus said that he would suffer, die, and be resurrected after three days. Like the widow who gave all she had, all her living expenses, Jesus Christ gave everything to God on the cross for the spiritual widow of his world. In Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.』Saints in Christ also become spiritual living sacrifices and offer them to God. It is to believe that believers die on the cross with Jesus and are resurrected with Christ. That is why a new temple is built in the hearts of believers.