Mark 12:41-44
The Widow's Offering
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Jesus went from village to village helping the poor and needy...Jesus said that the Spirit of the LORD is upon Him, because God has anointed Him to preach good news to the poor...God had sent Him to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, and to release the oppressed...One day Jesus was looking at His disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.'...Jesus also said the poor you will always have with and among you, and you can help them any time you want...But He added will not always have Him among us...
We learn from Scripture that “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing” (Deut. 10:18)...“If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother...Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs” (Deut. 15:7-8)...“There will always be poor people in the land...Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land” (Deut. 15:11)...“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?...Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?.” (Isaiah 58:6-7)...St. Paul said “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.” (Gal. 2:10)...And He added that we “Share with God’s people who are in need...Practice hospitality.” (Rom. 12:13)...St. James tells us to “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?.” (James 2:5)...“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)...
So we learn that we are to help the poor, the needy, the widows, and the oppressed...Jesus teaches us that we are to care for the poor – both for their sake and our own...It is interesting that the very poor widow who made here offering of a few cents, is one that Jesus praises and teaches us this lesson...We should learn from her and her offering, because she gave out of her poverty, and put in everything she had...