The Poor Widow

In our churches, we tend to think in terms of the size of the offering being given, but how does Jesus see things? He sees rather the size of the sacrifice being made. This poor widow gave only two mites, but it was all that she had, whereas the rich man here gave of his abundance.

Presented on Tuesday evening, March 10th, 2009 at Lighthouse Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, TX for their Missions Conference.

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[thrufaithalone]

@SuesieakaSue May God bless the true meaning of the passage to your heart, dear sister.

[thrufaithalone]

@SuesieakaSue If we have read all of our Bible, the story of the widow's mites, given in context of Jesus' condemnation of the religious leaders, should make us cringe. The story reveals the repetition of their abuses and consequential inevitable judgment. If we teach the story of the widow's mites as an example of how to give, we are no better than the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day....and we will receive the same judgment." 

[thrufaithalone]

@SuesieakaSue 6. If this were a lesson on giving, Jesus could have just as easily chosen a "poor man" as His example - or simply a "poor woman", but He was very specific in His choice of "a poor widow." This ties it to His criticism of the Scribes who He said were "devouring widows' houses in vs. 40.

Scripture repeatedly reveals God's care for the widow, the poor, the fatherless and the stranger, and also reveals His anger at those who deprive them of what they need to live.

[thrufaithalone]

@SuesieakaSue 3. Jesus says NOTHING about how the widow FELT about what she gave.

NOTE: THERE ARE NO ADVERBS.

4. The warning to beware of the scribes "who devour widows' houses" in vs. 40 parallels Jesus' use of a widow as His example.

5. Jesus gave no instruction that constitutes a separate lesson apart from “Beware of the Scribes”, i.e., He did not tell the disciples “Go thou and do likewise.”

[thrufaithalone]

@SuesieakaSue The traditional interpretation always disturbed me. It didn't fit with the rest of the Bible's teaching on the subject. A close examination of the passage reveals where the traditional interpretation goes wrong:

1. Jesus actually says NOTHING to commend the widow for what she did. Words of praise are ABSENT.

NOTE: THERE ARE NO ADJECTIVES

2. Jesus' statement is one of RELATING FACTS as He observes (She gave more than they all because she cast in all her living)

[nanhei]

Quite right, it is amazing how we think in churches. For the truth about this story see thrufaithalone's "observations on the story of the widow's mites"