Mark 12:38-44 - All she had to live on

12:38-40

Jesus then warns the crowds about the teachers of the law. Note that He attacks their behaviour. Now we might think that you should only attach their teaching, and not make personal attacks. There is some value in this, but behaviour does matter. The teachers of the law had a proud and self-serving attitude. They enjoyed the status of being a teacher and the kudos that went with it. But they also exploited widows, while at the same time offering lengthy prayers. “They will be punished most severely”. There are at least two things we can learn from this. The first is to watch our own lives. A consistent theme of Jesus’ teaching and His life was one of servanthood. We should see ourselves as servants of Christ and of the people. We must not give in to any self-serving temptation. The second is that there is a time to make outright criticisms of leaders who are clearly not serving God. Naturally we do need to be very careful with this, but there is a time to call a spade a spade.

12:41-44

Having given a negative lesson, a warning about how things should not be. Jesus now commends a person, and it is someone who would be regarded as being of no importance by the religious leaders, but God observed her. It was also a woman! The rich people were donating large sums to the temple, possibly making a show of it. The widow put in what was a very small amount numerically, but it represented all of her life. Jesus sees the heart of the giver. We should be very careful how we judge people.