Tithing Offering

Mark 12:41–44 ESV

41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Now comes, appropriately enough after this warning, the story of the widow’s gift. Avarice and nominal religion, with all its pomp and show, have just been castigated.

Here by contrast is one of the very group who are made a prey by the scribes, a widow who, out of poverty and true devotion to God, makes an offering unseen and unnoticed, except by Jesus. Together, the pictures are a matching pair, emphasizing the strong contrast. Jesus, of course, did not deny that the rich gave large sums; he merely said that the widow gave still more, for theirs was only a contribution, generous though it might be, while hers was a total sacrifice.

It is well to remember that God measures giving, not by what we give, but by what we keep for ourselves; and the widow kept nothing, but gave both coins, all that she had (verses 42 and 44). As Anderson well says, she could so legitimately have kept one for herself, but she did not.

Cole, R. A. (1989). Mark: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 276–277). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.