So this poor widow “gave everything she had” to the Temple, and yet–as Jesus Himself immediately warns–in 37 years the Temple would cease to exist. What a bad investment!  It would be like sinking all of your savings into a business that then goes bankrupt.  Or like a pastor pouring himself into serving a congregation that then has to close down.  What futility.  What a waste. And yet, Jesus commends the widow.  Poor as she is, she has given more than the rich.  Jesus praises this poverty-stricken, bereft woman

One of the speakers at the Rural and Small Town Ministry conference I attended was Rev. Timothy Koch, a fierce advocate for ministry to these “places no one wants to go to,” where the first thought about new pastors is “how long is he going to stay?”  Anyway, he gave a sermon on the Scripture reading for this Sunday, Mark 12:41-44, about the widow who gave “everything she had,” two coins that added up to a penny, into the Temple treasury.

Rev. Koch pointed to the very next passage in Mark, in which Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple.  “There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” (Mark 13: 2).  Indeed, in 37 years, the Romans would destroy Jerusalem and raze the Temple to the ground.

So this poor widow “gave everything she had” to the Temple, and yet–as Jesus Himself immediately warns–in 37 years the Temple would cease to exist.

What a bad investment!  It would be like sinking all of your savings into a business that then goes bankrupt.  Or like a pastor pouring himself into serving a congregation that then has to close down.  What futility.  What a waste.

And yet, Jesus commends the widow.  Poor as she is, she has given more than the rich.  Jesus praises this poverty-stricken, bereft woman, while saying “Beware” of the respected and status-hungry scribes (Mark 12:38-40).

What happens to the gift is not her concern.  She gives.

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