Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

1) What did Jesus look up from?
This brief, but powerful teaching moment happens as an “aside” or an “interruption” while Jesus is in the middle of talking to His disciples. Jesus had been engaging with the Sadducees and Pharisees (religious leaders) declaring Himself to be God and confronting their prideful arrogance. He had just turned to his disciples, warning them of those whose religious piety is merely a show, all false pretense without substance, and would actually end in condemnation without salvation.

2) What is significant about the giver being a widow?
Throughout Scripture, God instructs His people to specifically care for orphans and widows. In fact, even in the verses right before these, Jesus is using the actions of the scribes who “devour widows’ houses” as an example of their pride and lack of true heart-change. Ironically, just as Jesus was speaking these words, He looks up to see a widow who was giving her everything as an offering. She was a living example of the “heart position” before God that Jesus wanted His disciples to see and grow into.

3) What is Jesus most focused on in this passage and why?
Jesus cared not one bit about the amount that was given….He cared about what that amount displayed about the heart if the giver. Those who “gave from abundance” wouldn’t even miss what they offered up. The widow who gave “out of her poverty”, cared significantly more about honoring God than she cared about honoring herself. She proved that she trusted God far more than she trusted herself. God calls us to honor Him with our wealth; this widow honored Him with her poverty.

4) Are we asked to give up “everything” we have to live on?
Yes and no. When we surrender to Jesus, it’s a complete surrender, which includes our finances, our time, our possessions, even our relationships. Choosing Jesus is, in essence, agreeing that He will be a better ruler of our hearts and lives and everything those encompass than we could possibly be. When we look at all we have through that lens, giving generously and living sacrificially move from “burden” to “delight”.

1) What did Jesus look up from?
The fact that Jesus was never so distracted by His mission that He failed to miss out on the opportunities around Him is hugely significant for us. Jesus came to earth to teach, preach, make disciples, and offer up Himself as a sacrifice for our sin, and He never closed His eyes to the reality around Him. Let’s pray for God to break off our own “blinders” and remind us that He places teaching moments around us everyday if we will look up!

2) What is significant about the giver being a widow?
When it comes to giving our everything to follow Jesus, no one is exempt from sacrificial, generous living. If even the widow, who was called out in Scripture to be cared for and protected, wasn’t exempt from sacrifice, then neither are any of us. Our life circumstances should not dictate our level of generosity. The widow saw her offering as non-negotiable, and Jesus saw her heart of faith and love, declaring that she was even more generous than all the others who had given. Be challenged to consider how you view sacrificial living!

3) What is Jesus most focused on in this passage and why?
What if we looked at sacrifice and generosity the way that Jesus did? Instead of worrying about dollar amounts, what if we focused instead on our heart motives and decided what to give or how to live based on what Jesus had done in us? Whatever we have, we can choose to honor God with it, or we can honor ourselves; the choice is ours.

4) Are we asked to give up “everything” we have to live on?
Because we know Jesus will handle our money better than us, we are then free to give as generously as the Spirit leads us to at any given moment. Is God calling each of us to become utterly penniless? No, wealth is never condemned in the Bible, but if He did ask you, would you say yes? Which lens are you using to view your wealth, possessions, and time? Yours or the Father’s, who gave it to you in the first place?

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Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

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Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

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