Pentecost 25 B: Seeing the Widow

Mark 12:38-34 Dear Partner in Preaching, I do not know what to do with this widow. I am not even sure why Mark shares this story or what Jesus means when he draws the attention of his disciples to her. Most regularly, interpreters over the years offer us two possibilities. She is either an example of incredible stewardship to inspire and motivate us or an example of uncaring exploitation meant to warn and anger us. If the former, then Jesus invites us to imagine that it is not so much the gross amount we give that matters but what that amount means to us. This widow, unlike the scribes, does not give out of a desire to be noticed but rather...

Mark 12:41-44

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has...