Commentary
The Extent of One’s Trust in
God
In terms of
monetary value, the widow gives very little. She puts in two lepta, which “were worth one-sixty-fourth
of a day’s salary.” [1] That is the payment for seven and a half minutes of work by a
laborer who works eight hours a day.
But as Jesus
points out, she has given more than anybody else. The seven and a half minutes work worth of
salary is “all she has, her whole livelihood.”
Is Jesus here
encouraging his disciples, who have left all to follow him? When they were called, some left their “nets,
boats, hired hands, and father,” another left his tax collecting table to
follow Jesus. [2]
Then, we have
the example of Jesus himself, who by now, in the Gospel of Mark, is already in Jerusalem In just three chapters
(chapter 15), will give his very life out of obedience to the Father for the
salvation of all of humanity. [3]
That is the
attitude of trust in God when giving that we, the disciples of Jesus, are
called to follow.
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[1,2, & 3] Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary.
Peabody, MA: Hendrikson Publishers, 2002; p. 247.
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