Read Mark 12:38-44

Friday

Read Mark 12:38-44

³⁸As he taught them, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and be greeted with respect in the market place, ³⁹who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts. ⁴⁰They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse!”

41 As Jesus sat near the temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money; ⁴²then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. ⁴³He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. ⁴⁴For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had—she gave all she had to live on.”

Think

Jesus is very critical of religion that functions without love.  The teachers might have insisted on laws around tithing even when that meant a widow might lose all her property in order to keep up her relationship with the religious system.  Jesus warns that these sorts of religious practitioners would be punished most severely.

Pray

Help our church to be just in the way that we use the money that is given; and help me as I give - to give in freedom - not out of obligation.