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.
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