Sermon Bible Commentary

Mark 12:41-44

The Widow's Gift.

I. Look first at the giver; a widow and a poor widow. Sorrow often makes people selfish, but the benevolent donor in the case before us was a widow.

II. Look next at the gift. Two mites. Wealth called the offering small, commerce accounted it small, religious custom reckoned it small; but, in relation to the means of the donor and the heart of the donor, and in the judgment of God, the gift was exceedingly great.

III. The interest attaching to it is greatly increased by the place or scene of the gift. It was bestowed in the temple of God, it was deposited in one of thirteen boxes in the women's court. It is meet and right that we give where we receive. And what a place of blessing is a true house of the Lord; it is Bethel and holy ground; it is beautiful Zion and Bethesda, a house of light and love, of healing and salvation and redemption.

IV. And what, fourthly, was the object of this gift? These two mites were given as a freewill offering to the support of the temple, its institutions and its services, and the offering them, with this intent, constituted this poor widow a contributor to all that the temple yielded, to all it offered to heaven, and to all it gave to the children of men.

V. Note the spirit of the offering. The spirit of the offering was the spirit of true piety and of real godliness. It may be that in her worship she had been saying, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength," and that love, increased by worship, carried these two mites from her scrip to her hand, and from her hand to the treasury of the Lord.

VI. Notice the Divine recognition of the gift. Jesus Christ saw the gift, estimated it, approved it, and commended the giver.

VII. There is something to be learned from the fact that Jesus Christ calls attention to this gift. Such lessons as these: (1) That the greatness of a gift depends upon the possessions of the individual. After the gift has been made: (2) that grief need not hinder giving; (3) that we may learn well-doing from each other; (4) to act as under our great Master's eye.

S. Martin, Rain upon the Mown Grass,p. 380.

References: Mark 12:41. Christian World Pulpit,vol. iv., p. 277. Mark 12:41. H. W. Beecher, Ibid.,vol. i., p. 83; vol. xxviii., p. 140; W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 401; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iv., p. 152; Homiletic Magazine,vol. viii., p. 314.Mark 12:42. Ibid.,vol. vii., p. 150.

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Sermon Bible Commentary

Mark 12:41-44

Old Testament

New Testament