The Widows Mit(ght Overthrow the Exploitative Economic System and the People Profiting from it)
Mark 12:38-44
Mark 12:38-44 - You can read it by clicking here.
The story that is often referred to as “The Widow’s Mite,” is another passage that is often used to praise the status quo, people giving what they can even when it is meager. As with most things that Jesus says, if we are reading it to uphold the status quo, we are probably reading it wrong. In his time, much like ours, there was a large gap between the wealthy and the poor. The scribes that Jesus discusses were people with power and influence who were benefiting from the economic order of the day. The poor widow on the other hand, has very little to give or to live on, and she is very obviously not benefiting from that system. Jesus explains that she gives everything she has to the treasury. This story of the widow’s offering is often explained as an exhortation for the reader to give more, but I think there is a lot more going on here.
Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.
This section begins with Jesus describing people with power and respect, and condemns them for their behavior. Jesus says the scribes, “devour widows’ houses,” to tell us that their material wealth is taken from widows. Jesus then gives an example of a widow putting all of her money into the treasury. These two references to widows side by side is no coincidence. The widow putting her last two coins into the treasury is an example of what Jesus means by saying that the scribes devour widows’ houses. Therefore, the widow having to put her last coins into the treasury can’t be a good thing. Jesus is implicitly telling his disciples that the structures of power, and people like the scribes who benefit from that power, should not be paid for by the last coins of a poor woman.
The passage might seem to be extolling the giving heart of the widow, but the reality is that Jesus is simply explaining that she is sacrificing more than the rich people around her. Jesus sees “many rich people put in large sums” into the treasury. The economic customs at the time would mean that putting more into the treasury would be worth more than putting less into the treasury. Jesus reverses this understanding by saying that the widow gives more than the rich people around her. Her two coins are worth more than the sacks of coins of the wealthy people around her. Jesus turns the very idea of value on its head by saying that the coins have value because of how they relate to the people holding them, rather than because of their value in exchange for other goods. This goes along with the “last shall be first” reversal of fortune theme we have seen in the last several passages.
Jesus does not at any point say that it was good that she put the coins in the treasury. He only says that they were worth more. He is angry that she is putting those coins in, and you can tell from the very next verse after this passage, which we will talk about more next week. In the next verse the disciples remark on how big the temple is and Jesus says that it will be destroyed. These three sections all go together. Jesus says beware the people benefiting from this system. Then he feels bad for a person being exploited by the system. Then he explains the enormous building representing this terrible system will be torn to the ground.
This is radical stuff, and to reduce it to a story about the importance of giving even when it's hard is to miss it’s heart entirely. Jesus says the system of his day is terrible and needs to be torn down. What do you think he would say today?