TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE STORY OF THE WIDOW GIVING HER LAST MONEY

Luke 20: 45– Luke 21:6 This story parallels Mark 12:38 – 13:2

This biblical information may be surprising.

First of all, remember:

Numbering chapters in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures (the Bible) was added only in the thirteenth century.
Numbering the verses started in the sixteenth century
when they first started to print Bibles.
The biblical accounts were written without breaking them into parts.

Therefore . . . try reading the following passage as a whole to see what difference this grouping makes in its meaning.

Read Luke 20: 45 – Luke 21:6 aloud, as one story! Notice:

1. In Luke 20: 45 – 47, Jesus accuses the teachers of the Law of being corrupt, of taking advantage of widows and robbing them of their homes.

2. When people gave money, the priests announced aloud how much they gave. Jesus sees that a poor widow has given all she has to live on.

3. Notice that in the next part, disciples see how beautiful the temple is (probably in the setting sun). But Jesus warns them about the destruction of the temple and coming persecution.

3. Why does this story come between Jesus’ warnings against the teachers’ corruption in taking advantage of the poor and his telling the disciples about the destruction of the temple? Why does this section lead listeners into the story of Jesus’ Suffering and death?

This story is similar in both Mark 12:38 – 13:2 and Luke 20: 45 – 21:6

Japanese theologian, Hisako Kinukawa, asks why this parable of the widow comes between Jesus’ condemnation of teachers of the law who oppress widows and his threat of the destruction of the temple. Hisako explains: (Women and Jesus in Mark. 1994)

a. First of all, all these parts belong together. (The divisions into chapters and verses were added only in the 13th and 16th centuries.)

b. The temple in Jerusalem was a self-contained religious, economic, political, social system.

c. Jesus feels compassion for the widow who gave all and is angry at the leaders of the temple for teaching the poorest to give their last bit of money. The temple system that oppresses the poor cannot last. It will be destroyed. Not a stone will be left on a stone because it is corrupt and oppresses the poor.

d. Since Jesus made the chief priests and teachers of the Law so angry by what he said, they tried to find a way of putting him to death. (Luke 22:1-2). This section leads the readers into the story of Jesus’ suffering and death.

Timothy PalecznyOctober 3, 2021