The Woman who gave All..
Back in the year 2007, it was the day when we are about to play Inter College Basketball final against Shillong College, our hired professional coach, Indian- Australian Coach Vijay took us to our biggest college auditorium. Knowing that we do not perform very well against St. Edmund’s College, he had asked his assistants to arrange the chair in a circle, wherein the players seated together forming a circle. He first of all played a very loud rock song through the auditorium music system. We just kept silent and listen. Then, with the bad performance though winning marginally in the semi-final, he had prepared us to ready for the big and large crowd at NEHU Complex Basketball Auditorium. Then, he said three times. Give your all! Give your all! Give your all! Then, we headed towards NEHU Complex but unfortunately lost to Shillong College, making the administrative heads of our college into sad disappointment since the college had won that basketball for three consecutive years. But the players give all that we can.
Let the Word of my mouth and the meditation of our heart acceptable in your sight, O Lord our Rock and Redeemer. Amen.
Background of Mark:
The Gospel according to Mark was thought to be written in Rome due to the Latin loan words in the Greek text and by the atmosphere of impending persecution that pervades the gospel. Since Mark 13 does not presuppose the destruction of Jerusalem Temple, the Gospel was most likely composed before AD 70 making it the earliest gospel. The reason for declaring that Mark is the first gospel is due to the fact that the quality of Mark’s Greek is inferior to that of Matthew and Luke. Besides, it is the shortest of the gospel. A setting at Rome seems best, for then the Christian community lived under the threat (or reality) of persecution. As the first one to write an account of Jesus’ ministry in an orderly fashion, Mark appears to have created a model followed and developed by other evangelists. Amongst the other purpose of writing this gospel, one important thing which cannot be neglect is that Mark wrote his gospel to deepen the faith of the members of his community. By showing them how the traditions about Jesus related to their belief in the saving significance of the cross and the resurrection, the evangelist equipped them to face persecution and resist the temptations of their world.
Context of the Text:
(Keeping this thing in mind, Let me take you to the context of the chosen text for this morning meditation which will be followed by an exegetical presentation of the verse which is Mark 12:44).
The story of the poor widow with her two coins is located at the end of Jesus confrontation with the authorities in Jerusalem. He begins by rejecting Davidic messianism (12:35-37) and ends with his harsh attack on the political economy of the temple (12:38-44). A sharp contrast between rich scribes and poor widows (12:40) leads into the final episode of the poor widow (12:41-44), which tells how the temple-centred spirituality has become the façade for exploitation. Mark framework of reference is Jesus’ harsh opposition to the temple-state. The narrative keeps reminding us of the importance of Jesus’ final confrontation with all sectors of the ruling class, including the chief priests, elders, scribes (11:18, 27;12:12,28), and even the Saducees (12:18). These authorities, who usually are engaged in strife with one another, now conspire to oppose Jesus, for Jesus is a threat to their power. It is in the context of temple-centred religion that this story is located. There are scribes who take large sums from widows as a reward for the prolonged prayer that they profess to make on their behalf. Religious leaders make undue use of their influence over wealthy widows in the cause of religious institutions. The story is located just before Jesus eschatological warnings (13:1-37), which predict that the temple – the political and social symbol of the religious state – will be completely thrown down. A parallel story does not occur in Matthew. While Luke may use the widow as such a model for readers (Luke 21:1-4)
Now in the preceding verses, we had seen two contrasting incidents of scribes and widows. The kind of scribes criticized here was putting themselves on public display, especially in religious contexts. The preceding verse had told us that “Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and watched carefully the crowd putting money into the treasury. Thus he intentionally takes a position from which he can see clearly what is happening like what he did in 13:3 when he sat on Mount of Olives. This position suggests that he was concentrating on the whole issue Mark tells us in 12:41; Jesus “watched” the people casting in their money. The verb is in the imperfect tense, and suggests not a simple look, but careful watching.
While Jesus is observing how the wealthy are making their contributions to the treasury, suddenly one lone and impoverished widow enters the scene. The woman is nameless. Interestingly the word used to describe of that woman “poor” is ptochos, and describes abject poverty of a pauper rather than a poor peasant. We have no record of any word she uttered. As far as we know our Lord did not speak to her. Most likely, she never knew what Jesus said concerning her. She simply passed along with the crowd, throw her two small copper coins into the box and passed on by out the women’s courts, not saying a word to anyone. The coins she contributes lepton was the smallest Jewish copper coin. Lepta are the smallest coins of the Greco-Roman world- two lepta is roughly 1/64 of a day’s wage. These donations go to the maintenance of the Temple worship, its building, the priests, the furnishings, etc. What Jesus has to say is to His disciples, apparently semi-privately because He called His disciples to Himself to say what He had to say.
What that offering means for Jesus’ disciples, the reader, and the widow’s well-being all become crucial questions at the close of this passage, which takes us into the text chosen for this morning meditation which is verse 44 which is the word of Jesus to his disciples.
“For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
The 3rd Edition of the Greek New Testament divided the verse we are about to meditate into two pieces which however I will divide into three pieces that goes along with the divisions that most English version follows. This culmination is indeed the word of Christ to his disciples that means after all they had to learn from the widow.
44.a Her self-denying service pa,ntej ga.r evk tou/ perisseu,ontoj auvtoi/j e;balon (Pantes gar ek tu perisseuontos autois ebalon) is translated in the NRSV as ‘For all of them have contributed out of their abundance’. In the preceding verse, Jesus holds the opinion that the widow who had given only two small coins had gave more than the scribes. Therefore the first word ‘for’ ‘Gar’ here is used for assigning reason which is used for an argument explanation that explains the previous verse wherein Jesus declares to his disciples that the widow had put in more than the other contributors. The key phrase here in v.44.a is evk tou/ perisseu,ontoj. The word perisseu,ontoj is the present active participle of perisseuw which literally means to super abound. The word can also mean surplus. It can also mean ‘superabundance’ or ‘superfluity’ The word chosen here is then to be in abundance. In the KJV definition it is the position of having enough and to spare. Ek here is simply means ‘out of’. pa,ntej is nominative masculine plural all, that indicates that the scribes were male which is the opposite of pasai which is nominative feminine plural.
This piece of verse 44 had a deep meaning with Paul’s praises of the churches of Macedonia, whose “deep poverty” had “abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). The KJV version had translated it as like this ‘For all they did cast in of their abundance’ while the NIV had translated like this, ‘They all gave out of their wealth’ however looking at the context itself it will be preferable to translate ‘for all of them have thrown out of their abundance. The word thrown perhaps is preferable due to the fact that the scribes do not gently put their money on the box rather throw in order to show what they possess. This box is near the entrance to the temple, thus accessible to everyone. Remember this is the time before cheques and paper money. Everything is coins. Coins make noise when they fall into the box. Big donors would get noticed. Big noise means big donation. Rich people are “throwing” since the verb here is ballw which can mean place, but usually means throw big donations. Not placing gently.
The scribes are abounded in the things of the world, of which they gave only a part; and though they might give much, they had enough remaining. They have given what they did not “need.” In doing it they have shown no self-denial. Theirs were easy gifts; hers was a hard one. They do not deny themselves of it. The widow by any means had given very less in the eyes of the world, but she forgets herself, she denies herself and give all. This is selfless service which the widow had shown examples. At this point the disciples may have recalled Jesus’ teaching on cross-bearing (8:34–38) and self-denying service to others (10:42–45). The poor widow has embodied that teaching in her own sacrificial giving. How different she is from the wealthy, who give only from their surplus after their own needs are satisfied and thus never feel the joyful pinch of self-denial in the cause of love. (12:28–34).
It is impossible in this world of diversity and complex problems and relationships to say that the
Selfless giving of one’s whole life or livelihood is easy or difficult. Even we as a student community had to leave our self when we prepare for ministering the word and to take care of the degenerating world that we live in. Many a time we do not deny ourselves at the time when it is time to give ourselves to sat down in our table to read and learn which is the main purpose we are here. We sometimes do not deny our pleasure reading, pleasure playing computer games, online at social network sites, etc. This of course must not be totally forsaken, yet many a times we do not deny our pleasure. Therefore, taking a cue from this widow it is imperative that we give our all not our part in preparing ourself for the ministry while we are young and enthusiastic in life. The Scribes had given part of what they have, not denying their own. What about us whether we deny ourselves the pleasure of life and give only that part or our all when we prepare ourselves for the ministry.
44.b The best in herself au[th de. evk th/j u`sterh,sewj auvth/j pa,nta o[sa ei=cen e;balen
aute de ek tes hustereseos autes panta hosa eichen ebalen is translated in the NRSV as ‘but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had’.
De here indicates that this sentence had a connection with the previous one, and a statement that points now to the widow from the other contributors. Again Ebalon is used which is a third aorist active indicative plural that comes from ballw which means to throw. eicen is 3rd person imperfect indicative active singular which implies the possession of the widow, the resource at her disposal. Now, the most significant word in this middle pieces of verse 44 is u`sterh,sewj that comes from usteresis which is genitive feminine singular meaning falling short, deficiency, want, need, poverty. The word o[sa which is translated as ‘everything’ literally means ‘as many as’. Everything for the widow means the best portion in her life. These two coins were her only and best possessions that she could give. Being very poor, she still offer as many as she can- everything she had. The value of the woman’s gift was measured, not by quantity, but its quality: in quantity it was two silver; in quality it was the gift of the best she had. From considering the corrupt character of the Scribes, Jesus must have turned with pleasure to look upon the beautiful heart of this devout widow..
To give our very best in us, there may be a time when we need to go extra mile, to sleep less while other are sleeping, to work more while friends down there are playing and enjoying. I remember how Cristiano Ronaldo, a son of sweeper in order to win Ballon’d or for three years need to put his best doing extra hard work on the training ground. It was on the year 2011 when a young talented Jese Rodriguez joined senior team of Real Madrid talked about Cristiano Ronaldo’s trying and giving his best. Now I quote Jese Rodriguez, “I remember beng called for my first training for Real Madrid. I went two hours earlier to impress the trainer. When I arrived, I saw Cristiano Ronaldo already training. Footballers are giving their best in the training pitch, UPSC adherents are giving their best in trying to recruit themselves as officers. Like the widow that Jesus is talking about, in a worldly matters our resource may not be the best when comparing and measuring with others, but Jesus who had a careful look at our heart desires that we give our best in whatever talents and resources that we have for serving him. Have we ever think before, Am I giving my best in my theological journey?
v. 44.c Her Genuine faith Mark 12:44 o[lon to.n bi,on auvth/
The Greek o[lon to.n bi,on auvth/j is translated in the NRSV as all she had to live on. o[lon comes from o[los which is accusative masculine singular that means whole or all completely, altogether. bi,on comes from bios which is accusative masculine singular, meaning the present state of existence livelihood. This word livelihood does not however must not be confused with the Greek word ‘zoe’ which means life. Βίος occurs here only in Mk and nowhere in Matthew or John, which is Mark’s fullness of expression. But in some case, it can also mean life itself. It means either “the physical life of human beings” (Luke 8:14; 1 Timothy 2:2; etc.) or “means of life” (here, Luke 8:43; Luke 15:12; Luke 15:30; Luke 21:4). The words are another instance of Mk’s fulness of expression. Therefore, choosing Mark’s fullness of expression, it may be perhaps better to put this piece into ‘all her livelihood’.
This last piece and the culmination of this verse simply mean that she trusted in God to supply her wants, and devoted her little property entirely to him. We may learn: her whole substance, all that she had in the world; what was to have bought her food, for that day; she left herself nothing, but gave away all, and trusted to providence for immediate supply. Out of her want, out of her destitution, she has cast in all that she possessed her whole means of subsistence. In love she devoted all to God, with strong faith in his providential care..
She is in real danger of imminent starvation. She could not have hoped for ‘glory of men’(Matthew 6:2). Jesus’ climactic comment instructs the disciples on the price of discipleship: It is a walk of faith. No provision was made for tomorrow. Human wisdom would have declared she certainly under these conditions had better keep everything she had. She might starve to death if she gives these last two small coins to God. She kept nothing, but gave all she had. As the Macedonians in 2 Corinthians 8:5, she first gave herself to the Lord . The rich religious leaders gave contributions, but she gave a true sacrifice with genuine faith to the Lord. .
After listening to various testimonies not only the present recently admitted students, we had heard that many are giving up our jobs. Many left the worldly wealth and the bright future in getting a well paid job which is precious in worldly matters. But however, when studying here, we can still have a doubt over our future. What if I am net selected as a probationary pastor. What If I did not get enough money to look after my family? As materialism and the quest for pleasure living in terms of money are fast growing, we may also be struck by these things. But the genuine faith shown by the poor widow is what we can learn today. She came alone in the temple, and was still left alone not knowing what the future holds. But her chose of putting her trust in the Almighty God who knows all her needs is the lesson that you and I can learn.
CONCLUSION
This is the true religion established by the teaching, the life, and the oncoming death and resurrection of Jesus. Unlike the rich man, whose wealth kept him from accepting Jesus’ call to discipleship in Mark 10:21-22, the widow gives her whole life and becomes a model for the disciples of Jesus. The poor widow had deny herself through faith and gave her all inspite of her pitiful conditions. Therefore, it is imperative that you and I imitate the widow who gave her all.
Think back at what God had said through Isaias – “What more could I have done for you than I have not already done?” The giver was now going to give more. The provider was now going to provide the ultimate. The one who spared Abraham’s son would not spare His own. The author of life would now demonstrate what it meant to sacrifice life. At the cross Jesus gave the final and the ultimate gift of unmerited favor. It is imperative that we give all like the widow as our expression of our gratitude. It was Edwin Arlington Robinson who has rightly said that there are two kinds of gratitude: the sudden kind we feel for what we take and the larger kind we feel for what we give. Now is not the time we take but it is the time that we give back and give ‘all’ to God’s kingdom.
(Pathianin min tanpui a. He sermon ka sawi zo hi chapel kan chhuak chiah kha Rev.Laltharzuala, khatih laia M.Th zirlai kha a rawn kal vang vang a, min rawn chibai. Malsawmtuin mal a sawm a, he sermon avang hian Rev. Liandoa Memorial Prize for Homiletics ka dawng ve hial,keini ang duang tan chuan thil ropui tak a ni ve a ani.)
An Old Soul stuffs 
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