Mark 12:43 — Community Reflections

MARK 12:43 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:”

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others — the calling of the disciples communicates that the widow's offering requires a formal teaching moment. The counterintuitive claim — she has put in more — requires the explanation that follows. More by what standard? The standard that the teaching will reveal: not the amount given but the proportion of the whole, not the gift's face value but its cost to the giver.

Church Fathers on Mark 12:43

The Lord, who had warned them to avoid the desire of high place and vain glory, now distinguishes by a sure test those who brought in gifts.
Bede · 8th century

Now there was a praiseworthy custom amongst the Jews, that those who were able and willing should put something into the treasury, for the maintenance of the priests, the poor, and the widows.
Theophylact · 11th century

But in a mystical sense, they are rich, who bring forth from the treasure of their heart things new and old, which are the obscure and hidden things of Divine wisdom in both testaments; but who is the poor woman, if it be not I and those like me, who cast in what I can, and have the will to explain to you, where I have, not the power. For God does not consider how much ye bear, but what is the store from which it comes; but each at all events can bring his farthing, that is,…
Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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