[1] And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. [2] And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. [3] And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: [4] For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

With this acted parable of the rich men and the poor widow, Jesus is establishing how God evaluates our gifts to Him. He does not look at the amount of the gift, but rather considers the hardship that giving the gift imposes upon the giver.
The rich men didn’t even miss the gift they gave to the Lord, because they had so much. The poor widow gave all that she had and because of this most likely even suffered hunger. Our money represents our life because we have to take part of our life or time to earn our money. When we give our money to the Lord we are really giving the Lord part of our life or time.
The poor widow gave all that she had. She was giving all her life to the Lord. The word “living” in verse 4 is the Greek word “Bios” # 979 in Strong’s Concordance and it means “life.” The poor widow was converted in heart and all her life was given to serving the Lord. In the acted parable the “woman” represents the church. The church is to be made up of converted people who are giving all their life to serving the Lord. The rich men represent people in the church who are not converted. Their “giving” is for show. They are not willing to surrender all to the Lord but are selfish. They are physically rich, but spiritually poor. The poor widow was physically poor but spiritually rich.
The condition of the rich men is described in Revelation 3:17-18 and James 5:1-6. Their character is defective and unless they take the counsel of the Lord in Revelation 3:18 they will be lost. Men look on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. The rich men probably gave a very large amount of money and because of this obtained great respect from men. On the other hand they had no respect for the tiny money gift of the poor widow.
Fortunately for us God is no respecter of persons. Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.

1 See Study Guide # 502 Foxes Have Holes and Birds Have Nests.

2 See Bible Parables Made Simple Vol. I for complete explanation.

3 See Study Guide Put Your hand to the Plow for complete explanation.

128

¹↩︎
²↩︎
³↩︎