3. Jesus' condemnation of hypocrisy and commendation of reality 12:38-44

Jesus proceeded to condemn His accusers who had condemned Him. They had condemned Him because He did not fit their ideas of Messiah. He had shown that the Old Testament presented a different Messiah than the one they wanted. Now He condemned them for failing to measure up to what the Old Testament required of them. This section concludes Mark's account of Jesus' public ministry and resumes Jesus' teaching of His disciples.

 Jesus' condemnation of hypocrisy 12:38-40 (cf. Matt. 23:1-39; Luke 20:45-47)

Mark condensed Jesus' comments that Matthew recorded extensively to give the essence of Jesus' criticism. These words signal Jesus' final break with Israel's official leaders.

12:38-39 Jesus condemned the religious leaders for having the attitude of lords rather than that of servants. He spoke of the religious teachers as a group, though there were exceptional individuals, of course (cf., e.g., v. 34).

12:40 This verse "passes from their ostentatious manners to their corrupt morals."³⁰¹Teachers of the law did not receive an income from the state; they depended on voluntary contributions.³⁰²This led some of them to prey on the sympathy of others, even widows who needed all their income simply to survive. This reference sets the stage for the next incident (vv. 41-44).

Their typically long prayers presented an impression of piety that masked greed. They pretended to love God greatly, but their aim was to get people to love them greatly. The result would be greater condemnation when they stood before God's judgment bar. Here is another indication that there are degrees of punishment (cf. James 3:1; et al.).

 Jesus' commendation of reality 12:41-44 (cf. Luke 21:1-4) 

This incident contrasts the spiritual poverty and physical prosperity of the scribes with the physical poverty and spiritual prosperity of the widow. It also contrasts the greed of the scribes with the generosity of the widow. It resumes Jesus' instruction of His disciples (12:41-13:37).³⁰³

12:41-42 There were 13 trumpet-shaped metal receptacles (Heb. shofar) that the priests had placed against a wall of the women's courtyard to receive the Jews' offerings.³⁰⁴The court of the women was within the court of the Gentiles, the outermost court of the temple. A low barrier separated the court of the Gentiles from the other courtyards and the temple building that lay within this enclosure. The court of the women was farther from the temple building than the court of Israel, which only Jewish men could enter, or the court of the priests, which only the priests could enter. Jesus had given His preceding teaching in the court of the Gentiles. Now He evidently moved into the court of the women.

While there he observed how (Gr. pos) the Jewish men and women who had come to celebrate Passover were putting their voluntary contributions into the receptacles.

The woman whom Jesus observed was not only a widow but a poor widow. She contrasts with the many wealthy people there. The two small bronze coins (Gr. lepta) that the widow contributed were together worth about one sixty-fourth of a denarius, the day's wage of a working man in Palestine. Mark told his Roman readers that they were worth "a fraction of"(NIV) one Roman cent (Gr. kodrantes, a transliteration of the Latin quadrans).

12:43-44 Mark stressed the importance of this lesson for disciples by noting that Jesus called His disciples to Him and then prefaced His statement with "Truly I say to you"(NASB). The poor widow's offering was more than the others because it cost her more to give it and because she gave it willingly nevertheless. Her sacrifice expressed her love for God and her trust in God to sustain her (cf. 1 Kings 17:8-16).

"The means of the giver and the motive are the measure of true generosity."³⁰⁵

"The test of liberality is not what is given, but what is left."³⁰⁶

Here is another instructive example of a person with a servant's attitude who gave her all, as little as that was, to God (cf. 10:45). Jesus and Mark taught disciples how God values wholehearted commitment to Himself with this incident.