The Widow and the Scribe
Author: Stan Guthrie
March 20, 2025
Editor’s note: For our third blog post of Lent, we reflect on the difference that the Lord—on His way to crucifixion—highlights between those who put God first and those who put themselves first. May we find ourselves in the first category.
On his way to the cross, Jesus keeps his eyes open. Teaching to the very end, the Lord highlights the spiritual examples, good and bad, of two very different people amid Jerusalem’s teeming throngs.
45And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
1Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” — Luke 20:45-21:4
Okay, I don’t know for sure whether Jesus, making his way to the Temple, was pointing out a particular scribe. Certainly there would have been no lack of flesh-and-blood options. Perhaps it’s just me, but I envision a scribe swishing past in his impressive robe, catching Jesus’ eye, and becoming the object lesson on this occasion. But, on the other hand, Jesus had just experienced the crafty questioning of some of the scribes in the city (19:47-48, 20:19-26, 39), so he didn’t need an additional reason to make examples of them.
Still, the juxtaposition here of his observations about scribes (and how they take advantage of widows) and a specific widow makes me suspect that Jesus was zeroing in on two actual people and their very different approaches to religion.
First, let’s look at what Jesus said about the scribe(s). During the time of Jesus, scribes were educated scholars, experts in the Torah. Their primary tasks included copying, teaching, and interpreting the Scriptures. This incredibly important role granted them a highly respected position within Jewish society—and rightly so. The Word was and is vital to our spiritual lives.
But their theological acumen didn’t always translate into what Jesus elsewhere defined as the heart of the Law—loving God and loving neighbor. Jesus points out the scribes’ lack of love for God and his image-bearers. They:
- “like to walk around in long robes.”
- “love greetings in the marketplaces.”
- “[love] the best seats in the synagogues”
- “[love] the places of honor at feasts”
It wasn’t that the scribes completely lack the capacity to love. But their love too often focused on the wrong things. Instead of being directed outward, toward God and people, it was directed inward, toward themselves. The things they loved—fancy robes, public greetings, the best seats—were pathetic means to making themselves look better in front of others.
Seemingly to ensure that his hearers don’t miss the point, Jesus adds two damning indictments. The scribes:
- “devour widows’ houses” and
- “for a pretense make long prayers.”
Rather than loving widows as instructed in the Torah, the scribes devour their houses. While the precise nature of this offense is left unspecified, clearly they were unjustly consuming the resources of poor and vulnerable widows, metaphorically eating them out of house and home. But this was not the way of Yahweh. As Deuteronomy 10:18 affirms, “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.” The scribes knew this better than anyone. No wonder Jesus is so definitive in his judgment.
And rather than loving God as they ought, the scribes make a show—a pretense—of praying. Again, they have their eyes not on God, but on the people around them. Their long prayers are intended to impress others, not to connect with God. But the Son of God, seeing their showboating in Jerusalem, is not impressed. Only God’s just condemnation awaits them.
Contrast the flashy-robed scribe’s self-centered religious showmanship with the breathtaking faith of the soon-to-be-penniless widow. At the Temple, she puts in “two small copper coins,” called leptas, each worth about 1/128th of a denarius, or a day’s wage for a laborer. It is a pittance, especially compared with what others are giving.
But Jesus doesn’t view money as we do. He sees her offering as gigantic, “more than all of them.” Why? “For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” This desperate woman long ago gave up spiritual pretense. Unlike the scribe with the roving eyes, she is focused on God. She is living life in the raw, without guardrails, determined to trust the Lord who loves widows, even if it means her death. The two copper coins are “all she had to live on.” But holding one of them back doesn’t even cross her mind. She’s all in.
The widow shows it’s not the size of the gift but the size of the heart. Hers is an extravagant, anonymous act of faith and love. The pretentious scribe has been devouring widows’ houses, perhaps even the humble dwelling of this widow. But she has gone to the house of God to give away her house—to the Lord. Now, only he can save her. But will he?
I believe that if the widow’s eyes had met those of the soon-to-die Jesus at the Temple, she would have known the answer.
Stan Guthrie is Minister of Communications for New Covenant Church in Naperville, Illinois.
Image: James Tissot Nantes, France, 1836–1902, Chenecey–Buillon, France. The Widow's Mite (Le denier de la veuve), 1886–1894. Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.211. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 00.159.211_transp5906.jpg)
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