Profit Motive

This short passage completes Jesus’ indictment on false religion. These leaders may be lining their pockets at the expense of true believers, and their generous financial donations to the Temple are worthless. To borrow some of Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, they have already “received their reward in full” (Matt. 6:2). In fact, in this specific scenario there is also an issue of gross injustice. They privately devour widows’ houses (20:47) and in public further humiliate them by their lavish gifts.  Jesus offers a radical definition of charitable giving. Instead of measuring the gift’s financial value, he questions the cost to the giver. The widow gave little but it was all she had to live on. The religious leaders gave huge amounts but still had vast amounts of surplus cash left over. It cost them nothing to bless God; it cost this woman everything.