Mark 12:38-44
Mark 12:38-44
The Scribes and the Widow: Fake vs Authentic Discipleship
This is the final episode of Jesus’ public teaching ministry.
In it, He draws our attention to two types of people: the scribes and the widow.
The scribes were hyper-religious, domineering, power-hungry, and all about the show. They loved their status.
The widow, by contrast, was humble, and had a faith that was shown through quiet but radical obedience.
This is the story of two kinds of disciples. One false, the other true. One phony, the other authentic. One an impostor, the other an insider.
The reason this is such a vital message for us today is because deep in every heart lies the tendency to behave not like the widow but like the scribes, and it’s only in Jesus that true freedom from false religion is found.
Scribes:
38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes,
Beware of people who act like the scribes… and beware of becoming like the scribes ourselves.
What were they like?
In describing them, Jesus begins by highlighting their affections… He says, this is what they “like to” do.
Remember, God is ultimately looking at our hearts. He sees where our affections lie. He sees what we hold most dear.
who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,
The thing they held most dear… the thing that mattered more to them than anything else in the world… the greatest treasure of their hearts… was their own status. They wanted to be seen and admired and revered by others.
In Matthew’s parallel account, Jesus says of the scribes, “everything they do is for show” (see Matthew 23).
40 who devour widows’ houses
A widow in those days was considered the most vulnerable member of society, for obvious reasons. Nobody to provide for them; Nobody to protect them.
That’s why James says, “true religion is to take care of orphans and widows.”
Apparently, these religious leaders were gaining the trust of vulnerable widows, and persuading them to give up their precious resources in the name of “God”.
and for a pretense make long prayers.
They were even using prayer as a way of trying to impress the people around them.
Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
For clarity: it’s not the length of their prayers that was the issue, it was the heart behind them. For them, prayer had become just another way of trying to impress people.
They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Literally, in Greek the phrase is “abundant judgment”.
Don’t forget: these were the ones who were supposed to be the most trustworthy, the most godly, the most holy… and yet they were taking advantage of vulnerable people for their own gain.
James makes it clear that “teachers… will be judged more strictly”.
Beware of scribes. They exist in various forms today.
Beware of becoming like the scribes. There’s something in all of our hearts that desires human applause.
We all need to search our hearts and ask the question, “whose glorification am I after”?
God says in Isaiah 42:8 (NLT): 8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.
The Widow:
Now contrast the scribes who represent the worst possible example of discipleship, with this widow…
41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, (two lepta - the smallest coins in circulation at the time) which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
She gave everything.
In God’s economy, it’s not the outward show that matters; it’s the heart.
Think of the faith it would have taken for this woman to put that last penny in the offering. Think of how dependent she would have been on God in that moment; the trust she would have had to possess.
Also, think of the irony:
The scribes did everything to be noticed by people, and that got them nowhere with God.
Yet here’s this poor woman giving secretly, unaware that God Himself was standing a few feet away watching her, and certainly not aware that this would become the most famous donation that has ever been made in the history of the world!
Last time we heart Jesus give the greatest commandment: To love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Think of the heart it would take to give God all your resources.
Think of how your soul would need to be oriented towards eternal things rather than temporal things.
Think of how your mind would have to be completely resolved to love God.
Think of how your will would need to be totally subject to God’s will.
This woman gave true worship to the Lord, and in doing so she became the archetype of true discipleship.
All through the gospel of Mark, true discipleship has been marked by a willingness to give God our everything.
1:17 to Simon and Andrew: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”... and they “left their nets and followed him”.
2:14 He calls Levi the tax collector to follow Him, and it says “he rose and followed Him”. He left his status, His livelihood, His sense of security, in order to follow Jesus.
In chapter 5: Jesus encounters the demon possessed man on the other side of the sea, who was living among the tombs. He radically transforms him, then He calls Him to be a missionary to his own people.
What would it look like for you to bring God your everything?
Maybe it’s using your finances to bless someone else in need.
Maybe it’s taking that leap of faith to talk to someone in your circle of impact about the gospel.
Maybe it’s reaching out to someone you’re at odds with and apologizing.
Maybe it’s extending costly forgiveness to someone who wronged you.
Finally, let me ask this: Who is the ultimate example of ‘giving their everything’?
Jesus.
Jesus had all the status in the universe as God. And yet Philippians 2 tells us that He did not grasp onto that status but rather emptied Himself and took the form of a humble servant.
Jesus offered not just all that He had, but His very life for the preservation of other’s lives for all eternity.
Jesus didn’t just give up some creature comforts for the sake of others, He endured the great, focused wrath of God upon Himself, and He did this to save His enemies and make us into adopted children of God by faith.
Why can we behave like the widow and love God sacrificially without concern for our own self-aggrandizement or self-preservation?
It’s because…
Romans 8:28–39 (ESV):
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In short, the reason we can safely behave like the widow and give God our everything is because God already gave us His everything in Christ.