Lewis (H. Elvet), in Women of the Bible, ii. 195.
M'Neill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, ii. 65.
Maturin (B. W.), Sovie Principles and Practices of the Spiritual Life,
73. Pulsford (J.), Loyalty to Christ, 60. Purves (P. C), The Divine Cure for HeaH Trouble, 113. Sliepard (J. W.), Light and Life, 192.
Christian World Pulpit, xix. 44 (Walters) ; Ixiv. 179 (Parkhurst). Treasury, xxi. 479 (Hallock).
All that She Had.
And he sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury : and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and said unto them. Verily I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than all they which are casting into the treasury : for they all did cast in of their superfluity ; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. — zii. 41-44.
This beautiful incident, as recorded by the evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke, is immediately followed by Christ's prophecy of the overthrow of the Temple. We have before us a picture- study in contrasts.
1. A scene Within the Temple. — It occurred in the Women's Court, where the Treasury, or the thirteen brazen chests, popularly known as " the Trumpets," were kept. The offerings cast at certain seasons into these " Trumpets " were devoted mainly to the maintenance of the sacred building and to de- fraying the expenses of Divine worship. To this fund every pious Jew was expected to contribute. Before the birth of Christ a movement had been inaugurated by Herod the Great for the completion and adornment of the Temple, and the furtherance of this work of national piety was regarded as a patriotic as well as a religious duty. This public giving was part of the established routine of the holy place, and the publicity of it was, no doubt, calculated upon as a spur to generosity. The religious Jew of those days was not above parading his good deeds, and if he gave a handsome sum to the Temple fund he preferred to do it in the presence of admiring spectators and with a certain amount of dramatic effect. Those rich men had no idea that the eyes of " the Judge of quick and dead " were resting upon them. And this, of course, is quite as true of the
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354 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
poor widow, concerning whom our Lord spoke those penetrating words of appreciation and foresight, as it was of the self-satisfied givers of large sums.
2. The Temple from Without. — We in these days of modern civilisation, and with our colder northern temperament, can perhaps scarcely realise the pride and glory of the Jewish heart in that wonderful structure. It was associated with the antiquity of their nation, and seemed to stand like a visible link connecting them with their glorious forefathers of the olden time. Around it clustered all those emotions of patriotism which burned so fiercely in the Hebrew nature ; while with its awful Holy of Holies and mystic altars, it became the symbol of the sublime worship of the one Jehovah which had for ages made their nation stand in lonely pre-eminence as the single witness for the true Lord of men. So that the trinity of emotions — I^ationality, Patriotism, Devotion — which marked the national character of the Jews, were all centred on that Temple at Jerusalem.
In the disciples these feelings must have existed, but they had become softened, and in one sense deepened, by the influence of the Saviour. The grandeur of the Temple had excited the awe and wonder of their boyhood, but their associa- tions with it had been strengthened by the change wrought in them through the companionship of Christ. He had told them of the Father in heaven ; and as they worshipped before the veil that hid the burning glory, His house became more truly the house of God, He had told them of a Kingdom of heaven ; and as they heard on the great feast days the Psalms of David rolling through its archways, they must have felt more than ever that that kingdom was near. So that on that evening, as they were going out with Christ to the Mount of Olives, and the gold and marble of the Temple shone resplendent in the setting sun, it was most natural that their enthusiasm should burst forth in the admiring cry — " Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here ! "
3. These two pictures taken together present a significant contrast. "While the disciples were wondering at the majestic carved stone-work as a great offering dedicated by man to God, Christ had seen in the trembling gift of the widow an offering
ST. MARK 355
equally great in the eye of heaven — the offering of a loyal heart. Others, too, had brought their offerings, gifts which in the world's eye might even be comparable to the glorious stones, while presumably this poor woman's offering had passed un- noticed save by the eyes of One in whose estimation she had brought "more than all." The stones of the Temple and the widow's heart ! The disciples saw God's dwelling-place in the house of stone, with its Holy of Holies and altar of sacrifice ; Christ saw it in the devoted heart of a widow. This idea characterised all His teaching; it is the inner motive and heart, as He constantly proclaimed, that God regards, and it is in the spirit that He must be served. " The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him." This poor woman, unknown and unnoticed except by the Divine eye, had come in her poverty, and had given all she had for God's service — there was the true altar of sacrifice.