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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
June 6, 2026
Reading: Mark 12:38-44
As he taught, he said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
The unmarried women of the New Testament, women who had never married or were widowed or about to be divorced, faced deeply entrenched practices of shunning, rejection and abandonment. Often destitute, they were the most seemingly powerless members of first century society in Israel and, yet, in the New Testament, there are several stories of such women who display character, determination, integrity, strength a generosity of spirit, and most importantly, a deep, abiding, indestructible faith. The woman who gives “all that she had to live on” - two small copper coins is one such woman. Her generosity is a testimony to the faith that this woman held. She is an exemplar.
For she is more than her gender, her marital and socioeconomic status together would convey. Let us not regard her as the noble poor. Nor should we seize upon her offering as an exhibition of the oppression of the scribes. This, too, only points to her socio-economic position as a passive and invisible subject. And the focus of her giving should not be directed toward the temple system. Jesus’ focus is on her actions and their meaning. She came and put in two small coins, which are worth a penny. Her actions speak to a different way of living and being.
Unlike the scribes she has no need for the money of the rich, the long robes of the scribes or the respect shown in the marketplace. She has no need for the best seat in the house or the appearance of holiness. The absence of the widow’s need to have becomes her need not to have. So she does what seems to make no sense. She gives her last two coins. “She out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” For what else does a poor widow have to give? She has no abundance of riches.
Her riches have not come from acquiring but from letting go. Her spirituality is about letting go: letting go of comparison, competition, expectation, judgement; letting go of status, reputation and appearances; letting go of the need for power, to control, to succeed, to win, to be right; letting go of the need for approval and perfection; letting go of all the illusions we create or buy into in order to make ourselves feel better. Ultimately, it means letting go of ourselves and even the ones we love most.
Letting go reveals the fragility of life. It takes us to the border between life and death where there are no guarantees - only hope; where there are no answers - only faith; and where there is no security - only trust; This is where this woman lives. This is also where God lives.
Letting go reveals the fragility of life. It takes us to the border between life and death where there are no guarantees - only hope; where there are no answers - only faith; and where there is no security - only trust; This is where this woman lives. This is also where God lives.
Her two coins bear witness to this. The two coins, we are told, are worth a penny. What is intriguing about this fact is that one cannot make change from a penny. It is indivisible. It is whole, in complete union with itself. The two coins are the very symbols of her unceasing and unwavering faith and trust in him. “The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God will stand forever.” She is God’s alone. Her life and vision for herself rest with him alone. For she has complete confidence that God sees her as she is, sees her as one he created in his own image.
Simone Weil wrote: “The soul does not love like a creature with created love. The love within is divine, uncreated; for it is the love of God for God that is passing through it. God alone is capable of loving God. We can only consent to give up our own feelings as to allow free passage in our soul for this love. That is the meaning of denying oneself. We are created for this consent and for this alone.”
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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