03-25-26

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 25, 2026
As we move toward the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Gospels don’t really provide us with a specific timeline until we reach the Passover (what would become the Last Supper), and even then, there are some differences in exactly how things played themselves out depending on which Gospel you are reading. According to Luke’s Gospel, sometime before Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Passover, he pointed out a widow who put her last two coins in the Temple’s collection box. There were actually thirteen trumpet-shaped collection containers in the Court of the Women, an outer court in the vast Temple complex. Jesus then turned to his disciples and says,

“I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than them all. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had to live on” (Luke 21:3-4). 

There is no question that this story could be used as an example of generosity, but I think it is so much more. Remembering that chapter and verse numbers were not added until 1,200 years after Jesus, we often assume that where a chapter ends and another begins, a new idea is being expressed. That’s not always the case. And in this case, I don’t think you can read this story apart from the teaching Jesus offers at the end of chapter 20. In talking about the religious leadership, including those associated with the Temple, Jesus pointed to their arrogance and how they “are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes” (Luke 20:47). 

By connecting those two stories, I believe Jesus was not only pointing out the injustice caused by the wealthy religious leadership robbing the most vulnerable of their homes, but then lifting up the widow’s bold statement as a way of saying, “You took almost everything. Well, here, have the rest!” It was a breathtaking act of rebellion. Even more so, I read it in the larger context of the Gospel. Throughout most of Jesus’ ministry, he helped people by feeding and healing them. There is no question that we are called to care for those who find themselves lost and in need. Yet here, it’s as if Jesus is wanting us to ask the questions, “Why are people hungry? How is that the sick are too often left to fend for themselves on the streets? Why do we scapegoat the most vulnerable as a way of deflecting from the real issues?” I believe Jesus was inviting us to pull back the curtain and ask the bigger and more systemic question: WHY? It is easier to give someone a meal or write a check. It is much harder to demand that the system that creates poverty, illness, and hatred be transformed. According to Luke’s Gospel, that might be one of the very last lessons Jesus gave his disciples before sitting down with them at the Last Supper.

For all the things Jesus invited us to do, Holy God, we pray for compassion that is able to respond to people’s immediate needs, while also having a passion for justice that brings about lasting transformation of the systems we live in. Amen.