Mark 12:41-44 The Value of Money
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 28, 2018, Mark 12:41-44
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Note 2: I recommend the images at <https://www.ritmeyer.com/2015/05/15/the-treasury-of-the-temple-in-jerusalem/> to help you visualize the temple of Jesus’ time.
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.
(Revelation of God / Understanding the Text) Did Jesus usually sit down and watch people? Was He resting after teaching, and this was just a convenient spot to sit down with His apostles? Was He wanting to teach the disciples this lesson and waited until just the right person came through to teach them? I sort of think it was the second one. Jesus had just gone through a long morning in the temple. He had had a confrontation with the Jewish council members, been tested by the Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, and taught lessons to the crowd in the temple. It must have been a long morning. Maybe, they stopped to eat either in the temple or maybe out of the temple and had now returned. After returning to the temple, the treasury area may have been the most convenient place to sit down and rest for a while. As I have looked at models of the temple, it may have been that they chose to sit in the shaded area of the treasury during the hot part of the day. At this time of year, it may have only been about 71 degrees according to the internet, but if the sun was strong, it still may have been better to sit at the side out of the sun.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus watched as person after person went over to the treasury to donate money. The ISBE dictionary says “In Herod’s temple the name ‘treasury’ was specially given to the ‘court of the women’ . . . where there were 13 trumpet-shaped boxes for the reception of the offerings of the worshippers. It was here that Jesus saw the poor widow cast in her two mites (Mar_12:41; Luk_21:1-4), and the court is expressly named the ‘treasury’ in Joh_8:20 : ‘These words spake he in the treasury, as he taught in the temple.’ It is a legitimate deduction that this court was the ordinary scene of the Lord’s ministry when teaching in the temple.” This dictionary says that the court of the women was the same as the treasury. It says that the boxes were trumpet shaped. One of the speakers I listened to said that the coins would make a jingling sound as they went down into the box.
Image taken from Hastings dictionary:
KEY TO PLAN OF HEROD’S TEMPLE AND COURTS.
a b c d, the surrounding balustrade (sôrçg). X Y Z, the terrace (chçl).
A, Court of the Women.
B B B, Court of Israel.
C C C, Court of the Priests.
D, altar of burnt-offering.
E F G, porch, holy place, and holy of holies. O, the laver.
H, 1–9, Gates of the Sanctuary (Middoth, i. 4, 5), viz.: 1, gate of the House Moked; 2, Corban gate; 3, gate Nitsus; 5, the gate of Nicanor, or the Beautiful Gate; 7, the water gate; 8, gate of the firstborn; 9, the fuel gate; 10, the ‘upper gate,’ wrongly called the gate of Nicanor.
K, the guardhouse Moked (= hearth).
L, the ‘northern edifice that was between the two gates’ (see BJ vi. ii 7 [Niese, § 150]). Here, it is suggested, the sacrificial victims were examined by the priests, having been brought in either by the underground passage shown on the plan, or by the ramp also shown. The upper storey may have contained the important ‘chamber of the councillors’ (parhedrin) (Yômâ, i. 1).
M, the chamber Gazith, in which the priests on duty assembled for prayer (Tamîd, iv. end). There are not sufficient data for fixing the location of the other chambers mentioned in the Mishna. Their distribution on the plan is purely conjectural.
The ‘great door of the house’ (20 cubits by 10) was ‘all over covered with gold,’ in front of which hung a richly embroidered Babylonian veil, while above the lintel was figured a huge golden vine (Jos. Ant. XV. xi. 3, BJ V. v. 4). The interior area of Herod’s Temple was, for obvious reasons, the same as that of its predecessors. A hall, 61 cubits long by 20 wide, was divided between the holy place (40 by 20, but with the height increased to 40 cubits [Middoth, iv. 6]) and the most holy place (20 by 20 by 20 high). The extra cubit was occupied by a double curtain embroidered in colours, which screened off ‘the holy of holies’ (cf. Midd. iv. 7 with Yômâ, v. 2). This is the veil of the Temple referred to in Mat_27:51 and || (cf. Heb_6:19 etc.).
Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 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. 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.”
This was the Passover time, so there would have been many people giving offerings. Many only came to the temple rarely or even once a year at Passover, so they would have taken this opportunity to give. Some had lots of money to give and probably gave it proudly feeling satisfied that they could stand among the givers. The widow also wanted to serve God at Passover, so she brought all she could to the offering box. She probably did not think about anyone watching her. She knew that her gift was nothing compared to the others, but she did not care. She was simply thinking of giving to God. She could not afford to give what she did, but in her mind, she could not afford to not give. She had access to the same promises in Old Testament scriptures that God blessed those who gave.
(Application) My lesson is that when we do something with pride because we are among the blessed group, we have the wrong motive. When we do something without worrying or even thinking about what anybody else thinks, but only think about pleasing God, we are working from the right motivation.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) This woman is going to have a lot of friends in heaven who will tell her that her gift inspired them and gave them hope. She’ll be shocked at how God used her poor gift to inspire millions of people into giving more to Him. This is an example of one way that God can take our poor offerings and multiple the effects a thousand fold.
(Application / Prayer) It is enough that we give our poor offerings and efforts. God knows how to use them if we trust Him. I pray that You will use my poor efforts to further Your kingdom.