Warnings against the Scribes. Luke 20:45-47 The Pharisees and Sadducees might have been confused about who the Lord Jesus Christ was, but He was not confused about them. That’s why He warned His disciples and everyone listening. They were getting rich at the expense of the poor through fraud and schemes. They claimed widows’ houses in some way and made a profit for themselves from these schemes. The more respect people give to others, the more pressing their demands for righteous justice become. The greater the hypocrisy of those who seem righteous, the harsher their condemnation will be. Jesus announced this condemnation not only to His disciples but also to all the listeners. There are rewards for doing good work faithfully, and there are punishments for those who cheat others. Righteous acts do not cancel out sinful practices. A severe judgment awaits everyone who neglects mercy and justice by choosing evil and looking down on others.
LUKE 21 TAKE HEED… WATCH AND PRAY! The temple in Jerusalem, where the Lord Jesus Christ taught during the last week of His public ministry, must have been a sight to see. The entire property where the temple stood covered thirty-three acres. The outer area, surrounded by porticoes where various teachers, such as Gamaliel, instructed their students, was known as the “court of the Gentiles.” Inside the next wall was the “court of the women," which was accessed by going up some steps. From there, moving further in, was the “court of Israel.” Then came the court of the priests, followed by the holy place, and beyond the veil was “the Most Holy Place.”
“She cast in all she had. Luke 21:1-4 Jesus was teaching in the court of the women when He warned His disciples to beware of the scribes. That was a pronouncement of how God sees the outward expressions of piety when the inward man is evil. He watched the rich people openly displaying their supposed devotion to God by putting money into the thirteen boxes there for that purpose. Then He saw a widow put in two mites, and He used that as a teaching moment to illustrate what actual giving to God is like. What she did was in contrast to what the scribes did to the widows when they “devoured widows' houses and, for a show, made long prayers.”
God looks at the hearts of those who give to Him from that which they have. The widow the Lord used as a teaching illustration could have kept one mite, half of her living, and she would still have been an incredibly generous giver. When she gave all she had to God, the Creator of the universe stopped His teaching and took special notice of that event and that widowed woman. He knew who she was, what she thought about God, and why she held nothing back.
It’s not what we give or how much that truly matters, but what we have left. What we give to the Lord is known to Him, and He is the only one who has the right to know both the motivation and the amount. A person whose gift is given sincerely from the heart out of devotion to the Lord is someone who pleases God. The cost to the giver isn’t the percentage they give, but the willingness behind the gift and what we do with what we have kept for ourselves.