‘And he said, “Of a truth I say to you, This poor widow cast in more than they all, for all these did of their superfluity cast in to the gifts, but she of her want did cast in all the living that she had.” '
And this time it was Jesus turn to comment on the munificence of the gift, and He does it with characteristic firmness. ‘Truly I say to you'. And what He wanted to point out was that while others had given out of their plenty, and would hardly notice the loss of what they had given, this ‘poor widow' (the unusual adjective emphasises it) has actually given her whole living. She has cast herself on God. Thus she had given more than all the others put together, for she had given all that she had. Here was one who had done what the rich ruler had failed to do, she had given all that she had to God. Her attitude of ‘giving' was in direct contrast with the ‘devouring' of the Scribes. And from it we gain that important lesson, that God does not judge our giving by the amount that we give, but by the amount that we keep for ourselves. We also see in it an example of how and why it is the ‘poor' to whom the Good News will come (Luke 4:18).