A Warning Against the Scribes. These verses read like a summary of or a fragment from the longer discourse in Q. The reference to widows-' houses is found only in Mk. Its meaning is obscure. Did they take rich fees for pious services, or press the rights of creditors against widows harshly? Alike their social ambitions and their impoverishing of widows turn their prayers into pretence. These criticisms seem rather sweeping if aimed at a class. But it is difficult to judge, without the actual context and without fuller knowledge of Jesus-' contemporaries.
Related Commentaries of Mark 12:38
Mark 12:38-40
38 And he said unto them in his doctrine,Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:
40 Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.