One event, four witnesses
The Widow's Two Mites
Jesus watches a poor widow put two tiny coins into the temple treasury and declares she gave more than all the rich. Mark and Luke both record this brief, piercing scene.
“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.”Mark 12:41
“And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.”Luke 21:1
The event
The event. In the temple, near the treasury, Jesus sits and watches how people cast their money into the receptacles. Many who are rich put in large sums. Then a poor widow comes and puts in two mites, the smallest of coins, together worth a fraction of a penny. Jesus calls His disciples to Him and makes a striking judgment: this poor widow has cast in more than all those who have given to the treasury. For they gave out of their abundance, out of what they had to spare, but she out of her want, her poverty, put in all that she had, even all her living. The scene is short but weighty. Set in the last week, amid Jesus' confrontations in the temple and just before He foretells the temple's destruction, it turns the eyes of the disciples away from the impressive gifts of the wealthy to the unnoticed sacrifice of a woman who kept back nothing. What looked negligible by any human accounting is, in the reckoning of Jesus, the greatest gift given that day.
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs
Read side by side: what is the same, what differs. Mark and Luke tell this account with close agreement. Both set it in the temple by the treasury, both describe the rich casting in much and the poor widow casting in two mites, both record Jesus calling attention to her, and both preserve His central judgment: she gave more than all the rest, because they gave of their abundance while she gave of her poverty, all that she had. The differences are very slight. Mark's version is somewhat fuller, noting that Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people gave, and that many rich cast in much, and it explains that the two mites make a farthing. Luke's is more compact, simply that He looked up and saw the rich and the widow. There is no tension between the two; this is one of the clearest cases of two Gospels preserving the same episode with near-identical substance and only differences of length and small phrasing. Matthew and John do not record it. The story stands as a shared witness, and its point is the same in both: God measures giving not by the amount but by the cost to the giver.
What it shows of Christ
What it shows of Christ. Jesus reveals Himself as the one who sees what no one else notices and weighs it by a measure the world does not use. Amid the grandeur of the temple and the impressive gifts of the wealthy, His eyes rest on an unnamed poor widow, and He honors her above them all. This shows the heart of God, who does not despise the small and the hidden but treasures the sacrifice offered in love. Christ teaches that true giving is measured not by the size of the gift but by the cost to the giver and the faith behind it: the widow gave all her living, trusting God with her whole livelihood. Coming just before He foretells the destruction of the temple, the scene quietly exposes the poverty of outward religion beside the richness of a surrendered heart. In honoring her, Jesus shows a Savior who will Himself give all, holding nothing back, and who calls His people to the same wholehearted trust.
Questions people ask
Why did Jesus say the widow gave more than the rich, when her coins were worth so little?
Because He measures giving by cost and faith, not by amount. The rich gave out of their surplus, what they could easily spare, while the widow gave out of her poverty, all that she had to live on. Her gift cost her everything and expressed total trust in God, and by that measure it was the greatest gift given that day.
Do Mark and Luke differ in their accounts?
Only in length and small phrasing. Both set the scene at the temple treasury, describe the rich giving much and the widow giving two mites, and preserve Jesus' judgment that she gave more than all because she gave of her poverty. Mark's telling is slightly fuller, noting He sat over against the treasury and explaining the value of the coins; Luke's is more compact. The substance is the same.