Luke 21:2
and He saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
BSB
ASV
And he saw a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
KJV
And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
SERMON 20.3.1 (461)
Although the spite of some people does not grow gentle with any kindness, nevertheless the works of mercy are not fruitless, and kindness never loses what is offered to the ungrateful. May no one, dearly beloved, make themselves strangers to good works. Let no one claim that his poverty scarcely sufficed for himself and could not help another. What is offered from a little is great, and in the scale of divine justice, the quantity of gifts is not measured but the steadfastness of souls.
While [Jesus] stood in the temple, he also gave the verdict of which we are speaking. In the following verses, you have: "Jesus spoke these words in the treasury while teaching in the temple. And no one seized him." What is the treasury? It is the contribution of the faithful, the bank of the poor, and the refuge of the needy.
And he saw also a certain poor widow,.... Whom he took particular notice of above all the rest: the poor, and the widow, are regarded by him, and are his care; nor are their mean services, done in faith, and from a principle of love, despised by him, but preferred to the greater services of others, where faith and love are wanting: casting in thither two mites; the value of a farthing. The Persic version renders it, "two bottoms of yarn"; See Gill on Mar 12:42,
A certain poor widow - A widow miserably poor; this is the proper import of πενιχραν, and her being miserably poor heightened the merit of the action. Two mites - Which Mark says, Mar 12:42, make a farthing or quadrans, the fourth part of an As, or penny, as we term it.
1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
We learn, for one thing, from these verses — how keenly our Lord Jesus Christ observes the things that are done upon earth. We read that "He looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in two mites." We might well suppose that our Lord's mind at this season would have been wholly occupied with the things immediately before Him. His betrayal, His unjust judgment, His cross, His passion, His death — were all close at hand — and He knew it.
