Saint Mark - Chapter 12
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| She of her want cast in all she had. J-J Tissot |
And Jesus sitting over against the treasury, beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much.
How the people cast money: æs, brass (Vulg.), i.e., all sorts of money, whether brass, silver, or gold. For the first money was made of brass; hence all money was afterwards called brass, even when made of silver or gold.
Into the treasury; gazophylacium (Vulg.). For gaza is a Persian word, meaning riches; and φυλάττειν is to keep. This was a chest into which gifts were cast by the people, and kept for the service of the Temple, and for supporting the priests and the poor. Hence, also, the porch in which the chest was kept was called by the same name. Thus it is said in John 8:20, “These words spake Jesus in the treasury (gazophylacio), teaching in the Temple.” So Bede.
[42] Cum venisset autem vidua una pauper, misit duo minuta, quod est quadrans,
And there came a certain poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing.
A certain poor widow cast in two mites, which make a farthing. Not as if one mite made a farthing, as Euthymius understands, relying on Matt. 5:26. But two mites were equivalent to one farthing, as is here clearly expressed. For a farthing was the fourth part of a little ass; and ten small asses made a denarius. A mite was half a farthing.
[43] et convocans discipulos suos, ait illis : Amen dico vobis, quoniam vidua haec pauper plus omnibus misit, qui miserunt in gazophylacium.
And calling his disciples together, he saith to them: Amen I say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all they who have cast into the treasury.
This poor widow hath cast in more than all. For although per se, and other things being equal, the greatest and best alms and oblations is that which is most, yet, per accidens, when other things are not equal, the greater alms is that which is offered with the greater devotion of charity and religion. For God does not so much regard the gift as the disposition of the giver. Again, the greater gift is not that which is of the greater value considered in itself, as that which is the greater and more difficult in respect of the giver. This widow, therefore, in giving a farthing, gave more than all, because she gave all that she had, although it was necessary for her life. And she would have given more if she had had more. For she trusted in God, that He in return would be more liberal to her, and provide for her necessity, according to the saying, “Give God an egg, and receive a sheep.” Others truly gave of their abounding superfluities, as Christ here says. As Titus of Bostra says on Luke 21:3, “With such magnanimity and devotion did she offer two mites, that is, all that she had, as if she counted her own life as nothing.” S. Paul gives the a priori reason (2 Cor. 8:12), “If there be a ready mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath, not according to that which he hath not.” As Victor of Antioch says on this passage, “For God does not so much consider the greatness of the gifts, as weigh the greatness and alacrity of the mind.” And Bede, “He weighs not the substance, but the conscience of the offerers.”
For, as S. Thomas says, inasmuch as the widow gave according to her ability, therefore it was the greater affection of charity which was valued in her. S. Ambrose thought the same (lib. 2, Offic. c. 30), “The two mites of that widow surpassed the offerings of the rich, because she gave all she had; but they offered only a small portion of their abundance.” Whence he infers, “The disposition therefore makes the offering poor or valuable, and sets their true price upon things.”
[44] Omnes enim ex eo, quod abundabat illis, miserunt : haec vero de penuria sua omnia quae habuit misit totum victum suum.
For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want cast in all she had, even her whole living.
The Greek name for the Quarter of the Women is Gazophylacium, or the Quarter of the Treasure, given to it on account of the 13 chests placed at each of the five entrances, in which were deposited the various offerings brought to the temple. These chests were of a curious and peculiar shape, and were made up of a collection of copper tubes of a greater or lesser length according to the position they occupied in the general receptacle in which they were grouped. At the orifice of each tube was an inscription stating what kind of offerings were to be placed in it, and the pieces of money dropped into the opening so went down the tube reserved for them into the interior of the chest whence they were afterwards removed by the Priests.
To prevent the clever contrivances by means of which thieves used to get at the money by introducing his stick or rely in smeared with pitch, under pretence of putting their own offerings in, the tubes were made of the conical shape, broadening downwards from the narrow opening. Thanks to this peculiarity, these collections of copper collections looked very much like a group of trumpets, hence the popular name given to them. Outside the entrance to the Gazophylacium was a kind of vestibule provided with seats against the walls affording a good position for watching the passers-by and noting the behaviour of those who brought offerings. On this occasion Jesus too was seated there, resting after an exhausting day of teaching. He saw the various groups of pilgrims pass by who had come up to the Temple for the festivals and had brought with them their voluntary offerings, and amongst them were many wealthy men who ostentatiously dropped in their generous gifts, was the widow also came in her turn and threw in to mites ''all her living". Saint Mark explains to his Roman readers that the Greek word used meant half a quadrans; now the Roman quadrans was the fourth part of an as and the as was equal to or rather less than an English farthing, so that the widows two mites were scarcely as much as that. But for all that they represented "all her living", and this was why Jesus commended her so highly; and, anxious that the example should not be lost on His disciples, He called them together and praised the poor woman in their hearing, saying she "hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the Treasury". It was this touching and pathetic episode that ended a day which had been full of eager disputation. Just before, Jesus had been reproaching the Pharisees with devouring widows' houses and for a pretence making long prayers; he now calls out attention to one of the poor widows ruined by the pretended worshippers of God, consecrating into the service of the Lord all that they had left to her.
From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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