Luke

20:45-21:4

Culmination of Messiah's mission, 19:45-24:53

1. Messiah and the Temple, 19:45-21:38

v] The churchmen and the widow

Synopsis

In a series of rhetorical debates, Jesus has established his philosophical superiority, and in the last debate, not only his philosophical superiority, but his divine authority as Lord. Yet, Israel's religious community is unmoved, and so Jesus now sets out to expose their vacuous religiosity.

 
Teaching

Righteousness by law promotes pride, greed and hypocrisy; righteousness by grace through faith promotes a commitment to God that transcends material security.

 
Issues

i] Context: 19:45-20:18. The churchmen and the widow is the fifth episode of Jesus' temple ministry in Jerusalem, 19:45-21:38. The opening series of episodes recounts Jesus' debates with the religious authorities, all of which serve to enhance his philosophical qualifications as Israel's messiah, while exposing the blind state of religious Israel. Jesus now focuses on the corrupted state of religious Israel, warning his disciples to beware of their religiosity ("the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy").

 

ii] Structure: The churchmen and the widow:

Condemnation of Israel's religious authorities, v45-47;

A warning;

Beware of their infectious corruption, v45-47b;

Eschatological condemnation, v47c.

Pronouncement story - the widow's mite, 21:1-4.

The setting, v1-3;

The pronouncement, v3-4.

 

iii] Interpretation:

Jesus' Temple ministry is coming to an end. He has established his messianic authority and demonstrated the superiority of his philosophical school ("the Way") over that of Israel's religious life, even hinting that his messianic authority is something more than that of a co-regent with David. Yet, religious Israel has not budged, and so Jesus now exposes its corruption, consequences and cause.

"The falsity of scribal religion is ... seen to come to a climax in pride and greed and hypocrisy", Marshall, "their ostentation, their pretence, and their deceit", Fitzmyer. "On them ..... will fall God's severest condemnation", Fitzmyer. So, to this end Jesus warns his disciples to not follow suit. As Stein notes, "Luke has used the teachers of the law as a negative portrait of what his readers should not be like."

The thematic condemnation of religious Israel continues in the account of the widow's mite where the corrupt piety of Israel's religious community is on full display. Their piety is shallow at best, "putting in" ek tou perisseuontoV, "from the things abounding." So, Jesus marks out the example of the widow for his disciples with the emphatic statement alhqwV legw uJmin, "Truly I say to you", so underlining her "total commitment to God and his cause", Hendriksen.

Although the narrative is devoid of commentary, the theology of divine grace, operative through the gospel, is not far from the surface. Unlike religious Israel's corrupted and half-hearted piety, the widow represents the righteous poor who, having discovered God's divine mercy, respond with a faith commitment that transcends material security.

Given the context, it is unlikely that the take-home message is the imitation of Christ, such that the woman serves as an example of those who give up everything to follow Jesus, and in so doing, lay up treasure in heaven, so Black. The message is more likely a warning; we are to "pay attention to" the fruit of the two ways of righteousness / holiness - the way of law that makes for lawlessness, and the way of grace that makes for graciousness.

Israel's religion is a religion corrupted by the heresy of nomism. As a holy people under God's sovereign grace, they believed that holiness was progressed by a faithful attention to the law - that doing the law maintained and progressed their standing before God. So, in the act of tithing (along with the usual debate over whether it is 10% of gross or net!!!), giving to the temple, etc., merit accrued in the doing. Yet, before God, worth in the doing consists of panta ton bion, "all the life / means", "everything."

A merit based religion inevitably involves picking out "specks" and ignoring "logs". In the end, it corrupts, fostering ostentation, pretence and deceit. Righteousness, holiness, before God, is not earned but gifted; it is not found in the doing, but in the receiving, the receiving of a gift of God's grace through faith apart from works of the law. God's favour can never be earned because the "everything" is beyond us; none of us can stand with the perfection of that widow. Our only hope lies in identifying with the one who has given everything of himself for us, and when received, it is only then that we begin to become like him, gracious. So, "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy", 12:1.

For Nomism, see "Background", 11:37-54, and for Cross-bearing discipleship see "Background", 9:18-27

 

Alternate interpretations for the story of the widow's mite. There are two main approaches to the story:

First, the story promotes a moral / ethical lesson:

•iA comparison of grasping religiosity with sacrificial generosity, so Bock ("The story is a counterexample of positive piety .... picturing someone ready to give all for God"), Nolland ........ and this as "a warning to the Church's own leaders who are in danger of falling into the pattern of the Jewish churchmen", Ellis.

•iThe spirit in which a gift is given outweighs the size of the gift, so Geldenhuys.

•iThe worth of a gift is not determined by its size, but by the means of the giver, so Caird ("they gave out of their surplus, she out of her deficit").

•iThe measure of a gift is determined, not by its size, but by what the giver retains, so Marshall, Stein.

•i"Wealth gets in the way of true self-giving", Tinsley.

•iThe widow's devotion illustrates the travesty of a religion that serves to devour the livelihood of those who can least afford such devotion, so Green, Fitzmyer. A counterintuitive approach to the episode.

Second, the story promotes a theological lesson. Confronted by the dawning of the kingdom of God / gospel, the righteous poor respond to the gospel with a faith commitment to Jesus that transcends material security, so Danker (she "commits herself totally to her God"), Hendriksen ("total commitment to God and his cause"), Johnson.

 

iv] Synoptics :

See 3:1-20. This episode presents as a set of sayings tied by the link word "widow" to a pronouncement story. Luke has already recorded Jesus' criticisms of religious Judaism in 11:37-54 and now again he works over the same subject, even repeating 11:43 (a doublet). Parallels are found in Matthew 23:1-36 (v1, 6), and Mark 12:38-44, with Luke fairly close to Mark, evidencing the usual differences (often grammatical - Luke will often smooth out the Greek). Matthew runs his own course, using his own source material (Mark + Q + M). Matthew does not record the story of the widow's mite.

 
Text - 20:45

The churchmen and the widow, 20:45-21:4. i] Condemnation of Israel's religious authorities, v45-47. The description of the twn grammatewn, "the scribes", is extreme, but none-the-less, it identifies the corruption which is present in varying degrees - all are infected, some worse than others. Such is the consequence of a merit-based religion. So, in the hearing of "all", Jesus directs his comments to the disciples, prosecete, "Beware!" - the virus is infectious!

akouontoV (akouw) pres. part. "while [all the people] were listening" - [but/and all the people] hearing [he said to the disciples of him]. The genitive participle and its genitive subject "all the people" forms a genitive absolute construction, temporal, as NIV. Here attendant on the main verb "he said", and with the dative indirect object "the disciples", it serves to introduce direct speech.

 
v46

"Don't be infected by the bad theology of Israel's religious teachers; look what it does to them. They walk around in ostentatious robes, love public flattery, and always head for the best seats."

apo + gen. "[beware] of" - [pay attention to = beware of] from [the scribes]. As a matter of form, the proV prefix verb "to be aware of" will often be followed by the preposition apo, expressing separation.

twn qelontwn (qelw) gen. pres. part. "they like" - the ones wanting, wishing. This participle, as with "loving", is adjectival, attributive, limiting "the Scribes." "The scribes who like to walk around .....and love greetings. ...."

peripatein (peripatew) pres. inf. "to walk" - to walk around. The infinitive is usually classified as complementary here, completing the sense of the participle "wanting".

en + dat. "in" - in [robes and loving formal greetings] in [the market places and seats of honour] in [the synagogues and places of honour] in [the banquets]. The first use of the preposition is possibly modal, expressing manner, but the rest are clearly local, expressing space / place.

 
v47

It is not clear what "devour the houses of widows" means. Abusing hospitality by moving in and taking over is probably what is intended, but possibly Jesus is identifying fraud, given that scribes would often function as executors of an estate. Jesus also identifies long prayers used as an outward display of devotion - they do it for a show; "for appearance sake", NASB. Their end is a perissoteron krima, "a greater / harsher judgment" - eschatological judgment.

perissonteron adj. "[punished] most severely" - [who devour the houses of the widows and with false pretence they pray long. these will receive] greater [punishment]. Comparative adjective. The adjective perissoV, "above, excessive", as a comparative, "to a greater degree", takes much the same sense as pleiwn, "larger, more, greater".

 
2:1

ii] The widow's mite, v1-4: Jesus' condemnatory sayings are supported by a pronouncement story which serves to reinforce the condemnation with a counterexample, while at the same time pointing to the cause of Israel's corruption. As such, the story provides the pathway for true piety, a piety that rests on a gift of divine grace appropriated through faith.

de "-" - but/and. Transitional, indicating a step in the narrative, but note that Luke's "he looked up", as compared to Mark's "and he sat down over against the treasury", maintains a closer link with the sayings in 20:45-47.

anableyaV (anablepw) "as Jesus looked up" - having recovered sight = looked up [he saw]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to see"; "he looked up and saw", but possibly better taken as adverbial, temporal, as NIV.

touV .... plousiouV adj. "the rich" - the rich. The adjective serves as a substantive, accusative direct object of the verb "to see." Mark has "crowd" instead of "rich".

ballontaV (ballw) pres. part. "putting" - throwing = putting [the gifts of them into the treasury]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "the rich"; "the rich who put their gifts into the offering box." The present tense is probably iterative here, expressing repeated action; "again and again the rich put in their offerings", so TH. The offering boxes were 13 collection receptacles in the Court of Women.

 
v2

ballousan (ballw) pres. part. "put" - [but/and he saw a certain poor widow] putting [there two leptas]. The participle serves as the accusative complement of the direct object "poor widow", standing in a double accusative construction and asserting a fact about the object. The lepta was the smallest copper coin in use, equivalent to say a farthing, a quarter of a penny.

 
v3

uJmin dat. pro. "you" - [and he said, truly i say] to you. Dative of indirect object. The statement "truly I say to you" is always used by Jesus to reinforce what he is about to say.

oJti "-" - that. Recitative, serving to introduce direct speech.

pantwn gen. adj. "than all the others" - [this poor woman put in a lot more] of = than all the others. The genitive is ablative, of comparison, following the object, pleion, "a lot more".

 
v4

gar "-" - because. Introducing a causal clause explaining why the widow gave more than all the others.

ek + gen. "out of" - [all these put into the gifts = offering chest] from, out of. Expressing source / origin.

tou perisseuontoV (perisseuw) gen. pres. part. "[their] wealth" - the abundance [to them]. The participle serves as a substantive. The dative pronoun autoiV, "to them", is possessive; "they all gave from their plenty", Berkeley.

ek + gen. "out of [her poverty]" - [but/and this widow] from, out of [the thing lacking of her (her poverty) threw = put into the offering chest all the life = means which she had (all her means of subsistence)]. Expressing source / origin. "She gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford - she gave everything", Peterson.

 

Luke Introduction

Exegetical Commentaries

 

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